to want my child to be free of religion at school?

[cherryade8]

I've startedlooking at schools and attending open days for my dd. Even the supposedly secular schools teach about religion and seen to have display boards with posters and pupils work explaining the intricacies of each religion.

I'm not religious and don't wish dd to be exposed to more than a cursory explanation of religion at school. What people choose to teach their children outside of school is none of my business, why does the curriculum seem to want to force it on children? It seems to be the case in both state and private schools.

Aibu?

You really don't understand why we have to give children the skills and knowledge to respect and tolerate those who are different from a young age?

"Perhaps you could explain why it would be hard to learn about these other topics without learning about religion at junior school?"

Me? OK How do you effectively teach WWII without reference to the othering of the Jewish population in Europe. How do you do that without understanding what a Jewish person is, what Judaism is, How did the Jews differ from the Gen Pop, how were they identified, why didn't they simply deny they were Jewish, Could they have? What stories would those people have been brought up on, how did that contribute to the Jewish mentality. You would have to start from scratch. The covenant, the exodus, the splitting of the 12 tribes, David, Shadrach, Daniel, the crusaders who couldn't be arsed to ride to Jerusalem to murder Muslims, so murdered German Jews instead, the expulsion from Russia. Not all Y6 dcs will know that but most will have some sort of clue about some of it and at least they will what a Jewish person is and understand that it is a religion and understand what a religion is. You couldn't teach about the life of Ancient Romans and Greeks without some reference to their religious life. It would be tedious if very basic things had to be explained such as the purpose of a Temple. There will be bits and pieces in poetry that are meaningless if you are clueless about religion. eg Andrea Gibson's Jellyfish 'the levy broke a promise' is a reference to the promise made by God after the flood, broken by Katrina. If you didn't know that then you wouldn't know it and you wouldn't know you didn't know.

you keep telling me that I must believe that giving lessons to children at an early age will give tolerance - but yet when I ask you to show me how or why this is fact you just repeat that it does, and tell me it is me that doesn't understand.

Well I am asking the questions so that I can understand but you are not answering the question of why or how this works and where is your evidence. I am happy to listen so to speak.

Sorry Ivy you are being down right daft now.

If we don't teach children about religion from a young age how on earth do you think they will learn to tolerate difference in others? how will they understand the beliefs of others?

Ithinkwashappy - I never had a lesson dedicated to the Jewish religion at school but I still understood about the second world war and why the jews were persecuted. I would have though many other dc of my generation were also taught about the ww2 and understood the lessons without having had lessons on jews at junior school and many pupils were taught in this way

Did you not do any OT at all? Not even the flood? Daniel in the Lions den?Did you know that people have different faiths and what a faith is. Did you even do WWII in primary (I didn't, I'm 40)

No I am not being daft - sirzy I have asked for an explanation and to call someone daft as you refuse to give an explanation leads me to believe you don't have an explanation. You just think if you repeat often enough that that is the way it must be then that is correct - well i don't buy it.

People have given explanations Ivy but you are seemingly ignoring what is being said.

You started by suggesting that parents should teach religion not schools - then ignored people pointing out that parents aren't going to give a non biased education of ALL religions.

You seem to think that children can wait to be taught religion until they are at secondary school. Children don't live in some sort of bubble and are exposed to different religions and cultures from birth. Of course schools need to encourage understanding and tolerance and they can't do that without teaching the children these things.

I am not sure why you require research to understand these pretty basic concepts really! But if you do then I suggest you visit www.google.com and there is plenty to be found!

YABU to think you have any choice in opting out of the National Curriculum.

It doesn't matter whether you like it or not; all schools will teach RE and will have display boards with pupils' work showing what they have learned, I'm afraid.

I don't believe I've ever used Pythagoras' theory or needed to understand my logarithm tables since I left school - but I can't insist the Maths curriculum stops teaching my children them...

I went to school in a different country and was taught no RE and no Greek mythology.

When I first went around the National Gallery, it was like being illiterate. I didn't know what the vast majority of pictures were. What was all the bad stuff flying out of the box? Why was the sea divided in two?

I was actually an avid reader, and think I would have enjoyed the OT stories and Greek myths enormously. I educated myself on them as an adult, and a whole new world opened up. Suddenly, there were layers and layers to books and poems which I had never seen before. Asides in newspaper columns, quips on TV shows. It was like the world had been in black and white, and suddenly it was in colour.

Religion and religious stories form a huge part of cultural and literary heritage. Why would you want to handicap your child by preventing them from learning about it?

Unless you educate your children in a tent in the garden and don't let them talk to anyone then I am sorry to say that your dc will encounter religion. Yabu

TheHerringReturns has explained the value of RE and its place within the curriculum in the most intelligent and clear fashion.

Sorry - that should be TheHerringScreams and I should have been far less pompous and simply said she hit the nail right on the head.

Ivykaty - you ask how teaching about religion can promote tolerance - I would explain it this way. If you know the truth, the facts about a religion, you are far less likely to fall prey to what might be termed Daily Mail-esque scaremongering - that leads to fear and fear leads to hate.

The truth will set you free.

KingRollo, he is 8 and is now going to ask questions about who Jesus is. If he doesn't get anwers at home then he will ask his peers/school/the cat. If he forgets about this now then he will be reminded at some point in the future and want to know more.

YABU if you think learning about religion is not important! You do not have to be a religious person to accept this basic fact.

So why in other countries where religion education is not taught in primary school do people tolerate other religions?

If the Uk model of teaching re in school from primary school is the way to achieve tolerance why do other countries where Re is not taught in school at all achieve this by other ways?

but again sirzy - you talk about basic concepts - but give no explanation of why religion should be taught in school at primary age but tell me to go to google, - well do please show me a page on google that states why religion taught at primary reduces discrimination.