PBS brings the best of drama and documentaries. I just watched a beautiful, balanced portrayal of the Amish on PBS' "American Experience" series on Netflix.
Once, when Betty and I were on a road trip, we stopped at an Amish bakery in Pennsylvania and had a conversation with the family who lived there. Black and white and solid blue clothes hung on a very long line, from the top of the barn to where we stood. Horses and carriages were parked nearby. At the time we were both teachers, and the children of the family reacted to that fact with amazement (unlike the way most American children do). "You are teachers?" they said. "Real teachers?"
In Amish communities, the children attend one-room schoolhouses and graduate at the end of 8th grade. (I'm assuming that means that their teachers are only educated through grade eight.) They work hard in the fields, they have no electricity, and they are a close-knit community bound by strict tradition.
If members violate rules, they are shunned by everyone, even their own family members. As one of them said, there is nothing more painful than being shunned and ignored; it takes away the access to "multiple perspectives" that comes from being a part of the group.
If a child leaves the Amish, the family is devastated because they believe that their child will go to hell. Heartbroken parents try everything they know to bring them back into the fold, yet if the child refuses to come home, they are cast out.
This documentary shows what happens to several young people who decide to abandon the family and church and start lives of their own "among the English." Some stay--after tasting independence; some return home, homesick for their families and the simple lifestyle of their people.
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