Alex Singleton has a fantastic post over at the Telegraph’s Brassneck blog in which he addresses the proposal from the joint party committee on human rights that secondary school students be given the option of not attending religious education classes and assemblies.
In my secondary school religious education classes and assemblies were compulsory. Every Wednesday morning I and my friends would sit for 20 minutes or so whilst the religious proceedings took place and then departed for class. Given the choice would I have attended the assemblies and indeed the RE classes? No, I wouldn’t.
You might think therefore that I would agree with the committee’s proposals. But I don’t. Although not for the same reasons as Alex. My problem with the committee’s proposal is that it indicates a wider and more fundamental problem with secondary education in Britain; the power of the State over schools.
Centralised diktats are incapable and have always been incapable of taking account of local factors. This committees proposal is no different. Why not give the schools and indeed parents the choice. If a school wants to give students the option of opting out, or indeed wants to do away with religious ceremonies altogether then let them. Equally if a school, such as mine, wishes to make religious assemblies and RE compulsory then so be it, and let parents decide whether that is the right school for their child.
The committee’s proposal is little other than a declaration that schools and perhaps more importantly parents are incapable of make intelligent decisions for their children.
Posted by stevie on May 15th, 2008 at 7:24 pm:
Yah boo to you:
Are you that odious lump heffers love child? I want a Tory win, not another parliament of torment and tax.
Your nose is not something which you should bite off. There is worse in the country than David Cameron.