In a multicultural society should parents have the right......

[Blandmum]

......To insist that their child is only taught those things that they agree with? Should parents have the right to home educate thier children if it is done to to avoid being taught about other faiths.

Or evolution

Or racial/sexual equality

Discuss

yes they should, as long as the child is not being kept prisoner! my parents did their utmost to bring us up in the 1930s. However, they didnt succeed. Each of us is the child of our generation as much as the child of our parents. It is harder than it sounds to isolate a child from the world around it.

NO.

Family life will teach the child the parents beliefs and opinions.
School life gives children a chance to learn about society's varied beliefs and opinions.

If we bring our children up thinking that one way is the right way, there never will be a multi-cultural society.

Agree with kama that the teaching has to be just that, not to be telling the children this is what you have to believe in.

I agree with Hattie,

Which is just as well, as I am tired, and can't be arsed to type out a well thought out and balanced argument

I think that nobody has the right to withhold information - including parents. there is a difference between educating and brainwashing. people form opinions based on their understanding of a topic and i think it is best that children have access to a wide range of opinions on stuff so that, as they mature, they can take that information and form their own judgements. there is nothing wrong with saying some people think X, some think Y and others think Z and the reasons they think these things are etc etc. you dont have to make any comment on the 'rightness' or 'wrongness' of any of these. i do think it is wrong to say X is the only view to have on the subject and i am going to prevent you from encountering any other perspective. To accept that others have different views isnt pouring scorn on your own. Obviously information must be presented at an age and understanding appropriate level.

I think parents should have those rights, but I wonder what good it could do the children not to share in their peers' education about the wider world.

I'd hope the values instilled at home would be enough to counteract malign influences at school (am prob being a bit over-optimistic about that though).

why the question? (nose, nose)

no, absolutely not. to deprive a child of a rounded education about the world is abusive. if we choose to live in a liberal democracy then we have an obligation to allow our children to be taught in accordance with those values and to abide by the standards of that democracy.