SPUC handouts in RE class - normal or not?

[BeingFluffy]

DD age 13 in year 9 is doing RE GCSE this year - the ethics course. I just found a print out from SPUC in her book and was furious. To be fair to the teacher it was in respect of stem cell research and not abortion, but I don't think the views of those misogynist loons have any place in education.

Should I say something or just grit my teeth?. The RE GCSE is compulsory in her school in year 9.

Thank you Laura. In this case it was in regard to stem cell research and was a print from their website. I was a bit annoyed as I don't think that vile organisation have a view worth hearing on anything. Perhaps the teacher was just being lazy.

I don't think the class have covered abortion (yet!) but if they do use handouts from SPUC for that I will go absolutely mental.

Thank you for letting me know about your resources.

I think it is very important that young people understand and are able to explore why some ethical issues that, to them, seem very straightforward can cause such issues.

Governments around the world have had to be quite careful in the way they write legislation governing embryonic stem cell research. I think the George W Bush administration were pretty against it (couldn't say for certain). I don't see any problem in presenting the arguments on both sides. These pressure groups are not going to go away and, even though their opinions may be utterly barmy, teenagers need to understand them.

Many of these children, like me, may end up in an unfortunate position where treatments involving embryonic stem cells are the only treatments for their, or their families', medical conditions. They need to understand what some, seemingly barmy, opinions around this are.

That is just the point. The argument is not "balanced" on both sides. SPUC are a lunatic women hating organisation. I think there are probably good reasons why some people are opposed to stem cell research, but objecting on the grounds that a small cluster of cells a couple of days old are a human being is not a terribly rational argument, particularly coming from an organisation whose only wish is to ban abortion.

I agree BeingFluffy, but there aren't any pressure groups that I know of that present a balanced argument. It would pretty much defeat the object of being a pressure group.

It is the job of the teacher to select appropriate resources for teaching that present both sides of an arguments they are discussing. If you feel that the teacher is not presenting the arguments in a balanced or neutral manner, then that is something worth raising.

Incidentally, the SPUC opinion on the 'soul' of a cluster of cells is pretty much identical to that of the RC church - a hugely powerful body worldwide, and capable of putting a huge spanner in the works concerning global co-operation on embryonic stem cell research.

Whilst I appreciate this discussion has moved on I have only just read your reply to my point Beingfluffy...

Yes, Cricketballs and why not get a representative from the flat earth society while they're about it and someone who thinks people with certain "racial" characteristics are superior/inferior

just like kerrygrey stated surely we should be encouraging free thought and allowing teens to "make up their own minds even if their conclusions differ from yours" and if this means that they are exposed to viewpoints that you deem to be dangerous then so be it; but it will allow them to come to a conclusion themselves for their own belief system.

As a teacher I would have hoped that your DD's teacher had explained that this was just one particular point of view from one organisation and not a scientific fact and that there are other points of view held by many others and offer these to them. Then explain that only use this as part of a whole investigation rather than base their conclusions on just this material.

If this wasn't the case then that is where I think your argument should lie and not that your DD should never be exposed to it