"Scientific" creation.

[greenfreak]

But religion is a huge part of culture, you would deny them that even if they did have the time to teach the 'major' religions? If anything, it's a part of history. Then again, I'm not particularly religious myself and don't plan on having kids so maybe I can't really relate. But I know I was fascinated by some of the things I learned about the Caste system, reincarnation, Buddhism, etc.

 

[PT]

I have to agree with Greenie, it is odd that you have to be almost 19 years old before you really find out what all the different religons are and what they believe. Granted, yes, you could learn about them all with your parents but realistically, your parents are going to teach you about their religon, usually one or two variants of hundreds available.

 

[Gonz]

Granted, yes, you could learn about them all with your parents but realistically, your parents are going to teach you about their religon, usually one or two variants of hundreds available.

That's referred to as community. WHy would your parents teach something they don't believe in, that would be hypocritical.

 

[fury]

There's a big difference between teaching something they don't believe in, and teaching of something they don't believe in.

 

[HomeLAN]

But most parents tell their kids that a teacher is an authority figure, to be respected and listened to. Having that person then teach religion, which at its base is a value system, opens a huge fucking can of worms if that teacher gets into a religion the parents don't want, yet leaves the one they do want untouched.

This is part of the reasoning behind the US tradition of separation of church and state, and it still works. Leave it out, unless it's a religious school.

 

[Mirlyn]

All I have to say about the evolution debate is.....it should be taught. I'm tired of hearing about the debate.

But religion is a huge part of culture, you would deny them that even if they did have the time to teach the 'major' religions? If anything, it's a part of history. Then again, I'm not particularly religious myself and don't plan on having kids so maybe I can't really relate. But I know I was fascinated by some of the things I learned about the Caste system, reincarnation, Buddhism, etc.

I have to agree with HomeLAN here. It is impossible for a secondary education teacher to illustrate different religions without consciously or subconsciously expressing his/her folk model. In other words, their opinion is biased, even when they're unbiased. Try teaching about a religion without using comparison....its hard...too hard for secondary education.

 

[greenfreak]

You could say the same about any subject though; that the teacher is always going to put their own slant on it based solely on opinion. Gives more weight to parents home schooling their kids.

 

[Mirlyn]

You could say the same about any subject though; that the teacher is always going to put their own slant on it based solely on opinion. Gives more weight to parents home schooling their kids.

Oh theres no denying that...I'm just as bad as anyone here. However, religion is not the topic to be biased in if you're going to teach someone about the many different branches/aspects/types of it. Not to mention, the constitutional thing. It's better to leave religion alone by making it taboo than to royally skew it like none other by having a wife of a minister teach it.

 

[chcr]

But religion is a huge part of culture, you would deny them that even if they did have the time to teach the 'major' religions?

GF, now you're going to decide which are "major" religions and which are not. How do you decide? Not, mind you, that I have a problem with teaching religion in school, just NOT IN SCIENCE CLASS!!! The thing I have against home schooling is that it frequently fails to expose the children to other viewpoints. How surprised were you when you finally figured out that the beliefs you were taught as a child were not universally accepted. I was lucky, I had a couple of jewish friends and a muslim family in our high school.

 

[chcr]

This is part of the reasoning behind the US tradition of separation of church and state, and it still works. Leave it out, unless it's a religious school.

Two parter!!! Being largely a jerk (possibly even an asshole) I frequently have this argument with people (usually regarding prayer in school). When someone starts with this I frequently say "It's in the constitution, ever hear of it?"

 

[greenfreak]

GF, now you're going to decide which are "major" religions and which are not. How do you decide? Not, mind you, that I have a problem with teaching religion in school, just NOT IN SCIENCE CLASS!!! The thing I have against home schooling is that it frequently fails to expose the children to other viewpoints. How surprised were you when you finally figured out that the beliefs you were taught as a child were not universally accepted. I was lucky, I had a couple of jewish friends and a muslim family in our high school.

