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Should a 9 year old (year 5) know who Adam and Eve are?

103 replies

wubwubwub · 18/01/2024 15:46

Is this general knowledge for this age? My niece doesn't know who they are and I'm sure I did at that age. But maybe I'm old LOL.

Would I expect them to know?

OP posts:
GintyMcGinty · 18/01/2024 16:50

My kids know but they go to catholic schools

CurlewKate · 18/01/2024 16:50

@Beezknees "My DS didn't. I am atheist and think it's nonsense so why would I tell him."

Because it's part of being a a well informed and rounded individual. Something I want my children to grow up to be.

ErrolTheDragon · 18/01/2024 16:55

FruitBowlCrazy · 18/01/2024 16:21

Well I did, but then I was 9 in the early 1970's and my parents had bought me a book of bible stories for children, which they encouraged me to read. I also had books with the old Arabian Nights tales, Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, all that sort of thing. I doubt whether many children these days know those stories either.

Edited

There's probably quite a lot of kids nowadays who read or get read Greek and Roman myths, sinbad etc but who may not be exposed to the Adam and Eve myth because the books are presented as 'Bible stories' rather than as 'judaeo-Christian myths'.

Strawberrycheesecake7 · 18/01/2024 16:58

wubwubwub · 18/01/2024 16:43

Well, I did tell her who they were.

I gather it's not taught in primary any more. So maybe that's the difference?

Christianity (and other religions) are taught in primary schools. I was a primary school teacher up until recently when I had my son and I taught children about Christianity myself. A 9 year old should have been taught about Adam and Eve at some point, though it’s possible she was off school that day or just doesn’t remember.

Natsku · 18/01/2024 17:10

I'm not sure my 12 year old even knows. She doesn't go to any religious lessons at school, we don't go to Church, I don't think she's ever picked up a bible and looked in it. I feel a bit bad in a way because knowing the bible stories makes a lot of cultural things make sense - Life of Brian won't be as funny to her (once she's older enough to watch it) if she doesn't know that much about Jesus. But she's just not interested at all.

Beezknees · 18/01/2024 17:12

CurlewKate · 18/01/2024 16:50

@Beezknees "My DS didn't. I am atheist and think it's nonsense so why would I tell him."

Because it's part of being a a well informed and rounded individual. Something I want my children to grow up to be.

I disagree. Anyway, he does know now as a teen.

Simonjt · 18/01/2024 17:19

I asked our eight year old and gave him context to see if it would jog his memory, he doesn’t know the story.

CookieDoughNice · 18/01/2024 17:26

My eldest is 8. No.
Most books are preachy bible stories rather than a book of myths, though I do have Christian Mythology: A Secular Family Storybook stashed away, it’s probably in there.
But avoiding Christian mythology other than discussing the real reasons for the seasons (Christmas, Winter Solstice etc) for another year or so.
Focusing enjoying other myths for now.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 18/01/2024 17:26

Depends upon whether your Local Authority has set the RE syllabus or if it's been set by an academy (or faith school) - in one authority near me, I've just checked and creation stories are covered in the first half term of infants and then not really returned to until secondary.

TooFondOfBooks · 18/01/2024 17:39

If you’re interested, there’s an explanation of how RE Curricula work in England here; & an example of an agreed curriculum - specifically, Southwark’s - can be found here.

So - if she’s at school in England - your niece may or may not have encountered the school, depending on what her local agreed curriculum covers.

As to whether you’d expect it to be general knowledge? As that creation story is shared by Judaism, Christianity & Islam, having a vague idea of it would seem sensible, given the degree to which those faiths have shaped the world we inhabit. Knowing that story also opens the door to a great deal of western art (including some literature).

Not knowing it might be considered (socially) disadvantaging by some - in that prep school kids usually get Lots Of Jesus &/or Tradition, so even if [from] a [family of] rabid athiest[s], they’ll have that knowledge. So if you’re in fact thinking about scholarships/interviews & gaps in general knowledge, then yes, interviewers would think she should know, while also ideally wanting her to know about various other making-people from clay stories… or maize, or spiders leading creatures from world to world etc.

