Atheism And Kids

[mid_gen]

Kids should be brought up to value independent thought and empiricism and encouraged to make their own minds up about how and why the universe is.

Taking a young mind and teaching it to accept what it is told without evidence to explain why, is how you end up with all the crazy extremist nonsense around the world.

 

[dejongj]

Kids should be brought up to value independent thought and empiricism and encouraged to make their own minds up about how and why the universe is.

Taking a young mind and teaching it to accept what it is told without evidence to explain why, is how you end up with all the crazy extremist nonsense around the world.

And in my experience that is exactly what current day schooling is doing

 

[big soft moose]

I'm not so sure. There was probably some but, in the main, the chief persuader was association with Rome and what it stood for.

The peasant covered in s*** didn't really care as long as he ate.

to be honest the british conversion didnt have much to do with rome - although we had celtic/romano british christians as a hangover from the occupation the saxons and danes were pretty much solidly pagan initially... it was the conversion of the saxon / danish kings which converted much of northern europe

 

[Beardy]

I have a four and a six year old...I am a strong believer in giving my kids opportunities and let them make their own minds up.

I am not religious but my mother is very religious...I went to church every weekend until I was maybe 12 or 13 and then refused to go. Did it do me any harm ? Not at all.

What I also think is that you want your kids to believe in their teachers as much as possible and have total respect for them. I don't see why you want a 5 or 6 year old to have doubts in their mind about their teacher...they will work it out for themselves.

 

[andya700]

And in my experience that is exactly what current day schooling is doing

Surely that depends what school you go to, who is on the board of governors (dictating what is taught) and whether or not it is secular or religious or any shade in between.
Based on my own childhood, spending my entire education within RC schools, I would like to see the whole of the UK following one curriculum, and be totally secular.
We have the ongoing situation in Birmingham (the "Trojan Horse" affair), where certain schools have been proved to have introduced a form of Sharia. The fact that they have got away with it so long, is because people are afraid to speak up. If you had a policy of education being secular, then the situation would not have arisen IMO.

 

[dejongj]

I agree and disagree. To an extend it depends on the school regarding the actual implementation, yes absolutely. However there are standards and curriculum that have to be adhered to.

Further more are you referring to the actual curriculum or the teaching methods. The two mustn't be confused in my opinion. I can't recall the actual name of the topic but especially in a non faith affiliated educational institute it isn't even called religious education.

Sure the Birmingham school is not a shining example of proper governance, however they weren't directed to do that. And it is being dealt with, albeit way too slowly.

Banning any such inclusion will in my opinion just increase the frequency of institutes that behave badly like the ones in Birmingham. It is definitely not the norm.

So you compare against your own youth. And you compare to news stories. Have you actually got any real first hand experience on how these topics are being handled today in schools? I think you'd be surprised how well balanced it it.

 

[andya700]

I agree and disagree. To an extend it depends on the school regarding the actual implementation, yes absolutely. However there are standards and curriculum that have to be adhered to.

Further more are you referring to the actual curriculum or the teaching methods. The two mustn't be confused in my opinion. I can't recall the actual name of the topic but especially in a non faith affiliated educational institute it isn't even called religious education.

Sure the Birmingham school is not a shining example of proper governance, however they weren't directed to do that. And it is being dealt with, albeit way too slowly.

Banning any such inclusion will in my opinion just increase the frequency of institutes that behave badly like the ones in Birmingham. It is definitely not the norm.

So you compare against your own youth. And you compare to news stories. Have you actually got any real first hand experience on how these topics are being handled today in schools? I think you'd be surprised how well balanced it it.

I am sure that you are aware of this, but I thought that I would post the links anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_aided_school

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolton_Muslim_Girls'_School

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornleigh_Salesian_College

Both of the above schools in Bolton are voluntary aided, so they can teach religion according to their faith. They can also decide whether to admit or not admit potential pupils according to their faith.
I went to primary school in Bolton, and was set to move up to Thornleigh College at eleven, except my folks had the brilliant idea to move house six months before my eleven plus exams, to a new location over 200 miles away.
Anyway, I digress. Everyone that I knew who went to Thornleigh, said that it was a very strict, religious school, and that quite a lot of the pupils (all boys at that time) went into the priesthood.
I just think that religion (or rather teaching one religion, as opposed to learning about all religions and their history) has no place in school. You may as well have lessons teaching Greek mythology as if they are based on fact.

 

[dejongj]

I am sure that you are aware of this, but I thought that I would post the links anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_aided_school

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolton_Muslim_Girls'_School

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornleigh_Salesian_College

Both of the above schools in Bolton are voluntary aided, so they can teach religion according to their faith. They can also decide whether to admit or not admit potential pupils according to their faith.
I went to primary school in Bolton, and was set to move up to Thornleigh College at eleven, except my folks had the brilliant idea to move house six months before my eleven plus exams, to a new location over 200 miles away.
Anyway, I digress. Everyone that I knew who went to Thornleigh, said that it was a very strict, religious school, and that quite a lot of the pupils (all boys at that time) went into the priesthood.
I just think that religion (or rather teaching one religion, as opposed to learning about all religions and their history) has no place in school. You may as well have lessons teaching Greek mythology as if they are based on fact.

Sure I'm very familiar with a voluntary aided school. Mine go to one. If you are familiar with it it then you'd know what goes on and how they operate. And yes they'd still have to teach the curriculum. And as I said the ones that I've got direct experience with cover all faiths and also atheism and humanism. But the make up of the school is naturally of a particular persuasion. You don't have to send your children to one, that is your free choice. In fact it is actually harder to get you child in one if you do not belong to a local parish.

Whether you agree with it or not is irrelevant as it isn't forced you. Nobody in such a place is being indoctrinated. One may not agree with religion, that shouldn't mean one can ignore it as part of a child's education. In order to interact with other people it helps to understand where they come from, what motivates them, what they believe in. All very positive attributes to a well rounded human being in my opinion.