"sorry, Diese Schule Ist Zu Weiß"

[Khandro]

"Sorry,(sic) this school is too white." - that's the headline in a German paper, it relates to Ofsted's downgrading of a primary school in Lincolnshire on the grounds that there are too many white children among its pupils. The article says it is reported in the Telegraph, but I can't find a reference to it, has anyone else seen it?

[vetuste_ennemi]

Where did the asterisks come from? It rhymes with Witch.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Daniel Dennett's proposal is that RI, i.e. the teaching of a particular religious faith, be replaced in the class-room by Comparative Religion. This does not deny parents the right to bring their children up to follow whatever religion they want, but does ensure that every child knows something about other faiths and how they developed. The simple understanding that religious belief is almost entirely an accident of birth would go a long way to counter the fanaticism which springs from the irrational belief God has chosen only one group to reveal Himself to.

[Khandro]

I believe that no religion of any denomination should be practised in any school, and only the very minimum necessary for greater understanding of other subjects should be allowed, for example it would be impossible to gain a fuller understanding of European painting, sculpture, music and much architecture without some knowledge of Christianity.
Children have such a short amount of time to study history (I think 3 hours a week at most) any time available within that slot should be prioritised so.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Good heavens! I want MORE Christianity taught, Khandro, for exactly the same as reasons as you. Our history and our literature are unintelligible without understanding the roots of our civilisation.
In the Dennett CR curriculum the stress would be on Christianity just as European history would be the dominant part of the history syllabus. But in neither case to the exclusion of the rest.
Felix is still in the sewer shaping up to the Chartreux.

[vetuste_ennemi]

I mean FRANCIS. I beg his pardon.
Garnacha with the pork chop tonight.

[Peter Pedant]

Yeah I was gonna say K - yesterdays telegraph, do you want me to fish it out of the jarn and stick it together ?

Lincolnshire is pretty white - you get Romanian fruit pickers but none of them send their kids to skool.....

[Peter Pedant]

// Daniel Dennett's proposal is that RI, i.e. the teaching of a particular religious faith, be replaced in the class-room by Comparative Religion. //

you cant do comparative religion unless you have done at least one religion.

My brother was looking 'at other religions' - and I said
why are you doing that for chrissakes, you've never looked at Christianity.

[Khandro]

Heavens to Betsy! whatever next? Ukip take Rochester and v_e wants more Christianity! Garnacha and pork-chop? - I shall pray for you to St Erasmus, (the patron saint of indigestion). As for me, after a respectable quantity of Oetinger pils (don't ask) I shall retire with my newly acquired today copy of Thomas Aquinas, (a very short history of).

[Khandro]

Correction, that should read, 'a very short introduction'. Fergus Kerr. Oxford.

[vetuste_ennemi]

More Christianity, Khandro? No, I'm arguing for more understanding of Western civilisation and its formative influences. How can any Westerner claim to be educated who is ignorant of the Christian myth? How can much of our literature, replete with Biblical allusion and religious metaphor, be intelligible without knowing something about the doctrines of the Fall and of Redemption? As far as I can see Christianity as an educational topic has all but shrivelled and died in the blighted winter created by Shirley Williams and her successors. What is the point of taking them to a mosque when they've never been to a church?
Thankyou for your point, Petr-Pedant.