“...they fear that American freedoms are luring some youngsters away from a faith the Old Believers religious sect has preserved through three centuries... Old Believers in this area have approached American life cautiously... ‘I’d like to bring up my children the way I have been,’ said Fedor Frolov, a 37-year-old father of five, ‘I wont give up easy... The main problem is the kids get 16 years old and want cars.’ ... ‘The Russian parents want more discipline in the schools,’ says Jens Robinson, Woodburn’s superintendent. ‘They say “hit the kid,” but that’s not kosher in American public schools... One Old Believer who has lived all over the world told me that the United States...is killing them, eroding the culture.’ Mrs. Schay says the Old Believers were wary of doctors and hospitals when they first arrived... ‘they feel they can accept some things without giving up their own basic way of life.’ she says, ‘But when you give up what is dear to you, how do you replace the empty holes? People who are really worried and dedicated will probably move out of here’.”
A young member of the Old Believers religious sect takes a break from work in the vineyards near Woodburn, Ore. The Old Believers are a breakaway group of the Russian Orthodox Church. This community strives like others scattered around the world to preserve its way of life.
The news article says that the hair of women is erotic and must be hidden.
It also says School officials in Oregon agreed to excuse children from sex education and evolution classes. I know of another report saying that Physical Education and Music classes were also not required. Old Believer children were allowed to eat lunch at separate tables, with separate plates, utensils and food. Even with all those omissions the situation was grim, today (so many years later) it is far, far gone.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Q-INAAAAIBAJ&sjid=O20DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4857,1332434
