Divided Britain

[modeller]

Should we have faith schools or are they divisive ?

http://arjendu.wordpr...ill-give-you-the-man/

[Gromit]

We should not have faith schools financed from the tax payer. If people must send their children to a faith school, they should go private.

[modeller]

I agree with you on that point but are they divisive . Where I live we have about a dozen faith schools.

[boxtops]

I don't mind either way as long as the children attending get a good all-round education without bias. I went to a CofE primary school and it didn't do me any harm, I'm not CofE now.

[modeller]

I think it depends on where you live . Thousands of C of E schools especially in rural areas were set up in the 19th century and I know most do not discriminate between faiths but in urban areas many do select.

[Gromit]

They can be devisive. I went to a CofE school, and we had many battles with the local RC school. Football matches were a bloodbath. We didn't have any muslim schools in the mix then, so it is potentially worse now.
I firmly believe religion should not be mixed with schools. If you want to teach your child the religion of your choice, you should send it to your preferred church, or mosque or temple as an extra-curricular activity. ReligioN certainly should not be subcidised by the all of us. Most organised religions are very rich, they should finance it.

[ixion]

The separate education of catholic and protestant fuels sectarianism - it's a feckin disgrace!

[ixion]

Should point out I'm referring to Scotland and Ulster

[DTCwordfan]

Welcome to the United States of Britain - it used to be that Divinity was compulsory in all schools - one lesson a week - I presume that has gone west.

For example in the States (public scholas in government) you can't discuss Christmas and its implications as to Christianity - however you can have a model of the manger etc if its a teaching aid to, say, teaching history.

[modeller]

That's interesting DT . They teach that mumbo jumbo , Creativity , under the guise
of science , 90% of them say they believe in God which makes them I think the most religious country in the world and yet you say in school, they can' teach it except as a part of history.
When I was in the States they seem to have these giant churches holding a thousand people . As well as these small churches in every block.
No wonder they can't think straight.

[Gromit]

I think you mean creationism. If they could teach creativity, that would be a really good thing

[bazwillrun]

It never used to be a problem until we had all these asians, blacks , muslims etc demanding to do things the way they wanted rather than respecting the main religions and beliefs of this country.

I am not religious in any way or form nor do i believe in god, but i am happy to accept that england is a christian country and have no problem with it.


and if you do insist on foisting yourselves on us then at least take the time to look at our countries history, beliefs culture, education etc, if you dont like it or dont agree with it then dont come here and then start wanting things just lke you have left behind.
if people dont like our ways or methods of education here then please leave asap.

[jno]

I suppose state schols had better stop teaching children handwriting, then. And Jane Austen should be on the curriculum only for her record of verifiable/falsifiable early 18th century speech patterns, rather than the emotions of her non-verifiable characters. Wackford Squeers (a fictional character, of course) would have loved it: you only teach children how to spell window so they know how to clean it.

[modeller]

You have lost me jno Fiction is fiction and read as such , whereas theists insist their beliefs are peddled as unproven facts.
However I don't care what people believe if they need a belief to cope with life , so be it, but if it drives people apart and worse leads to violence that is surely a cause for concern.
As an ex-teacher I know how easy it is to influence children and I have observed teaching in some schools where religion is introduced albeit subtly.into most subjects. This was most noticable in RC schools and even in non-faith schools where the headteacher was religious.

[bazwillrun]

"As an ex-teacher I know how easy it is to influence children"

you mean like leftie teachers trying to brainwash kids into a leftie way of thinking, or trying to tell them how wonderful he EU is, or always bashing on about africa and how we should be doing more to help them.

you wouldnt expect that kind of garbage in a private school, luckily after numerous complaints those "teachers" were released and have moved on to other schools to brainwash kids with their own particular brand of brainwashing and indoctrination

[I.Don No]

Having attended a faith school, albeit a long time ago, I can speak from personal experience. They are not only divisive but they can also be cruel. The fear of god was figuratively and literally beaten in to me. I could never understand, and still don't, why my parents chose to send me to one when all my friends went to the local school.

Please don't misunderstand me.....there is absolutely nothing wrong with faith itself. Faith in a higher power has gotten me through some tough times, but I neither want nor need any 'religious' doctrine to instil fear and guilt into me.

Faith is a personal and private affair. It is not for the education system to try to tell each of us which path to take. Faith education is primarily a parent's task. Children learn by example.

Of course it is a great idea to be taught all about the world's diverse religions. I wish my faith education has been wider and not restricted to catholic dogma which I rebelled against when I had sense enough to see it for what it was.

We have three children and we did not push one faith or another onto them. Faith is their own choice.

[modeller]

bazwill // you wouldnt expect that kind of garbage in a private school, //

I don't know which schools you were referring to but many private schools are set up
to push a particular ethos . The staff are selected on the basis of that ethos so it is logical it will affect their method of teaching, be it left, right or religious based. Most subjects can be presented and interpreted in so many different ways.
Even in a secular schools I experienced daily religious education ranging from nothing to 40 minute assemblies every morning. In the latter case the headmistess
even told every member of staff she hoped they went to church regularly.

[rov1100]

It don't seem to make a jot of difference. Those Islamic fundamentalists seem to breed in our universities. The indocrination seems to happen within the family unit and not the schools.