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#1
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Example of teaching religion in the schools
My younger daughter's class is reading The Secret Garden. As a way to
learn more about the background of the story, the class has been divided up to do reports and presentations on traditional English and Indian culture. For example, one small group is doing the food of India, and another, the food of England. Another group is doing clothing of each country, and so on. My daughter's group decided to do the religion of England. My daughter is being raised Jewish; another girl, Corrie in her group is Mormon; and the other girl, Kimberly, is nominally Christian but her family is nonpracting and has had no religious education. (All names changed to protect..[etc.]) They made a display board. Corrie was nominated as the one with the most familiarity with Christian doctrine, so she was the one to research what Anglican Church's beliefs are. My daughter is fond of history, so she wrote a brief history of the church. Kimberly did the facts and figures page, like how many members there are and so on. My daughter is the best typist, so she typed up everyone's hand-written notes. Downside: being unfamiliar with Christian terminology and struggling with Corrie's bad hand-writing, there were some funny transcriptions: "solution" for "salvation" for example. (I helped with fixing these.) These typed-up reports were then glued to the board along with a picture of Queen Elizabeth and some bishops. They also made a lego cathedral. They found a floor plan in an article in the World Book encyclopedia. We have lots of police officers and firefighters and similar from a long-ago purchase of the community helper set, so they were largely populating the pews, along with a few Jedi knights and other oddballs from other lego sets accumulated over the years. It's quite a motley congregation. The cathedral has several towers, a priest in white, and a huge crucifix behind him. ("Crucifix" was another new vocabulary word for my daughter.) Finally, today they are putting on a skit for the class regarding the historic split with the Catholic Church. My daughter is King Henry the Eighth, Corrie plays a couple of queens, and Kimberly plays the pope. A lot of effort went into the costumes, from historical accuracy to having nice colors and fabrics. I was very happy with the multitude of learning styles that this effort engaged. I got the impression that they had a great deal of flexibility on how to present what they learned. They used nearly every skill, from fine-motor dexterity in lego manipulation and sewing skills, to three dimensional visualization, to dramatic interpretation of a story, to research on the internet and through books and encyclopedias. I know many people who are very keen in keeping religion out of the schools, and generally, I'm one of them. But to my mind, there's a big difference between religion being taught as state-sponsored propaganda, and religion being taught as comparative religion, or within a cultural or historical context, as was the case in what these kids did. I'm curious as to what your reaction is to this, especially if you are of the No Religion in the School mindset. I'm especially interested in your reaction if you are English or Episcopalian. Warm Regards, Claire ===== Claire Petersky ) Home of the meditative cyclist: http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com |
#2
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I was very happy with the multitude of learning styles that this effort
engaged. I got the impression that they had a great deal of flexibility on how to present what they learned. Me too. In fact, what impresses me most about your description is not the religion aspect, but the fact that they did this kind of experience-based, project-oriented project at all. Maybe it's just Texas & Iowa, but Henry's elementary schools (and now middle school too) have been so standardized-test driven (especially since the No Child Left Behind Act was passed) that there's no time for things like this. Instead, they work on test prep worksheets and non-curricular time learning test-taking strategies. Sigh. Did anyone hear last week's "This American Life" about the teacher in Chicago who is thinking about quitting? You can probably still hear it through the NPR website. It was heartbreaking. But back to your question: I know many people who are very keen in keeping religion out of the schools, and generally, I'm one of them. Me too. But to my mind, there's a big difference between religion being taught as state-sponsored propaganda, and religion being taught as comparative religion, or within a cultural or historical context, as was the case in what these kids did. I agree completely. I think it was slightly dangerous territory -- it may have been a different exercise if you had had a fundamentalist Christian in your daughter's group whose parents do not believe in exposing their daughter to other traditions. I love your stories about the missed words and especially about the Lego congregation. I'm curious as to what your reaction is to this, especially if you are of the No Religion in the School mindset. I'm especially interested in your reaction if you are English or Episcopalian. I'm Progressive Christian, of the UCC variety. Episcopals, at least nationally, are pretty progressive too. I'd guess (but will defer to anyone who actually *is* Episcopal) they'd find it a great exercise. I look forward to Penny or someone else from England's view on the historical stuff. Fun project! Good for your daughter for getting into it, and good for you for supporting her. -Dawn Mom to Henry, 12 |
#3
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In article m,
Claire Petersky wrote: I know many people who are very keen in keeping religion out of the schools, and generally, I'm one of them. But to my mind, there's a big difference between religion being taught as state-sponsored propaganda, and religion being taught as comparative religion, or within a cultural or historical context, as was the case in what these kids did. I'm curious as to what your reaction is to this, especially if you are of the No Religion in the School mindset. I'm especially interested in your reaction if you are English or Episcopalian. I certainly don't see the sort of thing your daughter and her friends did as breaching the church/state wall. In fact, I don't see how one could possibly understand English history without understanding some of what was included in their report. Good schools, with good teachers, don't try to pretend religion doesn't exist. It can be tricky to teach if someone in the room is a fundamentalist (of any faith) and objects to THEIR religious tenets being treated teh same as anyone else's -- but I've seen good teachers manage it often enough to know it's possible. Just curious -- did anyone do a similar report on the religions of India? -- Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care |
#4
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"Claire Petersky" wrote in message
