Even though we will only be giving this a subject a cursory glance in my TE 803 class, I’m glad to have the opportunity to think through it–in part because of my own position as a Christian and in part because of my current placement. Over the past six months, it has been interesting to observe the role Christianity places at Detroit School of Arts. On one occasion, I recall several students commenting on how hard they prayed after studying the night before for a test they had during the day. During another moment, when a student was sharing a personal problem with me and my mentor teacher, Ahna, I was taken back a bit when Ahna said she would pray for the young lady. In class discussions, I have had students reference church and God, and after speaking, other classmates would shout, “Amen!” or “Preach it!” And most recently, at the senior pinning breakfast this past Tuesday morning at school, our principal spoke to the senior class and their parents, urging them to push forward during the rest of the school year and not to let their work be the devil’s work. As a church-going Christian, these occurrences certainly don’t bother me–but they do surprise me. I’m taken back to my junior year of high school when I banded together with a group of other students who were interested in starting a Bible study at school, but were told we couldn’t because of the impact of separation of church and state on public schools. So where is the line? Does it simply depend on the reaction of students and parents? These are my thoughts going into the reading:
“Religion and American Education: Rethinking a National Dilemma” by Warren Vord
“The battle lines of our culture wars run through every community in America, but our dilemma is very much a national dilemma in a more profound way, for it is bound up with the way in which we have constituted ourselves as a nation.”
This reminds me of the fact that often the dilemmas we face in schools is governed by dilemmas outside of schools in terms of culture, belief systems, and identities.
According to Warren, there are alternatives to being polarized–what are they?
“I will argue that students are all but indoctrinated against religion in public schools and universities. But I will also agree with those liberals who claim that it cannot be the purpose of public education to promote religion or allow its practices in public schools and universities.” I think this is a fair argument–let’s see where he goes with it.
“The idea that the sacred and the secular could be separated and that one could know everything true and important about virtually all aspects of the world without knowing anything about God would have struck most people as nonsense.” Indeed. I think I might still agree…
Religion/God is not dead–but many still behave/believe that it is, ignoring that it continues to permeate American society.
It is constitutional to study religion in schools–for the sake of knowing about it, not trying indoctrinate students. This seems fair–there is great value in examining the development of religion throughout history as it provides a great deal of insight into history, literature, art, and more.
“Western civilization has become very secular. Religion, in response, has become increasingly, though not entirely, a private matter, disengaged from the dominant institutions, ideas, and values of modern civilization.”
“What should be taught about religion when we disagree profoundly about the truth?”
Assumption #1: The secular and the sacred can be separated, and the greater part of our world can be understood in purely secular terms.”
Assumption #2: Secular ways of understanding the world are religiously neutral; hence secular education is religiously neutral.
Assumption #3: Critical reason is the ally of modern secular thought, whereas religion lives and dies by irrational faith.
“Now, if the sacred and the secular cannot be disentangled, and if (much) modern, secular thought is in fact hostile to religion (rather than neutral), and if religion can be rational or if secular thought is a matter of ideological commitments or faith, then the conventional wisdom of modern American education is profoundly mistaken.” Well said.
“Public education should be politically liberal (or multicultural) in the sense that it should give voice to various subcultures–religious subcultures included–which currently have little to say in the world of intellectual and educational elites.”
