Faith School Menace? Page #4

---

based on traditional faith?

Well, none of the reports

that I've read

says that

evolution is a scientific fact.

It just says there's a scientific

theory which says evolution is there.

There's another perspective,

from a faith perspective, that says

God created all human beings.

But I hope you'll see

that from our young people

evolution is only one small thing

in their lives

and probably an insignificant thing

in their lives.

It's not a small thing in the life

of a science teacher.

She will teach children

things which are...

contrary to the entire

scientific community.

Now, that's not a small thing,

that's actually quite a large thing.

If science says one thing and the Koran

says the other, who do you go with?

Well, I'd like to believe

that because science,

scientific knowledge

and the Koran are

essentially from the same creator,

there won't be a conflict.

The conflict will probably arise

in our understanding of those facts.

That sounds reasonable to me.

My advice...

If you'll pardon me

for offering advice...

Please do.

You're never going to win the fight

against evolution. It is a fact.

What you should do

is look at the Koran

and reconcile it with evolution,

which is what Christians have done.

In RE, we learn about science and

the Koran. By the end of the day,

we all came to one conclusion, that

the Koran is evidence of science,

that what science has proved

to be just recently

is already proved in the Koran

1,400 years ago, when it was written.

But that doesn't include evolution,

apparently.

No.

So what does it include?

It includes stuff like the shape

of the earth, about the mountains,

how they secure the earth.

And how in the sea the two waters,

they don't mix,

the salty water

and the drinking water.

So it's pure for us to drink.

They don't mix,

but they pass through each other.

Salty water and fresh water

don't mix in the sea?

No. It's like...

It's a natural barrier.

I was shocked that

RE elbows out science like this.

So you think the Koran is a good

source of scientific information?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right, yeah.

Right. And you're the one

who wants to be a doctor,

is that right? Yes.

I can't be sure indoctrination triumphs over

real learning like this in other faith schools,

but I do worry there's nothing

to stop it happening.

I think RE must be taught critically

so that the factual evidence of history

and science are properly respected.

In my view, RE should be

part of a national curriculum

and subject to Ofsted inspection,

like other subjects.

The Church of England told us it wouldn't

oppose a national curriculum for RE,

and I welcome that.

The Board of Deputies of British

Jews claims critical thinking is

intrinsic to Jewish faith education,

and their inspectors

inspect their schools' RE in a way

that matches Ofsted requirements.

But then, why not let Ofsted inspect

their RE in the first place?

I think there's something deeper

going on here.

Supporters of faith schools claim

they're in some way necessary

to allow groups to hand their

religious culture down the generations.

I understand the argument.

But what is the impact of this

across our society?

One former Muslim feels concerned

that faith schools are resurrecting

barriers where there need be none.

When I first arrived in the UK

back in the early 1970s,

myself, my friends, my family,

we encountered a lot of racism

and we often felt excluded.

And things have improved,

and it shocks me, it saddens me

that people like me are now

choosing to self-segregate,

when others have worked so hard

to allow us to mix and to join in

and to be part of a wider community.

For me, what's exciting about the world

is the range of ideas we can encounter,

and to separate yourself

off from that,

from the rest of humanity, frankly,

is deeply, deeply tragic.

Some faiths claim they actually

promote community cohesion

through their schools, and that

this is recognised by Ofsted.

But, as we've seen, Ofsted doesn't

inspect what's taught

in faith schools' RE lessons,

nor does it consider

the schools' admission policies,

which can discriminate

along religious lines.

I'm worried that faith schools in fact

encourage separation from mainstream society.

Now I want to ask how important

it is for parents to have the right

to preserve their culture

through their children's school

or whether this creates a dangerous

and divisive "them and us" mentality.

FAITH SCHOOL MENACE?

Faith schools are

on the march in this country.

One of the key claims

of their supporters

is that they create a confident

sense of identity amongst pupils.

But that very sense of identity

sets them apart from others

schooled to believe in a different

God or a different theology.

In not mixing at school,

surely there's a danger that these

children will grow up as strangers.

We have a warning from our own

recent history about how destructive

faith education can be when

it helps forge tribal identities.

The human psyche has

two great sicknesses.

One is the urge to carry vendetta

across generations, and the other is

the tendency to fasten group labels

onto people

instead of seeing them

as individuals.

One of the great scars

is Northern Ireland,

where you can see the badges

of Protestant-Catholic divide

on walls, in flags, on bunting,

wherever you look.

Nowadays some of this may be put on

for the benefit of gawping tourists.

Thankfully, Northern Ireland

seems on the verge of a new era.

Politicians, police and professions,

both Protestant and Catholic,

are working together.

But one area the Good Friday Agreement

couldn't touch, tragically, was education,

which threatens to re-open

the sectarian divide.

For children, the tribal divisions

start in the nursery.

In July 2010, it was reported to be

children as young as nine

who led the riots,

throwing stones and shouting abuse

at the other side.

Around 95% of pupils in Northern

Ireland go to either a Catholic

or a Protestant faith school.

Most of them never

have the opportunity

for a proper conversation

with a member of the other faith.

They usually marry

into the same faith

and, if they meet in the workplace,

it's only because of strict

employment laws to promote equality.

Surely, here of all places, they

can't see segregated faith schools

as a good thing?

Surely they should welcome mixing up

Protestant and Catholic

school populations?

At present,

the overwhelming majority of Catholics go

to so called Catholic maintained schools,

Protestants to

Controlled state schools.

I want to meet both sides.

I think it just boils down

to choice, and I believe,

for me, the Controlled sector have

the schools with the history,

with the record

of academic achievement.

That's where I'd want my children to go. But

increasingly, parents look at what are the best schools.

The hard reality is surely that

there's very little crossover, is there?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes