To wonder why non-believers send their doc to faith schools

[Latetothematch]

Not a thread about a thread but thought whilst reading a thread when reading 'dc goes to a faith school and comes home with questions but we don't believe'.

Why send your child to a school where you do not believe what it is teaching?

ps we didn't play any game to get her in, no fake church going or anything.

at Dagenham

I think you're right about the reverse outcome, Kisses. DS defines himself as an atheist, even after 12 years of compulsory RE.

I live in a rural area where all of the village schools are CofE and some on the fairly religious end of the spectrum. To opt out of this, I would have to go miles and miles and miles to the nearest town and would not meet the admissions criteria for the schools there in any event.

I hated the religious element in the dcs' old school. I had no problem with them being taught about religion, but vehemently opposed it being presented as a fact. Also, lessons touched on all major religions but there was never any mention of athesim as an option.

I don't object to RE as a subject (in fact I think its a really important and interesting subject) but I do object to the way my DD's school taught it under the previous head. It was little more than lessons in how to be a good Christian. There's a new head in place this year so we'll have to see how it goes now.

I disagree with the collective worship requirement, but wouldn't object if it was done as inclusively as possible by the school - which again under the old head, it wasn't. My DD was told off more than once for sitting in silence when a prayer was being said so is now withdrawn from all acts of worship.

Because most of them are faith schools and we were so far away from the two community (over subscribed anyway) schools that we stood no chance of getting in either. Right on edge of catchment for community secondary school, so may not get into that one either. So expect to face the same issue again soon for the next step.

Many believers consider atheism as a lack of something, so would not know how to teach about it.

But secularism would be easy to teach. Strange that it doesn't seem to be.

Suburban surely the "even after 12 years of RE" would be especially after it.

please don't forget that the Church set up schools years before any local authority or government did. The system we have is left over from that time and the church schools were handed over to LEA only since the 1944 Education Act. The land and premises of these schools are mostly owned by the church which means they have a 10% share in the running of the school - and mainly for that can only decide their own admissions policy and RE syllabus.
Having said that, many CofE schools are "voluntary controlled" which means they have less power - probably the ones you are talking about here where you say you have "no choice".
Like it or not, the government allows groups of parents and other groups to set up free schools which you could do if you were not happy with your local schools.
Or, you could move if you felt really strongly about it.

I live in a small village, our local school is CofE

Surrounding me are more small villages, where the schools are also Cof E

Because it was one of two primaries in our area, and it had the bset 'gut' feeling. Very similar intake, OFSTED etc. with the other primary in our town, it just had a warmth to it that I liked and DD1 preferred it too. That was back in 2003 when there was spare capacity in both schools, so I was brutally honest on our CAF1 about my atheism and DH's non-churchgoing status. We still got a place and it's a lovely school - DD2 is still there.

They're not very evangelical at all, if it had turned out that they were, I would probably have switched - but you often cannot tell before your DCs start.

I have a personal perspective on this. When I was 11 I had the choice of going to my local comprehensive school or the Church of Wales school which was about an hour by bus from my house. My parents took me to both and left the choice completely up to me. My local school was far superior in terms of facilities but I was bring bullied in Junior school and wanted to escape the bullies (who I knew were going to the local school). At the time faith was important to me and I asked my mother to join the church with me, which she did, we were Christened and confirmed together. My father was an atheist but saw that this meant something to me and supported me. I ended up doing well in my exams and made friends for life. Unfortunately faith is no longer such a huge part of my life but I am forever thankful to my parents for allowing me to pick my school when it went against what they believed in.

Does anyone know why there is such a push for RS compulsory gcse? It just seems to go against the non-denominatial aspect that is so much in other areas of society thinking bans of showing crucifixes in workplaces etc.

Our town has choices, all the schools are the same standard, but the snobby parents prefer the Catholic school. They're happy to me preschool places at the other schools though, as the Catholic school doesn't have a nursery, which annoys me!

Loving that "you could move if you felt really strongly about it"

Yeah, right.

Tommy, so you think that if people object to the monopolisation of children's education by established churches, they should move house, or set up their own school?

Really?

X-post, echt

late, I know that the C of E was especially pissed off at RE not being included in Michael Gove's so-called English Baccalaureate subjects, so maybe the only way to ensure it didn't completely fall off the national curriculum was to make it compulsory.

Though who would have made it thus is a mystery.

Even when faith schools present it as fact the children can make their own minds up. My youngest went to a church school as it was our local school, I recall him saying that he believed in science rather than god when it came to the creation of the world and evolution but that school had to teach the god version because it was a church school. His school were able to give him a balanced education so he could make his own mind up.

In my last village I had a choice of c of e or Catholic primaries, equal walking distance. Chose c of e, partly as an act of rebellion (dc1 is a baptised catholic thanks to my ex) and partly because it was nearer to my parents' house.

Also, the army orrificers traditionally tended to ship their offspring to the Catholic one to avoid their little darlings having to mix with the ranks' kids in the next village's schools (where the bases were).

Now, in the village I live in the local school is technically not religious affiliated but the c of e church and the methodists tend to share the indoctrination easter/harvest/Christmas celebrations between them so they get as big a dose of religion as anywhere else.

just being devil's advocate really

It depends how strongly you feel though doesn't it? We did consider moving house for a decent secondary school (as many people do I know) so why not for primary? Really? If you want to live in a village and have the countryside type life, then the school choices are going to be more limited - pay your money, take your choice

Not all children are assertive enough to make up their own mind octopus (loving the NN btw).

Children learn early on that teachers are figures of authority and that the information they impart is the truth.

There's no such thing as the devil Tommy

Nothing to do with school results for us, but due to being the only school with spaces, and this has happened twice (catholic and CofE).

We're in the sticks and the nearest village school is CofE.

Where I grew up every primary school within 8 miles was CofE (and the one 8 miles away was Catholic). So no choice.

Even where I live now, in London, there are relatively few non-faith schools, all of which are oversubscribed (as are the faith schools, to be fair). Plenty of people in this area will live too far from the non-faith schools to stand any chance of getting into them. And they are planning to open more faith schools (and no more non-faith schools) even though the local census data on religious belief for people of childbearing age really doesn't support that.