What you were taught in RE was presumably quite different from what your niece is taught; & the socio-cultural context in which she’s growing up is completely different. Unless you’re about to dripfeed that you’re an 11yo with a complex family structure or something? Do you remember from whom you learned the story of Adam & Eve &/or at what age? I don’t - but I could have told you as a toddler, because I was brought up Catholic. My wee cousins would all know (again, Catholic but mostly in integrated schools). My nephew (baptised Protestant) is in Year 3 in England & I’m not sure if he’d know; but his autism can mean he disregards information unrelated to his special interests 😁

BoxOfPaints · 18/01/2024 18:03

So much Western literature, music and art (particularly pre 20th century) is full of Biblical allusions - I think unless you have some basic knowledge of the Bible and Judeo-Christianity it's quite hard to engage with those aspects of high culture.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 18/01/2024 18:26

NeverDropYourMooncup · 18/01/2024 17:26

Depends upon whether your Local Authority has set the RE syllabus or if it's been set by an academy (or faith school) - in one authority near me, I've just checked and creation stories are covered in the first half term of infants and then not really returned to until secondary.

There's the other consideration that she could have been self isolating at the time it would have been covered or her year group were sent home, depending upon which year they covered it.

RandomUsernameHere · 18/01/2024 18:41

Just asked DS who is also 9 and in year 5, he said "didn't they eat an apple" so has obviously heard of them but didn't know much detail. We are completely non-religious.

tattooedpolarbear · 18/01/2024 18:51

s

Whether or not you're religious, basic knowledge of the Bible is absolutely essential if you are to engage in Western Culture and have a grasp of our history.

Melvyn Bragg on the KJB and Richard Dawkins

Lord (Melvyn) Bragg promotes his book The King James Bible - the Book of Books

https://www.youtube.com/watch?ab_channel=RexLupis&v=9xyrgTdHnic

SkaterGrrrrl · 18/01/2024 18:53

Nope

BerthaFlapjack · 18/01/2024 19:01

Children might learn about them from religious parents or church itself.

Schools should only teach about stuff in the bible if it is from a "some people believe this story" angle, along with teachings of other faiths and none.

Most children will pick this up at some point but it hardly matters. A couple of randoms in a garden or whatever are neither here nor there.

BoxOfPaints · 18/01/2024 21:06

@BerthaFlapjack I'm guessing you're not a fan of Milton.

Sartre · 18/01/2024 21:09

I would expect a 9 year old too, yes. I’m an atheist but was raised around Judaism and Anglicanism so fairly well versed in the Bible and Torah. It often helps with my job as an English lit lecturer so it isn’t pointless information.

I went to a state secular school and we definitely had learnt about Adam and Eve way before year 5.

sprigatito · 18/01/2024 21:10

CurlewKate · 18/01/2024 15:52

Mine would have done. But I am an atheist so I made sure my children were well versed in all the main myths and legends.

Same. They knew the story, just as they knew Rama and Sita, the feeding of the five thousand, Aesop's fables and the Cat in The Hat. Anyone trying to intimate to them that any of these stories were factual accounts got short shrift.

Milange · 18/01/2024 21:30

CurlewKate · 18/01/2024 15:52

Mine would have done. But I am an atheist so I made sure my children were well versed in all the main myths and legends.

This. I’m not an atheist, but my wife and 9 year old are.

We both agreed that it’s important to have a basic understanding of world religions because they inform so much history, politics , norms, values etc.

StaunchMomma · 18/01/2024 21:46

Why is the story of Adam & Eve relevant?

Even in a CofE school, there is no 'moral' to take from the story of Adam & Eve, so why would it be taught, unless in a 'The Bible says this' way in RE?

Schools haven't been allowed to teach creationist theory as fact for quite some time.

Talkwhilstyouwalk · 18/01/2024 21:46

No. Especially if not religious.

hellomi · 18/01/2024 21:49

Not necessarily, I'd say it depends what type of school they go to.

StaunchMomma · 18/01/2024 21:51

Whether or not you're religious, basic knowledge of the Bible is absolutely essential if you are to engage in Western Culture and have a grasp of our history.

A 'history' of Roman invasion and how our people were forced to reject their own beliefs and traditions and turn to Christianity or face the sword?

Lovely.

tattooedpolarbear · 18/01/2024 21:52

StaunchMomma · 18/01/2024 21:46

Why is the story of Adam & Eve relevant?

Even in a CofE school, there is no 'moral' to take from the story of Adam & Eve, so why would it be taught, unless in a 'The Bible says this' way in RE?

Schools haven't been allowed to teach creationist theory as fact for quite some time.

Because they won't understand thousands of literary references, much of traditional western art, or even have an understanding of why in the west we came to believe that humans are "one family".