BF2S Forums Schools

jord wrote:

I don't see a problem with leaving religion out of schools, not teaching creationism or teaching sex education at a relatively young age( say 12 as an example).

I wouldn't even consider myself particularly far left either.

I was just using examples from American politics. I'm iffy on the first one just because I don't see any harm in celebrating the cultures present in the school. If the school had a Muslim population what's the harm in displaying info about Ramadan during the holiday? Same for putting up a Christmas tree. Atheists scream about religious indoctrination and want it all torn out. Totally disrespectful.

Nic wrote:

It would be nice for religion to be taught in schools, but not as factual teachings. More, history and beliefs of the different religions, creationism being a part of those beliefs. Let the kids decide for themselves what they believe.

If they are going to teach Christianity in schools, the other major religions should be taught as well.

I think that stuff should be left at home. Why would a science department teach creationism? I wouldn't want to force biology teachers to do that. If you want to have an elective religion class, fine. But you can't make that stuff a requirement.

Political interest groups want to shape school curriculum in the image of their personal beliefs, but that doesn't mean the education received is influenced by the success of their endeavors. I didn't notice an educational experience in school that was systemically biased significantly in one way or another, and when the personal biases of teachers did interfere with their teaching, I had enough of a faculty for critical thought (both genetically and from quality instruction in other classes) to account for them.

Jay wrote:

The right wants prayer in school. The left wants all religious symbolism removed from school.
The right wants creationism taught in school. The left wants creationism left out of texts (which I agree with, duh).
The right wants sex education classes removed from school, or abstinence only education installed. The left wants sex education to start in kindergarten.

I can keep listing topics if you want, but it all comes down to both sides wanting to brainwash kids as early in life as possible. It's why the religious right are the most likely to homeschool their kids.

In regards to sex education...our parents could opt us out of the in school portion of sex education so that we walk down to the church and learn about abstinence.  I think about half the class opted out...but I think it was mostly because the kids convinced their parents so they could smoke a cig on the way to the church.

But, I think giving parents the option isn't so bad.

RTHKI wrote:

Jay wrote:

Nic wrote:

It would be nice for religion to be taught in schools, but not as factual teachings. More, history and beliefs of the different religions, creationism being a part of those beliefs. Let the kids decide for themselves what they believe.

If they are going to teach Christianity in schools, the other major religions should be taught as well.

I think that stuff should be left at home. Why would a science department teach creationism? I wouldn't want to force biology teachers to do that.

who says the science department would teach it, just throw it into some world religions elective.
went to a catholic grade school and high school and the science teacher never taught about creationism, always the religion teacher . .that i recall anyway lol

this western theologies class im taking is interesting, shows how many bible stories were taken from other myths and the development of judaism into a monotheistic religion.

^This, Never said it would have to be taught as a science, more a Theory and History. Religion still plays a major part in society and therefore I believe it is very important to teach what they are so that the next generation can have a better understanding of the various religions and where they are coming from. I would have enjoyed these classes and the knowledge that came with them.

Nic wrote:

RTHKI wrote:

Jay wrote:

I think that stuff should be left at home. Why would a science department teach creationism? I wouldn't want to force biology teachers to do that.

who says the science department would teach it, just throw it into some world religions elective.
went to a catholic grade school and high school and the science teacher never taught about creationism, always the religion teacher . .that i recall anyway lol

this western theologies class im taking is interesting, shows how many bible stories were taken from other myths and the development of judaism into a monotheistic religion.

^This, Never said it would have to be taught as a science, more a Theory and History. Religion still plays a major part in society and therefore I believe it is very important to teach what they are so that the next generation can have a better understanding of the various religions and where they are coming from. I would have enjoyed these classes and the knowledge that came with them.

When I went to private school, we had diversity assemblies every week and they would teach us about different cultures and religions. It was ostensibly a Quaker school and I did have Quakerism class and a weekly Quaker meeting to attend but the religious aspect wasn't overbearing and they were very open in accepting other faiths/lifestyles etc.

None of that would fly in public schools. Someone would get offended and complain.

mikkel wrote:

nukchebi0 wrote:

It's not necessarily that they want to indoctrinate students, though, its that they think their point of view is right and therefore should be taught.

That's pretty much the definition of indoctrination.

The intent is different.

On the subject of religion in schools though:

I had a sort of religious class. But it was more like philosofy for dummies. We were taught about all religions and to discuss and/or compare them, but the teacher was jewish, so we would have about 1 or 2 weeks for each religion and 2 months about judaism.
But i don;t mind religion being taught in school, but it needs to teach you about how those people think and for you to form an aopinion on it and not how you should think.

I have no problem my kids learning every religion out there in school.  Knowledge versus ignorance.  And then we go to church on Sundays.

I went to a public school and we learned some of the basics of the different 'major' religions around the world.  It was called "Global and Cultural Studies" (or similar)...I remember learning about the five pillars of faith in Islam, the eightfold path (Buddhism), the basics of Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, etc...  There was no theological discussion (and no preaching), but the cultural aspect was certainly discussed and taught.  I don't see any problem with that.  It was tied in with a history class, so it made perfect sense.  An awful lot of human history is tied to religion, so it really ought to be taught in a historical sense anyway.  I don't think 'religion' classes should be taught in public schools, as they imply some sense of indoctrination.

I've not really noticed it as much of a problem in the UK or Europe TBH, teachers used to be professional and keep their personal views out of the classroom.

Maybe you guys pay too much attention, and give too much air time to, single issue loons - which you seem to have more of also.

Maybe centrist social democracies are just better than the wild swings from left to right you experience in your two party state, and each side is so desperate for the next generation of voters they see schools as an indoctrinational battleground instead of a place of learning.

She was also a total bitch in general. But so were a lot of other teachers.