There’s no reason RS, when taught well, can’t be secular. In fact, in order to be taught well it really has to be. A good teacher explaining all the world’s religions, their beliefs, and looking at the reasons people believe what they do, should at least encourage agnosticism in the students.
This is exactly what I had at school. They called it 'Core ‘RE’. I learned about hindus, islam, christianity and all sorts of other stuff. It was not a mandatory GCSE though, but you could take an RE GCSE, I did not.
This is exactly what my RS was like, very inclusive and secular and my teacher was an Anglican priest. He didn’t let his own views impact his teaching. I didn’t appreciate it at the time but he was a great teacher.
Mine was similar, but my RS teacher was a cool goth lady. Also perfect for RS.
Meanwhile in Catholic school, we did an entire year on the Gospel of John. Couldn’t ask for a better way to convert everyone to atheism.
Going to a CofE school made me an atheist. If their god exists he had forsaken that place.
My Dad was taught in a school run by Jesuits - he learned a similar lesson.
I was speaking to my wife about our schooling and saying how much I enjoyed RS. We had a teacher who made a point of plainly, and without bias explaining all the mysterys of human beliefs. It was truly a fascinating subject. Whereas my wife’s RS consisted of a minister coming in and reading the bible. We’re the same age, from the same country.
As I get older I find other people’s religious beliefs fascinating and how they can affect that person’s personality, I may ask questions about it just so I can understand them a little bit better. But I can’t tolerate it being forced on me and I despised what was called RE (Religious Education) back in school. There are much more beneficial GCSEs for every day life that could probably be picked up.
I’m all for children being open minded to why people follow a religion, but I also feel there should be something to teach those children that currently follow a religion to keep it to themselves and not try to force it down other people’s throats.
I wish it had been replaced with “mortgage studies” or “pension studies”. Something I could have used in life.
#aboringdystopia
the fact that kids can leave school without the first idea of how renting a house, mortgaging a house or how our taxation system works (at least an overview) is rather criminal IMHO.
Short course RE was honestly dead useful for me.
Barely any lesson time required, and I’m 100% sure I did no revision to pass the exam.
But having an hour once a week learning about the philosophies chosen by the people we share the planet with, and why they think these things, is never a bad step in preparing people for life.
I agree with teaching it but not forcing as a GCSE. I was never really good at it for some reason, anyway 🤣
Religious Studies should be abolished and replaced with Cultural Studies that looks at a wide variety of different cultures to provide a rounded look at the world without digging deep into any one particular religion.
In my middle school RS lessons and homework was always rewriting bible stories. The school had no religious affiliation so I have no idea how that teacher got away with focusing solely on christianity.
My senior school wasn’t specifically religious but it had was linked to and made us of a christian building. And RS was taught by a reverend but it was a lot more balanced covering Islam and Hinduism too. Regardless I was very happy they weren’t ridiculous enough to force RS as a GCSE subject.
I think the fact 100% force maths and English is the real scandal
Explain?
I should’ve added a /s tag
I do think that those are fundamentally useful enough that they probably should be mandatory to that level. There’s an argument to be had over the course content, sure, but media literacy and numeracy are both exceedingly useful for almost everyone
