A Little Knowledge
Saturday, several hundred parents gathered in downtown Montreal to protest a religion curriculum mandated by the government of Quebec. Courses on morals and Catholic and Protestant beliefs have been replaced with classes in ethics and religious culture around the world. Outraged parents are demanding their children be pulled out of the classes.
One parent feared the courses would confuse his children and cause them to be atheists. "Religion isn't a Chinese buffet. You can't just pick one and then another however you want," he said.
The new courses will teach children about the role of Christianity in Quebec's religious heritage. Unlike before, the new curriculum also will focus on other religions such as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, native religions and Buddhism. His Holiness the Dalai Lama plans to visit Quebec in October 2009 to show support for the new religion classes.
I wonder about teaching comparative religion in the lower elementary grades, although I believe that by third grade most children can differentiate between "my religion" and "other people's religion." However, if parents are reacting this strongly I wonder if the classes will promote tolerance or, inadvertently, intolerance. Perhaps Quebec schools should offer evening classes in religion for the parents, also.
Comments
From my experience, people don’t learn about other religions existing until high school or college, and then they just see it like Greek mythology, something that has been decided as mythology rather than an alternative religion to their own. Us Americans could definitely use more worldly knowledge in my opinion.
I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school for grade school and 2 years of high school. In 7th and 8th grade, we were taught about Judaism. During one of our field trips we were taken to a nearby temple and spoke with the Rabbi as a class. It was great. I’d say about half of the students actually learned something and were interested. I think an acurate well rounded world religion/culture class is a great idea for high school students. Hopefully the students will grow into tolerant adults unlike the parents who are protesting the class.