• "Religious education is a priority and MUST be saved"
    111 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Jsm;34757394]You have to teach people about religions or you are going to end up with a generation of ignorant people who have no idea what they are talking about spreading hatred.[/QUOTE] I don't see how being educated on a subject would make you stop spreading bullshit about it. From an atheist's point of view as you go deeper into religion you start to hate it more because of all the stupidity in there. I know quite a bit about christianity, I know quite a bit about islam, does it make me hate it more or less than it did before I was educated? Not at all. Hasn't changed my opinion one bit. All it does imo is waste precious school time that could be spent teaching kids useful stuff so they can finish faster and get on with their lives.
[QUOTE=Madman_Andre;34757420]So are they wanting to teach Religion as "General-facts-and-information-about-different-religions," or are they wanting to teach it as "REPENT-NOW-OR-YOU-WILL-BURN-FOR-ETERNITY-IN-HELL?" The article doesn't really elaborate on that? :v:[/QUOTE] It's supposed to be just facts and it's not completely about religion either, at least it wasn't where I went to school. Occasionally there are things that are loosely related to religion that get taught and discussed. Morality, mortality and things like that came up quite a lot for instance.
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;34757452]I don't see how being educated on a subject would make you stop spreading bullshit about it. From an atheist's point of view as you go deeper into religion you start to hate it more because of all the stupidity in there. I know quite a bit about christianity, I know quite a bit about islam, does it make me hate it more or less than it did before I was educated? Not at all. Hasn't changed my opinion one bit. All it does imo is waste precious school time that could be spent teaching kids useful stuff so they can finish faster and get on with their lives.[/QUOTE] No form of education is a waste of anyones time, taking an hour or so of peoples time a week to make them a more rounded person is a perfect use of a schools time. That is afterall what a school is designed to do.
The problem I see is that there's a lot of potential abuse that could go on in these classes if they're not watched.
[QUOTE=The golden;34757706]Let's be honest here, when these students are done school and enter the working world, is the religious education really going to benefit them? Probably not. It should be a optional class for the students wish to take it or need to take it for later education/careers. It's a very touchy area, and not a lot of students are going to care for it, so why force-feed it to them? The final year of highschool here, where I live, consists of 1 language course (you pick from a selection) and 1 history course (you pick from a selection). That's it. Everything else you pick and choose depending on what you want to do or what you need to do. Why can't this religious course be any different?[/QUOTE] Not a lot of students care for things like Maths because it bores them and most stuff they learn at GCSE may not actually be useful for them if they know they aren't going into a demanding career. Does that mean we should stop teaching that as well? RE does have benefits, largely teaching students correctly about religious beliefs, instead of spreading fear and hatred, they get factual information. And students are more likely to believe a teacher than their family for education, so instead of being taught that "All brown people do is blow you up!!!" by their bigoted parents, and sticking to that ideal. The student can learn "Not all "brown" people are religious, and the ones that are don't want you to die, only the extremists of their religion would, and they aren't that large a group". RE isn't so much about teaching kids to embrace religion and join one or forever burn in hell. It's to make sure they are educated on belief systems outside their own and encourage acceptance. Quite useful in today's society where the places we live have so many cultures living in them.
History should be mandatory. All RS is, is ethical debates e.g. Is abortion right and what to religious people think of it. People can work these things out for themselves, they don't need someone telling them what to think.
Why would they endorse and prioritize brain washing.
RE can stay as long as it's 100% optional. Teaching something a kid doesn't want only makes him hate it more. [editline]18th February 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Techno-Man;34757974]Why would they endorse and prioritize brain washing.[/QUOTE]They need a "OP reading" lesson in schools.
My RE lessons were spent watching Bruce Almighty because it had God in, East is East because it had Muslims in, and Million Dollar Baby because it had euthanasia in.
[QUOTE=matt.ant;34758035]My RE lessons were spent watching Bruce Almighty because it had God in, East is East because it had Muslims in, and Million Dollar Baby because it had euthanasia in.[/QUOTE] We got to watch Lord of the rings when we were doing about wars.
[QUOTE=Techno-Man;34757974]Why would they endorse and prioritize brain washing.[/QUOTE] Because teaching someone about different cultures and people is brain washing...
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;34758008]They need a "OP reading" lesson in schools.[/QUOTE] That I would be willing to pay taxes for.
RE is not essential to a complete educating experience. Things like English, Maths, and Science are. However, that's not to say that teaching kids about other religions is ever a bad thing. I believe the job of a government is to provide freedom of choice for its citizens, and how can people choose if they aren't aware of all the options? Though as I say it isn't essential. If a kid doesn't care for his choices in something like that, there's no sense in forcing him.
