This is the title of an essay I have to
write. My answer is emphatically "No".
Here are a couple of my main points. I'd appreciate it if you could post your own ideas on the issue as not only will it make for an interesting debate but I hope to get some more ideas for my essay.
1. Schools should be centres for learning, places of objective reality. The lessons taught in schools should reflect our current theories and ideas regarding the world around us and they should be supported by tangible evidence.
2. Children (especially the young ones) are exceptionally impressionable. Therefore it is morally wrong to include a pseudo subject alongside actual lessons. It gives the impression that the school is just as accepting of the ideas in that subject as they are with the ideas in a Biology or Physics class. This is tantamount to widespread indoctrination of our countries youth.
3. "religion" is taught in schools but with a STRONG Christian emphasis. The way things go are essentially:
"God made the world in seven days, then Adam and then eve and then.....oh what's that little billy? You heard about the Norse Odin myth?? Well...that's ONE set of ideas...but we'll talk about that some other time"
It's an insult to even call these lessons "religious education" as they are primarily focussed on forcing the CHRISTIAN doctrine down our children's throats with a half hour session on Buddhism thrown in at the end of term so they can tick their equality box.
4. Inclusion of religious subjects in government teaching curriculum's diverts funding from the already over-stretched school budget.
Do I honestly want my kids using out of date and tatty physics text books because the school blew half the book budget on shiny new king James bibles? Do I fuck.
5. Intelligent design can cause much confusion, With children learning about evolution and the big bang in one set of lessons and something COMPLETELY CONTRADICTORY in their RE class. Schools are supposed to be teaching the most up to date and cutting edge ideas and theories to our youth and instead we've got the same old dusty bullshit. Not only that but dusty old bullshit that detracts from the credibility of the shiny new stuff.
Well that's the end of my little rant. The above points will be included in my essay (obviously re-written in a professional and concise manner)
If anyone would like to add any other points on why you think intelligent design has no place in a school, (Or indeed why you think that it DOES) then post It here!
Does intelligent design have a place in the classroom?
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