DS's RS teacher "polygamy not that bad"

[IfyouseeRitaMoreno]

and when asked why women weren't allowed multiple husbands he said that this wouldn't work as you wouldn't know who the father is.

DS was annoyed bless him but didn't challenge. I felt a bit rageful because really he should his evo-psych opinions to himself and it's not exactly great for his female pupils to hear.

But then maybe that is life and he's just describing it like it is. Genuinely not sure IBU.

Do you let them know that you don't actually think that afterwards?
I do.
Genally when I'm playing devils advocate I wouldn't say 'I think...'
I would tend to say 'that's quite true. But what if I said... / but that could be challenged surely by...'

Pengggwn
I agree with a lot of what you have said.

We have British laws, but there will be laws people don't agree with (eg. Legalising vs criminalising personal weed use, abortion, gay marriage, state surveilance, religious liberties).

Equally, whilst plural marriage is illegal in thr UK, it's not illegal to have polyamorous relationships. Some people would have an issue with poly relationships, others wouldn't.

There's a whole number of moral and ethical frameworks that people can follow and still subscribe to British Values.

But the more this thread goes on, the more it seems sadly clear that there are people who want to not allow children to learn about other people under some misplaced sense of superiority of their own lack of faith.

I would say that polygamy(well polygyny in this case) in itself isn't necessarily immoral but enforced monogamy is.

There's a difference between allowing people to form whatever marital arrangement they want to and enforcing monogamy on women but not men.

The point being that if it's all so natural there is no need for laws is there?

The motive behind type 3 FGM is an example. The idea is to stop women sleeping around (to ensure paternity) which is predicated on the belief that women would sleep around left to their natural devices.

So it's ok for men to follow their nature but not for women and that is the basis of one man-4 wives when it's sanctioned by the state / religion.

No one is saying anything is okay or not okay.

Hey you're not. But RS teacher is. Trying to present it the kids as not so bad.

And really I think it is not ok. Not by "British" aka basic humanist egalitarianist values which is what our schools are supposed to espouse.

There are no black and white lines here.

It would be nice if there were. If equality of opportunity were an absolute that all children knew was morally right.

He/she has presented the reasons for doing something from the perspective of the people who believe it is okay
Exactly.

I have had British Christian parents objecting to content taught on my lessons because it goes against their values
I have had evangelical Christians object to studying Frankenstein and similar texts because 'it's against God'.

Thankfully, the role of education is to edcuate children about a range of views and experiences.

For a start what are we talking about on equality of opportunity?
E.g. a child's postcode and social background already correlates with educational outcomes.
There's a good cartoon called 'on a plate' which shows how barriers add up.

So it would be lovely if we could say equality of opportunity exists but in reality the build up og micro barriers means that whilst 2 children have the same opportunity in front of them at 14, one is more likely to to do it.

This is the the thing when people start saying "just teach this lovely simple right idea". Often lovely simple ideas aren't actually that simple.

No, it wouldn't. It would be reductive, bland and misleading.

Why?

For a start what are we talking about on equality of opportunity?
E.g. a child's postcode and social background already correlates with educational outcomes.

Exactly! Yet how often do we teach kids they can achieve whatever they want?!

I think we're arguing the same point but from a different perspective.

There are lots of things out there that suck. They may exist for some law of nature or culture or whatever but they're still shit. Let's not sugarcoat them and pretend that they're nicer than they seem.

It's like the misuse of growth mindset. Tell children that rhey can't do it YET but that they will if they just keep trying. Argh! Trying is great, but just trying isn't going to get you to master something.

I think my view is largely that in Religious Studies it is perfectly reasonable to tell children what others believe ans why. It's also right to point of legal issues e.g. polygamy is illegal in the UK. FGM is illegal.

Where I depart from some posters is that views should be dismissed because they are a religious group and God doesn't exist and we don't agree.