Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Education

Join the discussion on our Education forum.

religious studies

39 replies

quofan · 09/02/2006 08:19

Hi Can anyone tell me if Religious Studies are compulsary in Middle School. My dd is baptised Christian, and as yet, they have covered other religions and when she asked the teacher when they could do Christianity, she was told off for being rude. All comments appreciated.

OP posts:
PeachyClair · 10/02/2006 19:55

Thanks, I am sure they'll help!

toogs · 11/02/2006 18:43

It is such a pity that RE is so misunderstood and so poorly taught in many places.

I have to agree about it being an exploration of ideas, beliefs, knowledge and culture as well as an insight into history, literature, morality, philosophy, politics etc. It's funny how bad maths teaching never gives maths a bad reputation! It is a while since I taught in the state sector but I thought that Christianity had to be covered in some way at each Key Stage up until Year 9. I could be wrong.

It is possible to withdraw children from RE but I would want to know why the parent felt this was necessary. RE should never, never, never be taught in a way which indoctrinates.

PeachyClair - if you are still looking for Buddhism stuff you could try An Introduction to Buddhism by Peter Harvey, your college library may have a copy. Really good on all aspects.

Apologies for garbled response to various things after a quick flick through the thread.

DominiConnor · 11/02/2006 21:35

bangersandmash I can't think of anything that >would contradict my Christian beliefs in either of >those subjects.....
Evolution ?

Rarrie says that few kids change their minds, it there any wonder given the constraints upon RE teachers ?
Imagine you pointed out the inherent racism in Judaism, would you have job the next day ? If you pointed out the effect Sharia law has on women would you have a house ? Does any RE teacher cover the inquisition or witch burning by Christians ?
Atheists in Russia and China have behaved as badly as the Catholic church.

You cannot have intellectual integrity without an assault upon the assumptions and reasoning of your view. Even though British science teaching is pitiful, it enumerates any number of fallacies and errors that people have made over the years, such as believing that atoms could not be broken, the earth being flat, or even getting the direction in which current flows through a wire the wrong way round for over a century. The misuses of science are given great prominence. Literature debates over whether The Merchant of Venice is two mediocre plays nailed together, anti-Semitism or a masterpiece of allusion. So with history, and even PE allows for different views of the same observations.

This is not abstract theory. People act upon religious intolerance becuase partly they genuinely believe that if their superstitions were enforced by law it would be nice for all good people.
someone needs yo point out the reality to them of religion being applied to government. Read up on what "St." Thomas More did for a living. Hint: It wasn't researching new ways to be nice to people. Think fire, torture...

DC - with respect, I do find your views to be typical of the stereotype about RE >teachers, not the reality!
Errr? the part about the parade of festivals was from an earlier post by someone who is an RE teacher.
But this leads me to ask you, what is the objective truth?
OT's are things that I can demonstrate to another person by experiment.
The fact is, that not everything can be proven...
Agreed, and I can prove that mathematically.
I can also prove that some are some things that cannot be proved to unprovable
However, even this view misinterprets what RE should be about.
I fear you are at risk of misinterpreting me. I was careful to say that RE lessons are not always interpreted by kids in the way the teacher intends. Also RE teachers vary like everyone else in ability to get the message across.

Also, I'm sure why you think Jesus was not a historical figure.
To me a historical figure is one for whom there are at the very least first hand accounts. There are none for Jesus, even though he was allegedly hardly subtle in his last few years. The gospels describe riots and specific acts by senior Romans, yet no records.
Have you ever read the 8 facts by EP Saunders?
No. Any good ?
However, I have at best thinly veiled contempt for anyone author who uses the words
?indisputable facts? about any part of history. All records have distortions and omissions, occasionally we find that some things were just made up when we thought them true. It would take a lot to convince me that Caesar didn?t exist, or was a composite character based upon the acts of various people But it could be done.
TBH, we need more kids to do more philosophy
Agreed. Mine are getting this stuff early, but I can?t see what that has to do with RE ?
Philosophy means love of knowledge, the whole point of faith is that facts are secondary. Maybe put it into maths. Modern philsophers have at least basic qualifications in mathematical logic.

scienceteacher · 11/02/2006 22:08

I'm not familiar with the National Curriculum's version of RS, but in Common Entrance, it is all about seeing both sides of any given issue and then coming up with your own opinion. That seems like an invaluable life skill to me, that isn't really explored in the same depth in any other subject. I'd say opt out of RS at your peril.

bloss · 11/02/2006 22:47

Message withdrawn

peacedove · 12/02/2006 06:29

KateF Here is an elemntary link. If you want a deeper treatment, you can ask again:

islam101

KateF · 12/02/2006 08:24

Thanks peacedove-should make clear that I'm looking for information that will help me understand, nothing more

peacedove · 12/02/2006 11:12

no problem, Kate. I know the need for people to understand. The link was very, very elementary. I wasn't sure the issues you wanted cleared up, so I gave that very basic link. It is almost for children rather than adults. But if it doesn't answer your questions, you could ask for more.

hercules · 12/02/2006 11:15

we could have a topic for RE teachers!

peacedove · 12/02/2006 11:55

sorry, Kate, I didn't quite express myself correctly.

I do understand that you do not seek this for conversion. I haven't offered this link for that, either.

The link isn't exactly for children, but rather for those who have not had any basics told them before.

hercules · 12/02/2006 11:57

when I first starting wanting to learn about Islam for teaching, I used that site.

peacedove · 12/02/2006 13:41

hercules I don't think it is the same link. My link is from

jannah.org

on the home page of which is a link to the web file called Islam 101. This is a private site owned by a Muslimah, and she has written that "Islam 101" elementary guide.

I think you went to the "Islam 101" site, which is:

islam101.com site

which is more detailed and explanatory than the one I gave earlier.

KateF · 12/02/2006 18:33

Hi peacedove-will look at the link later,have been out with kids all day. I think we each understand where the other is coming from

hercules · 12/02/2006 18:34

Yes, you're right. I didnt click on it, just the name rang a bell.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page