Dear Seahorse62,

Thank you for taking the time to give such a detailed intro to KIA. Its very welcome.

Zhubajie,

KIA isn't a Jesuit school if that is what you are asking, but it is hardly an intense fanatical group who flops on the ground while handling snakes and drinking poison. Teachers come from various backgrounds, and chapels are far from hell,fire, and damnation preaching. I have been to chapels that were sound exegetical teaching from the Bible, and I have been to chapels that talked about being a good friend (this contained no scriptures from the Bible). Chapels are never used as a time to convert; instead, sound teaching is given. What is conversion out of fear anyways? Conversion is due to love. Heaven will be full of people who love God not people who were afraid to go to hell. Don't be so scared!!

wtf?

"Chapels are never used as a time to convert; instead, sound teaching is given. What is conversion out of fear anyways? Conversion is due to love. Heaven will be full of people who love God not people who were afraid to go to hell. Don't be so scared!!"

What the hell Seahorse?! I thought we were bonding there for a second. Now I'm just,, down. What will happen to people who don't love god but still are afraid to go to hell, and what should they do?

I have a query about KIA's recruitment policy. Does the school have a preferential hiring policy which favours the hiring of teachers and staff who are Christains ?

Does the school board favour certain kinds of teachers over others on the basis of their personal beliefs? If so how does that influence their with interactions with the student body?

Those are good points -and givens. A school with a Christian foundation, a chapel, weekly prayers and character classes based on Christian values would of course pick the baptist over the Jew and the episcopalian over the agnostic. I'd a thousands times prefer to send my kids through the Chinese educational system (which isn't ideal, but also has a far worse rep than it deserves) than a places where religious influence has a dominant position.

Ah Dan,

I did chuckle when you said I was like you. Although we can agree on a few points, I feel I am probably not at all like you in my world view. Yet, I agree with you in some points. I still stand to the belief that religion of any form including the religion of atheism should not be in the public schools. Teachers in public schools are there for teaching not indoctrination.

Although, I am not really like you, I feel I am completely different from your stereotypical religious person. I am never going to yell at a person to repent or burn. I voted democrat in the last election, and I believe very much in helping the down-trodden of life. I like to have a drink and laugh with the boys. I am very accepting of all people no matter what they believe, and I believe manipulation is no way to get people to believe something. From what I can tell, this is how teachers and administration feel at KIA. Why use a chapel to manipulate people? In the end, are manipulated people followers of the religion? From what I can see, students are given an opportunity to believe or not to believe.

In biology, my child learned about both creation and evolution. I'm sure the teacher leaned more towards creation, but both sides were taught. In philosophy classes, the teacher wants the students to think and make a decisions. It would be silly to teach only one thing then try to force students to believe it. I believe this, and I think this is the thoughts of KIA; therefore, this is why I made the response about heaven being full of people who love God not fearing hell. KIA wants people to investigate then make a decision out of love not manipulation or fear. My statement was a response to Zhubajie saying low church goers were fanatical and intense thus implying KIA chapels were meant to send fear into someone who isn't like-minded.

Going back to my statement about indoctrination. In many ways, isn't this what Chinese public schools are doing—indoctrinating? You don't get pissed about it because they indoctrinate in your religion—atheism or love of self. Yet, you get irate and call Christians narrow-minded for wanting to do the same at a school where parents choose to send their children. Such hypocrisy. The hypocrisy of non-religious, atheists, and pagans astound me. They get all bent out of shape if opposing views are being taught, but they could care less if their views are being taught. Why do you care if the opposing views are being taught in a small international school where parents choose and pay to send their children?

And again I will say I don't believe KIA is indoctrinating. I have heard of children from non-believing families going years to KIA without making a decision to become religious.

Finally, I believe KIA hires people of all Christian backgrounds as long as they can agree with their beliefs. There are certain beliefs which can not be overlooked in the faith, and it doesn't matter what persuasion you are from if you can agree with those keys beliefs. Also, KIA always seeks to hire professional teachers. Most teachers teach their subject, and they have very little if anything to do with teaching outside their subject. Therefore, KIA isn't looking for evangelists to come in and convert the heathen; instead, they want professional teacher who will teach math, English, history, and science at a professional level. As far as hiring atheists, the answer is no. Why would they hire someone who has a vast difference in world view, and why would someone want to work at KIA who has such a gap in world view? Well, I will backtrack on myself. I am not sure, but it might be possible that a national Chinese teacher who teaches Mandarin isn't religious, but this would be the only exception, and I am not even sure about this. Again, they are there to teach Mandarin and care for the students not to convert. All foreign hires will be Christian.

You guys seem to be so scared of a hidden agenda. KIA doesn't exist under a hidden agenda. They exist to give foreign children in Kunming an excellent learning environment from loving teachers who care about their well being. I am sure a few teachers have never once tried to convert a student. Instead, they teach and love them, and in the end if they believe, it was the choice of the student.