to think that you shouldn't fake religion to get a school place?

[Carrierpenguin]

A friend of mine became catholic when she married her husband, then they split up. She hadnt been religious beforehand, but now she's chosen to go to church every week for the last year in order to get her ds into the local catholic school. She's told me that she doesn't believe in all that 'mumbo jumbo' but the church school gets the best results locally. I understand that everyone wants the best for their children, but this seems a bit disingenuous.

I suppose it's open to all - if you're willing to fake religion you can get into the best school, I suspect that the good results are due to parental influence as you have to be very keen to commit to two years of Sundays at church, presumably this filters out parents who don't care about education, whereas the secular schools cater to all.

I'm not against faith schools or the system, if it gets great results then why not I suppose? Aibu to think faking religion is not ethical though?

There is no such thing as a Secular school.

but I agree, getting religion to get a school place is knobby.

Also I echo what ghostvitruvius said

The system is knobby.

What squoosh said

The problem is with the system which requires people to lie in order to give them a 'fair' chance at getting into a local school.

Yes it may be wrong to lie, but at the same time it also shows a lot of dedication to the education of your child that you are willing to do that.

School admissions should be based upon distance from the school for all (after the LAC and SEN/medical need has been considered). Faith shouldn't come into it at all.

(and I say that as someone who is a practicing Christian)

ralth
Come outside London and you see kids in Turbans or with Bindis at the Catholic schools

So don't the father religion come into it or just the mothers.

Perhaps it was agreed by both parents that dc would go to a faith school.

I repeat. Do people who do this lie to their children, or just encourage their children to lie to others?

Just in case anybody does not believe me about lots of faiths at a Catholic school
lh5.ggpht.com/-Q9UYSpBG97I/UJktAlTN0OI/AAAAAAAACy0/a4em053kAg8/s800/IMG_5397.JPG
back right

People barking 'I repeat' always appear so bad tempered.

Hak
Outside London they just apply, come what may.
Inside London it is part of the hypocrisy of life that kids just learn earlier than us sheltered souls in the sticks

its less about "lying" than about being economical with the truth

I always remember the bishop who confirmed be being quite happy with the fact that I'd stated I did not believe any of it.
I was playing family politics
he was a hypocrite

Hakluyt my son is only 2 so I'm not sure exactly what I will say to him but I will make sure he is aware that not everyone believes in god or Catholicism. There are many other religions. My father is a Muslim so I can use this as an example. I will explain to him that if he believes in god, then that is all that matters and I will support that. As he gets older I will encourage him to think about science and evolution and for him to have an open mind.

It's really not a big deal of me, as I went to Catholic school and I have come away with an open mind. That might have something to do with having parents who are in different religions though

Well, as I think all religion is fake, your OP is just going along with it by faking. Can't beat 'em, join 'em.

"People barking 'I repeat' always appear so bad tempered."

Or just angry? Do you have a with me being angry at the thought of people lying to their children/teaching their children to lie to others?

I think your anger is misdirected.

I go to church each week to get my son into my chosen school. I have not lied to anyone. No one has asked me if I believe or anything. I just go give money to the church sing some songs, listen and go home. No lying involved.

I know someone who is buying a house (with an insane mortgage they can hardly afford) in the catchment for the local CofE secondary purely on the basis of "ensuring" her 1yr old DS gets in. She fully intends to start going to church when they move for exactly the same reason. She has absolutely no belief or faith, her and hub didn't marry in a church because they aren't christian. She's just bizarrely IMO honed in this one school as being "the best"... I work in another local state secondary and I think she's totally bonkers (in this one respect, in other ways she is lovely) and besides, a lot can happen to the reputation of a school in a decade! I do think parents often overestimate the effect an "outstanding" school will have on their children's achievements and underestimate the effect they have.

I attend Church and am not sending ds to a faith school as I would prefer him to mix with a more ethnically diverse group.

It's the fault of the churches. They decide the admissions criteria. They could make their schools open to all, regardless of faith - some people would say that was the truly Christian thing to do.

It is not the fault of the churches at all. You are right that they could change the admissions criteria, but it would be better all round to improve the schools that parents are trying to avoid. But the only way that's going to happen is if all parents suddenly start becoming engaged and supportive with school so that other parents don't feel the need to keep their children away from certain schools.

Thanks. I'm not angry at all, I just wondered what the general view was. It sounds like it's fair game to do this and I agree that it shows a very dedicated parent to sit through weekly services that they have no interest in.

I do wonder how 'bad' some of these non-church schools are. Some might be, but how do you know, for sure? Go visit, ask around, ask the parents at that school.
I say this because I've heard a few mention dd's primary school as being 'bad' or at least under-achieving. This is because there's a large number of children with special needs going there - language and communication disorders such as ASD and other forms of mutism (nb NOT inability to speak English as I've had to explain to some in the past - more the inability to speak). Consequently, some of the STATS results are not good, at least not in English (Maths and Sciences rather better). Then there's the likelihood that some more aspirational parents will avoid the school based solely on those results, resulting in other schools with few special needs children doing better and dd's primary doing worse. However, we found the school to be lovely with some excellent teaching. She did very well there.

YANBU. They should do blood tests to confirm before giving out the places.

Faith schools are only "better" because of the covert selection they practice. Under subscribed faith schools are no better or worse than other schools in the same catchment.