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Gimme it said it very fairly. I am the original poster and fearnofish couldn't have misunderstood me more! I am from a multicultural multilingual background myself, have lived all over the world and attended schools with incredible religious diversity (in fact my high school was predominantly muslim) and have had no issues myself with exclusion from making lifelong friends with people of other faiths, so when I raise my children they will learn to be respectful and make friends of all faiths the same way I did.
However, when it is 'known' that a particular faith is not as inclusive as others then I don't want to put my children through that. This is their childhood we are talking about and they are too little to have the maturity to view the issue with the wisdom that an adult would. All they will see is that they can't go play at somebodies house (or some other scenario) and won't understand why. I have many friends who have experienced first hand growing up in predominantly LDS communities who have painful memories of their childhood. Knowing this, coupled with the knowledge that there are areas that have a strong LDS influence in Boise led me to ask the question in my original post. I want to remain respectful of LDS faith and in fact I think there are values within the mormon culture that I think are to be commended (especially the weekly family night and the committment to giving back to the community) and I can understand why LDS stick together in their communities and rely upon eachother because they see their friends at church and therefore at school. It makes total sense to me. Heck, we do the same thing without religion being even part of the equation.
Anyway I wasn't intending on starting a major debate about religion. I have my faith and will raise my kids accordingly. Ultimately I can only guide them but their life experiences will shape them too.
I apologize for my comments if they hurt you. I kind of went off on a little rant.
I just moved to the area, so I don't really have advice on which neighborhoods/what cities, yada yada. Here's the thing. I think there are WAY more important factors in choosing what schools to send your children too. In any school, there are going to be people who naturally congregate together in groups of friends, whether it be sports teams, religious affiliation, etc. I agree, LDS kids will most likely be friends with one another not out of an exclusive nature, but because they are already together during at least 2 non-school activities during the week. So what? That in no way means that they will exclude your kid. I'm LDS, and I primarily had non-LDS friends growing up because I lived on the east coast. It's not an exclusive thing; it's a convenience thing. For people out west, it is convenient to be friends with people you go to church with because you see them all the time. If that isn't ok, I think this area is not a good one for you. All schools here will have an LDS element. BUT - as long as your kids aren't drinking, smoking, doing drugs, or sleeping around, the LDS kids will have no problem being their friend. If they are doing that stuff in middle school, you have bigger problems than whether they are friends with the Mormon kids.
I understand your concerns, but I think to be prematurely worried about your kid having no friends due to the religious population should be the LAST thing on your list when it comes to picking a neighborhood or school. I'm sorry if those of you had different experiences growing up, but as far as my family, my husband's family, and the people we know out here, all the kids in the neighborhood play together no matter what.
I went to Centennial High School. It is certainly not the ideal school experience. It was a good school, but if you are looking for a balanced experience for your children, there are certainly better choices. It is easy to feel outcast and judged by others here, but I tried not to let it ruin my school experience entirely. With all that said, I do love West Boise for the great safe neighborhoods and the schools are good!
As we responded in your other thread, it's not on School property (no more so than the surrounding houses or businesses) and there are no school credits given for students who choose to attend these classes.
I volunteered in the attendance office at Meridian High and I know that our aids would go to the seminary to hand off notes or get people out of class. Additionally, it did appear as though the seminary was on school property. The high school is on a corner and the buildings are lined up in an L shape from one street to the other perpendicular street, the parking lot being in the center. The seminary is part of that L of buildings and I know it shares parking with the high school. There is nothing to differentiate it from the other school buildings aside from the small sign on the front of the building.
I don't really care if they have seminary at the public schools, to each his own.
I do not know how I stumbled onto this site but I am very familiar with Bristol Heights Subdivision. I live here. It is a fabulous neighborhood with a real neighborhood feel. It is not predominantly any religion. My children have friends of all faiths including mormon in this neighborhood and we all have a good time.
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Yes.. It is..