[QUOTE=ThePunisher1;34757055]I think teaching real computing and eliminating wishy washy subjects like media studies would be the correct step forward given the current climate.[/QUOTE] Definately. Independent schools and institutions do well at teaching and pushing forward useful subjects and eradicating education facilities of these types of teachings. I have respect for some religion, but not from a teaching perspective. If you wish to be taught about Religion in school then go to a religious school, otherwise seek information about it in your own time.
If they're going to teach about morals, how about teach about homosexuality, sexism and all other issues? Oh wait no, gay is bad.
Yes. I agree that every child should be educated about why is freedom of faith important, how it must never be enforced nor be basis for discrimination of either side, which negative effects can religion have and historically had, and also a fair overview of basis and history of all major religions. That should be educated, yes.
What is wrong with you guys? RE is one of my favourite subjects, they never "brainwash" anybody, they teach them about different cultures and religious beliefs, sometimes topics that aren't linked to a particular religion, but religion in general. From my experience, it's a very interesting subject, but this might just be because my teacher actually knows how to do her job. She's fairly laid back and despite being in her least favourite class, she often gives us something interesting and productive to do as opposed to a useless worksheet and even lets us listen to music and watch videos.
RE is actually one of the only subjects that teaches about other cultures. I had a few different teachers for it and most were actually atheist, and they were all objective too
[QUOTE=ThePunisher1;34757055]I think teaching real computing and eliminating wishy washy subjects like media studies would be the correct step forward given the current climate.[/QUOTE] Machine shop aand advanced chemistry too.
Well this thread is super sensationalized. You guys need to read; if you noticed it's discussing how it is important for students to learn about world religions and cultures rather than be fed misinformation from other sources.
The state of RE taught at any level in my experience is very poor, repeating the same content year on year - most of which is boaring and insignficant in the current world. It could do with being replaced with at GCSE and lower levels with some sort of broader 'cultral studies' subject, teaching about how different people live, including information on religion where approperiate.
[QUOTE=hexpunK;34757193]Must vary by school then. Mine covered the Abrahamic religions as you'd expect, plus Sikhism, Islam, and a few others I can't remember now.[/QUOTE] Because Muslims don't worship the God of Abraham (or Ibrahim, as they call him in Arabic.) You were taught, but did you actually learn anything?
They should educate people on how to make a perfect bacon sandwich/roll.
I cant believe how intolerant this thread is... religion is a massive part of modern society whether you like it or not. I'm not religious in the slightest, but I think it's important to learn and be respective of religions. You say they should be taught something like computing instead, why not abolish art and music while we're at it? They are equally as unimportant in the "current climate". From what I gather reading the article, this aims to promote an educational and unbiased method of informing young people about religion. Hopefully encouraging respect and tolerance. Religion is an important fact of life for a lot of people, it's pretty ignorant to discard that without a second thought.
[QUOTE=Scotchair;34758818]I cant believe how intolerant this thread is... religion is a massive part of modern society whether you like it or not. I'm not religious in the slightest, but I think it's important to learn and be respective of religions. You say they should be taught something like computing instead, why not abolish art and music while we're at it? They are equally as unimportant in the "current climate". From what I gather reading the article, this aims to promote an educational and unbiased method of informing young people about religion. Hopefully encouraging respect and tolerance. Religion is an important fact of life for a lot of people, it's pretty ignorant to discard that without a second thought.[/QUOTE] Religion has been even bigger part of medieval society, what's your point? And yes I wouldn't mind if music and art was made optional as it's not needed and people who want could do them, people who don't could just not do them. I am personally all for customization of lessons you take. Make stuff like language and math mandatory and then other subjects optional. Maybe make a min of X subjects so it can't be abused. But overall many subjects are useless in elementary and high school.
Religion has no place in education [i]at all[/i]. But no, it must try to squirm into our live's in every possible place.
[QUOTE=Patriarch;34758968]Religion has no place in education [i]at all[/i]. But no, it must try to squirm into our live's in every possible place.[/QUOTE]You need "OP reading" lessons too.
[QUOTE=Patriarch;34758968]Religion has no place in education [i]at all[/i].[/QUOTE] You do know that you're basically denying people the right to make an informed decision on their personal beliefs, right? Pretty sure the Right to Religion and the ability to think what one wants is a big part of being a civilized country bro
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;34758864]Religion has been even bigger part of medieval society, what's your point? And yes I wouldn't mind if music and art was made optional as it's not needed and people who want could do them, people who don't could just not do them. I am personally all for customization of lessons you take. Make stuff like language and math mandatory and then other subjects optional. Maybe make a min of X subjects so it can't be abused. But overall many subjects are useless in elementary and high school.[/QUOTE] That is how it works in Britain, from age 14 you can choose which subjects to study, however Maths, English, Science and RE is mandatory. Art, music, media, languages etc is optional however you must pick 3 (or it might be 4) of the optional ones
[QUOTE=Patriarch;34758968]Religion has no place in education [i]at all[/i].[/QUOTE] yes it does. if you don't educate people about religions and cultures, they will get twisted ideas and become bigots
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.