Another perspective...religion in schools

[cally]

We need to keep all religions from public schools. All. The schools in my area do not promote Christianity. I know I'll be flamed but I think it's important for activists to understand other opinions. :shrug: Too many want to bash all Christians for forcing a belief on them. That's wrong. I also know that too many schools force a warped Christianity on students. That's wrong.

I live in a very liberal community. First time I was concerned about how religion was taught in our public school was when I got a call asking if I would help in a Hanukkah celebration for my daughter's kindergarten class. I was asked to lead a discussion on the meaning of Hanukkah. There was no planned discussions of any other religion. I said no because I had no idea and also I didn't think religion should be taught in a public school. Parents led a two hour discussion about Hanukkah and the meaning of it. I spoke to the teacher and she was embarrassed. The discussion of Hanukkah was far beyond what she expected. She then had the children color Christmas trees in a lesson to respond to many parent's concerns.

I helped in a class discussion about religious symbols. The children colored Christmas trees and Menorahs.

In Fourth grade, I watched while a man led the children through a ceremony honoring the Winter Solstice.

I wanted my children to learn about all religions and to honor all.

Religion has to be kept out of the schools. All religions.

[madinmaryland]

1. Well said.

The more our children (and ourselves) know about the world's religions the more that we can understand the world. The most interesting class I took in college was a class on world religions.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Agreed. Religion in itself isn't the problem. It's how it's used to

"balkanize" children and separate them from each other.

In the 1950's Vashti McCollum went to the U.S. Supreme Court to end Bible readings in public schools. Her son was in elementary school, he was allowed to be excused from the Bible readings, but the school put him in a room that was known as the detention room for "bad" boys and girls. That gesture coupled with his self-imposed isolation from his class made him a social pariah. Remember the kid who walked around the playground without a single friend or eating lunch alone day after day? That was the result. The children pick up on the school as an authority telling them to avoid a certain child on a certain criteria.

We need programs that bring children together and banish those that teach prejudice and separation.

[T Roosevelt]

3. I would suggest having a course in comparitive religions

that's the only way I would want to see religion in school. Of course that would piss off the fundies as much as evolution... :evilgrin:

[rurallib]

5. So right

They want their beliefs paraded out as the only "true" beliefs. You can study others but ours is the truth.
What is there something like 10,000 different religions in the world and most of them have sects. Each and every one is the truth.

[displacedtexan]

4. If one's belief system is so weak as to require public verification...

then one should seriously question one's own beliefs (IMHO).

As for including a few other major religions in school activites...

Are grade school children really developmentally ready to study comparative world religions? And are parents ready to deal with their kids' questions when they get home from school? Sadly, I'm sure that most parents end up deriding the beliefs of others in an attempt to reinforce their own beliefs.

As a teacher, I watched the Indian kid and the Atheist kid suffer the consequences of predominantly Christian-based holidays, the "Meet Me At The Flagpole" prayer circles in the parking lot as everyone arrived, and the condescending attitudes of the teachers with GO GOD license plates.

In my opinion, religion belongs in the home and in the many houses of worship. Period.

To me, it's an issue of ignorance: ignorance of the feelings of others.

[LWolf]

6. There is strong community pressure

for schools to celebrate holidays.

My adminstrator "mandates" an evening holiday performance every year. In an effort to be as inclusive as possible, I've done a play, and a choral performance, involving songs/celebrations from as many winter traditions as I can find. That still excludes some JWs and other fundie xtian kids as well as some atheists; they don't have to show up for the evening performance, but their kids have to be excluded from the continuous rehearsals, sent somewhere else, and provided with "alternate" activities.

If you don't have a holiday party, you'll be crucified by the parents. If you do, no matter how inclusive you try to make it, some kids aren't allowed to participate. And, no matter how bluntly/blatantly/explicitly you explain the broader, more inclusive "theme" of your activities to families, it goes over their heads, and they send chocolate santas or valentines to your jws anyway.

There was a time, when my school was small and all staff were in agreement that anything we did needed to be inclusive, that we didn't do "holidays." We did seasonal festivals, broad and inclusive. And it worked. All it took was one teacher who chose to do "Christmas" instead of "Winter," though, and the unity and inclusiveness disintegrated. Because then parents see that "some kids get to do Christmas, but my child had to do Winter." And the crucifixions begin.