o.com... I know many people who are very keen in keeping religion out of the schools, and generally, I'm one of them. But to my mind, there's a big difference between religion being taught as state-sponsored propaganda, and religion being taught as comparative religion, or within a cultural or historical context, as was the case in what these kids did. I'm curious as to what your reaction is to this, especially if you are of the No Religion in the School mindset. I'm especially interested in your reaction if you are English or Episcopalian. Not English, not Epicopalian, but I agree with you wholeheartedly. I took a world geography class in the 9th grade that had a unit on world religions that I found very interesting. Learning about a culture or a nation would include learning about the dominant religions. Because the C of E is the state religion, I think it's perfectly appropriate to talk about it in a cultural context. Best, Ann |
#5
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"Claire Petersky" wrote in message
o.com... I know many people who are very keen in keeping religion out of the schools, and generally, I'm one of them. But to my mind, there's a big difference between religion being taught as state-sponsored propaganda, and religion being taught as comparative religion, or within a cultural or historical context, as was the case in what these kids did. I'm curious as to what your reaction is to this, especially if you are of the No Religion in the School mindset. I'm especially interested in your reaction if you are English or Episcopalian. I think that's a splendid example of how religion should be taught, or more to the point, that is definitively teaching, rather than imposing. -- Byron "Barn" Canfield ----------------------------- "Politics is a strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles." -- Ambrose Bierce |
#6
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Claire Petersky wrote in
m: [snip] Finally, today they are putting on a skit for the class regarding the historic split with the Catholic Church. My daughter is King Henry the Eighth, Corrie plays a couple of queens, and Kimberly plays the pope. A lot of effort went into the costumes, from historical accuracy to having nice colors and fabrics. [snip] I know many people who are very keen in keeping religion out of the schools, and generally, I'm one of them. But to my mind, there's a big difference between religion being taught as state-sponsored propaganda, and religion being taught as comparative religion, or within a cultural or historical context, as was the case in what these kids did. I'm curious as to what your reaction is to this, especially if you are of the No Religion in the School mindset. I'm especially interested in your reaction if you are English or Episcopalian. I'm English and Episcopalian, will that do :-). It is always odd to read about how children are taught about 'other cultures' when ours is the other culture. We even call ourselves different things: we tend to use 'Anglican' rather then 'Episcopalian', When I was 16-17yo, I studied a lot of Tudor history (Henry VIII and his children were Tudors). Actually that was the third time we learnt about it. It is covered in the first few years at school, then in history at secondary school (when children are about 11-14yo). There is absolutely no way you could understand about English history of the period without knowing about religion. I don't think you could understand European history of that time without knowing that there was a split in the Church. You have to know a bit about the Catholic church of the time and a bit about the Protestant objections. You have to know that the Pope was not merely a religious figure, but that he had political power as well. If you can't tell the children about the religion, then you can't teach them about that bit of English history. FWIW, Henry VIII was politically opposed to the Pope, but opposed to Protestants on religious grounds. So we didn't even a proper Reformation over here :-). Oh, and as there was a church in England before it became Catholic, the Church of England has the same apostolic tradition that the Catholics and Orthodox church have: ie they can trace the roots of the church back to New Testament times. Not many people over here know those things. Anyway, it sounds like it was really fun way for them to learn about English history. Especially the Jedis in the Cathedral. -- Penny Gaines UK mum to three |
#7
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"dragonlady" wrote in message
... Just curious -- did anyone do a similar report on the religions of India? Yes -- my daughter said that they were "cheating" because they had a kid in their group whose parents are from India :-D Apparently that child was able to bring things from home that were helpful in their presentation. -- Warm Regards, Claire Petersky please substitute yahoo for mousepotato to reply Home of the meditative cyclist: http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/ See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky |
#8
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#9
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"Penny Gaines" wrote in message
... Claire Petersky wrote in m: Anyway, it sounds like it was really fun way for them to learn about English history. Especially the Jedis in the Cathedral. This is wandering off-topic, but aren't there a number of people in the UK who identified their religious beliefs in a recent census as Jedi? Also, someone forwarded me this link, which I pass on to others who may be interested religious scenes shown in legos: http://www.thebricktestament.com/ -- Warm Regards, Claire Petersky please substitute yahoo for mousepotato to reply Home of the meditative cyclist: http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/ See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky |
#10
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In article m,
Claire Petersky wrote: My daughter's group decided to do the religion of England. My daughter is being raised Jewish; another girl, Corrie in her group is Mormon; and the other girl, Kimberly, is nominally Christian but her family is nonpracting and has had no religious education. (All names changed to protect..[etc.]) This inclusion of the history of religion in class seems entirely appropriate, especially given that the girls chose the topic and did the research themselves---a very different situation to being taught about one particular religion by the teacher. I don't remember seeing what age the kids were---the projects seemed about right for 4th grade though. I know that California 4th graders are frequently expected to build models of the California missions for history class, so a model cathedral seems at about the same level. The vocabulary problems also seem about right for 4th grade. Although I am not an Episcopalian, I went to Episcopalian church services and Sunday school as a child. I can't see anything offensive in the project as described to an Episcopalian. I can see the potential for mis-representing the beliefs of the church, but the project appeared to concentrate on the history and not the dogma. ------------------------------------------------------------ Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics Senior member, IEEE Board of Directors, ISCB (starting Jan 2005) life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels) Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed) Affiliations for identification only. |
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