What is so bad about faith schools?

[Jalexandra]

After reading the 'anti sitting on a fence' thread, I was surprised by how many people had chosen faith schools as a subject they feel strongly about and was just wondering why.
I can't think of any good reason to be against them so maybe you can enlighten me.

The point is you could if you wanted to - you are not discriminated against. This is the only time that something is state funded and people are openly excluded from utilising based on faith.

It's so bloody obvious, I'm gonna have to parp. How people don't get this is beyond me. It's simple.

jalex - no, my local catholic school is not better than the non-demoninational one. I'm happy with my school which is at the top of the league table. I'm talking about a principle.

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Maybe she could apply, maybe not. Plenty of Catholic schools insist on confirmation 4/5 attendance at mass. But that's not the point. Why should an belief/opinion be taught as fact in state funded schools? Should political philosophies be taught as fact in certain schools?

only after they fulfill their admission criteria of being catholic surely, you know as well as we all do that those schools are way over subscribed and there are very rarely places left.
Thing is why is it acceptable to have religious segregation when racial segregation would be wholly unacceptable?
Sorry you can't come here you're black/white/asian

Just totally agree with Gobbledigook. Can only assume people don't want to understand because they benefit from the system. It's a bit like trying to persuade 60s white south africans about the problems with apartheid. If you are the winner in a manifestly unfair set up you are very unwilling to admit it.

But I'm not catholic so I don't want my children going to 'mass' as part of their school day etc etc. That should not be an issue - religion should be separate from general education. It can be practiced in the home, within the family and at a relevant place of worship. There is no need for specific schooling.

If the Catholic church (or other religion) feel it is necessary, it should be separately funded.

I would rather we didn't get into a discussion about Catholics in general - I am speaking from a personal level - i would rather speak about ALL faith schools as a whole. Additionally, state schools are not called non-discriminatory - that is a predjudiced reference based on personal opinion. Local state schools do have their their own criteria to fill also and some people local to the school don't always get in there either.

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Agree with Pruni and Sorrell. It's a no brainer.

Non religious State schools do NOT discriminate on grounds of creed or colour. Which is a hell of a lot more than can be said for religious schools.

Helsi - if you are referring to my posts I said 'catholic church (or any other religion)' and I also said 'non-denominational' not 'non-discriminatory'.

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ok then - we close all faith schools and then try and cram allthe children into state schools which will more than double the class sizes as you can bet your bottom dollar that the local authorities etc WILL NOT build more schools to accommodate them all. They don't build any new ones here to accommodate all the new housing builds popping up as it is!! All schools will then be bulging at the seams and we will then have threads on here about not enough one to one time with the teachers.
Additionally driving faith underground -to be taught at home - mmm - nice - I don't think.

The LEA sets the admission criteria for all schools in their area, only VA schools have additional criteria.

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Don't be daft. You just make all schools admit children without discriminating against them on the basis of what their parents believe. ie you change the admissions criteria. Easy. No 'cramming in'.
As for driving faith 'underground'. Give me strength. You are free to do whatever you want at home, you can go to church/mosque/synagogue as often as you like and you can march up and down the High Street proclaiming your faith, you just don't get exclusive entry into your own clique schools.

No Gobbledigook, I was referring to sorrell's referance to non-discriminatory schools.

All state-funded schools that is. If you want to set up and pay for schools that discriminate, I suppose that's your business. I still think it's socially divisive though.

Well, as I said, non-religious schools don't discriminate on grounds of what the children's parents believe. Which is more than you can say for religious schools that do discriminate against children whose parents don't hold those beliefs.

Helsi

Walk away, you won't win.

Pan Globalisation here we come.

So are hospitals worse because they let in people of all faiths and none? Since when did discrimination make anything better?

I think (but don't know) that most schools have a religious denomination of some kind. I can't beleive that people would begrudge a minority (in this country) religion of having schools that actually teach their faith. It doesn't seem that anyone posting against faith schools is anyway sympathetic to the fact that some people hold their religion as the main factor in their life. They don't think about if it is the best school; it is just the Catholic school.
If non-catholics went to Catholics school would their parents be willing to let their children sit through the catholic 'dogma'?

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