Religion: To be taught, or to be learned?
Sep 30 '00
I have found, throughout my 16 years of formal education, that the issue of religion and its place in education has been a hot-button item. It is white noise, constantly in the background, waiting for someone to champion its cause. Invariably, someone raises the issue, and it gains momentum like a snowball down a hill. It can divide a family, come between parent and child, or parent and parent.
I grew up as the seventh and youngest child. We moved often, about every 2 – 3 years. This forced constant school changes, more so for my older brother and sisters. At some points, some of us attended Catholic schools. Mostly we attended the public ones. But this odd mix had little impact on us as kids. We were not a religious family, and therefore educational institutions were not chosen due to religious reasons, but due to availability and expense.
This scenario, however, has arisen in the lives of some of my friends. Usually it is caused by a difference in the religious backgrounds or educational upbringing of the parents. Those who had attended a religious school often want their children to follow in their footsteps, even if they themselves have fallen out of the faith. Do you allow you child to attend a school funded by, and partial to, a particular religious faith if you do not subscribe to that faith yourself? Aren’t you instilling in your child a belief system that does not match your own? And by extension, “forcing” them to bend to the will of a system of rules that you feel no need to follow yourself?
And what about the controversial issue of religion in public schools? This issue comes up every election year, and the candidates have to take some sort of stand on it. I have a serious problem with the institution of any religious overtures in a public school. Public schools, by definition, have to be open to anyone in the community, and are funded by the community as a whole. How can you force people to fund an institution that may teach, or if not teach tolerate, the invasion of certain religious beliefs that may conflict with those who fund it?
If someone has a particular religious faith that they follow, then it is their option to send their children to a private school that follows that faith. If they choose not to, then they should not be allowed to influence other children’s educations by inserting their faith into the public school system. Children are very susceptible to influence by their peers, and even more so to that of authority figures like teachers and principals.
In my view, public school teachers should not be allowed to present to the children they teach any religious preference. They should maintain a professional decorum that does not allow them to instruct children in matters that are wholly up to the family, like religious choice or non-choice. I don’t mind them instructing the children on WHAT religion is, and WHAT the differences are, but I do mind them giving a “preferential” treatment towards one in particular, in essence laying a groundwork for belief in a system that may be the polar opposite of what the family believes.
I am not religious, and neither is my wife or daughter. If my daughter decides to follow a faith system, then that is ok by me. But is should be a choice she makes on her own, not one that is “taught” to her in school.
I am not talking about absolutes here. I know that in every day life, your religious beliefs can and does influence your decision making process. But it does not have a place in public schools.
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Epinions.com ID:
gwsmith
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Member: Geoff Smith
Location: East Taunton, Massachusetts
Reviews written: 124
Trusted by: 19 members
About Me:
Much older than I am, less knowing than I think...
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