Parental choice has been promoted by current and previous UK governments and enthusiastically enjoyed by many opinionated parents. The latest example is the free school policy introduced by crazy Gove. In the US, parents seem to have far too much influence in education, so ignorance and prejudice, coupled with religion, is preventing young people from having the education they should. It's like allowing patients to dictate what treatment their doctor should give them, ignoring medical expertise. The saddest thing about it is that America is constitutionally secular. Ignorance about religion (demonstrated by the recent gurdwara shooting and mosque arson attack) doesn't make for a more tolerant and informed society; it allows anti-science, prejudiced attitudes to go unchallenged. In my experience, when children are taught about religion in a social and cultural context, they're much more likely to reject it and consequently to be more open to understanding a naturalistic world view.
Right on the money as always.
ReplyDeleteParental choice has been promoted by current and previous UK governments and enthusiastically enjoyed by many opinionated parents. The latest example is the free school policy introduced by crazy Gove. In the US, parents seem to have far too much influence in education, so ignorance and prejudice, coupled with religion, is preventing young people from having the education they should. It's like allowing patients to dictate what treatment their doctor should give them, ignoring medical expertise. The saddest thing about it is that America is constitutionally secular. Ignorance about religion (demonstrated by the recent gurdwara shooting and mosque arson attack) doesn't make for a more tolerant and informed society; it allows anti-science, prejudiced attitudes to go unchallenged. In my experience, when children are taught about religion in a social and cultural context, they're much more likely to reject it and consequently to be more open to understanding a naturalistic world view.
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