With the wealth of information and history out there, how do you decide any curriculum? How do they make the decision not to require basic knowledge be learned about our neighbors and bordering countries?

You have a good point, not in Science class but World History, yes. As subjects come up that involve religion. I'm not saying that there should be a seperate class dedicated to religion, I'm saying there should be more basic information taught in the History classes.

I was lucky too, we had a nice mix of different cultures in my class. I never thought of them as different then because I grew up with them, all of us going through the same classes from Kindergarten up to 12th grade. It helps to stop prejudice and stereotypes from being formed.

Something interesting happened when I went to Catholic School (only for one year). We had a Passover feast. We were being taught about more religions than just Catholicism. Mom almost flipped her lid, being the bigot that she is. So I see your point about parents home schooling.

 

[chcr]

I know people around here who home school their kids specifically to make sure they aren't exposed to other views. What a hard time those poor kids are going to have when they actually have to go out and live in the real world.

 

[nalani]

As a Religious Studies major, I'm learning a lot about how "religions" come about - what lead to the beginnings of Lutheranism, for example ... or what are the differences between the beliefs of Protestants and Catholics... I have found that these lessons have been very, very beneficial toward my understanding of people and their belief systems in general. However, I don't know if school-aged kids are mature enough to take those lessons at their proper surface value in order to gain something valuable from them. Not to mention, I don't believe that their parents (most - not all) are open enough to allow those lessons.

What I would opt for instead would be lessons on tolerance - in all areas, not just religion; political, cultural, and gender-based as well. If they learn tolerance, and are able to appreciate, rather than degrade, the differences, that would go a long way toward openess and understanding. I'm not saying that because one is tolerant, one has to accept certain changes - just that, if you learn tolerance, you're more apt not to be ethnocentric and, instead, if changes need to be made, you're better armed with a knowledge base that would afford you the opportunity to make those changes.

 

[kuulani]

What I don't get is how some people enroll their kids into religious/cultural schools, and then make a fuss when these kids have to pray in school.

Take for example our local Hawaiian immersion school. Enrolling your kid in this school pretty much guarantees that your child will have to chant and pray - it's a large part of the culture ... and yet there are some parents who make a fuss out of it. Stupid asses.

 

[nalani]

What I don't get is how some people enroll their kids into religious/cultural schools, and then make a fuss when these kids have to pray in school.

Take for example our local Hawaiian immersion school. Enrolling your kid in this school pretty much guarantees that your child will have to chant and pray - it's a large part of the culture ... and yet there are some parents who make a fuss out of it. Stupid asses.

and you just know there's one every year

 

[PT]

So this is like a private school, that they Decide to sent thier child to, and then they bitch? Just shoot em.

 

[unclehobart]

Watched a program recently on some town in Georgia putting it on their curriculum

That was my county... sorry about that. I don't know what bug crawled up their kazoos to make them want to do such a thing. My county is the only Republican stronghold in a sea of 17 Deomcrat counties for the Atlanta metro area. They tend to overreact overly far beyond the psychotic horizon at times.

 

[Mirlyn]

Watched a program recently on some town in Georgia putting it on their curriculum

That was my county... sorry about that. I don't know what bug crawled up their kazoos to make them want to do such a thing. My county is the only Republican stronghold in a sea of 17 Deomcrat counties for the Atlanta metro area. They tend to overreact overly far beyond the psychotic horizon at times.

Remember the Kansas debate? It's still going on here.

 

[chcr]

That was my county... sorry about that.

You don't have to apologize for 'em unc. I'm firmly convinced that 96% of the people on the planet are only slightly smarter than that whch comes out of my nose when my allergies are flaring up. (Of course, that doesn't include anyone here. Well, hardly anyone.) j/k

 

[ol' man]

To believe earth is the only place in the universe where life exists and evolved is pretty stupid if you ask me you long haired monkeys.