• In the context of Amish life, is rumspringa a good idea? Is it ‘an honorable idea’ (Christopher Null)? What might be some arguments against the practice? Why does it exist in the first place? Evaluate the Amish practice of waiting until 16 years of age or older to baptize a person (as opposed to most Christian denominations, which do so near birth).
• Assuming rumspringa is a good idea, is 16 a good age for commencing it? Is it a good age for providing a ‘vaccination’ (as one participant put it) against modern ‘english’ life?
• Are you surprised that, apparently, 90% of the kids go back to Amish life? This retention rate is apparently also the greatest ever seen in the tradition; does this surprise you? Why might it make sense?
• Null’s review: ‘a lot of Playground is really familiar, treading dangerously close to Jerry Springer and Girls Gone Wild material. After about 30 minutes, I’d seen enough to get the drift – it’s a hard choice, and about 10% of kids decide not to “go Amish,” but the vast majority do. Amish kids are just as rotten as regular kids. Amish families face the same challenges you and I do, buttons or no.’
• What is a fulfilled or flourishing life and how do we figure out what it is? Does it lie in the ‘freedom’ of ‘english’ life, the close-knit family life of the Amish, or somewhere else?
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