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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
Full Silos of Iowa
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 27, 2010 - 03:45pm PT
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I would "go in" expecting controversy. I'd lean into it and take it on. (Like big wall climbing.) I'd be willing to work through it, through the difficulties, in the interest of final results.
Attitude is everything.
Important life strategy: Mix it up. Despite the pains. Mixing it up can break a stagnancy. Mixing it up often leads the good ideas to surface, the bad to sink.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Feb 27, 2010 - 04:12pm PT
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education is government for starters, in most instances in the U.S., no?
teaching systems of religions rather than teaching a single religion would be impossible to remove the biases inherent in personal teaching.
a virtualized or media curriculum could be provided without bias, and agnostic and atheist positions would need to be taught in this new world order.
but discussion will devolve into 'belief' states in the classroom, which aren't verifiable independent of the user. someone will get indignant at the thought that their belief is not being understood by others and a miscommunication will be spun up by the media outlets, then a lawsuit will be filed, and school districts will pull the whole thing until the courts tell them what to do, and even then it will get relitigated.
I'm an optimist, but there are a lot of religious folks who wouldn't want other religions to be 'taught' to their children.
The whole notion of teaching children and what they are exposed to, is fraught with difficulty from as back as the the time of Plato.
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
Full Silos of Iowa
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 27, 2010 - 09:36pm PT
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Skeptimistic wrote-
instill a healthy skepticism of religion and reinforce social open-mindedness in your male children
Now if only we could export this prescription to the Middle East, too, it might save us a future war or two.
Thanks for the link. I thought it portrayed more than a few kernels of truth.
Munge- Separation of church and state in government is a good idea in that it keeps the government from setting up any official state religion.
But growing numbers think it's bad policy when it's applied to public education because it contributes to children's ignorance about the world's many religions.
If it were bad policy, it wouldn't be the government's first.
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
Full Silos of Iowa
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 27, 2010 - 10:18pm PT
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Just to be clear: We're not talking about prayer in public school. We're not talking about church or sermon in public school. Right? We're talking about teaching a Comparative Religious Studies course in public school.
Now I know you "higher education" people know what I'm talking about. But I have the feeling that's not everybody.
Preaching religion in school and teaching ABOUT religions (different religions) in school are different things.
The idea is not: Little Christian soldiers get to pray before the loudspeaker on Mondays, Little Muslim soldiers Tuesdays, Little Sikhs Wednesdays, etc. That is NOT the idea in a Comparative Studies course.
Jim- the 1960's practice you alluded to would be inappropriate in a 2010 Comparative Studies course. (As you probably already know. Tho I don't know your beliefs about religions.)
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Tobia
Social climber
GA
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Feb 27, 2010 - 10:26pm PT
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As a teacher and a taxpayer, I think there should be a separation of Education & State! Let's face it, the gov't is decadently "screwing the pooch" on this one!
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Jingy
Social climber
Nowhere
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Feb 27, 2010 - 10:54pm PT
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Thank you el-cap pics.. my thoughts exactly
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
Full Silos of Iowa
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 27, 2010 - 11:02pm PT
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Jim- I don't know you so I'll just comment on your comment. I'm not going to apologize for being a believer in higher education. I believe in higher education. I worked hard for mine. I distinguish between a standard education and higher education. Do you? With the latter being the more desirable.
Higher education can also refer to college-level. And I'm willing to bet those who have attended higher ed in college might be quicker to grasp what comparative means. Maybe. That was the intended usage above.
As far as your other words (1) poseur and (2) Christian fundamentalist- I don't get those at all.
EDIT I'm willing to ack there might be some miscom, here, Jim since we don't know each other- So what are your stances on (1) prayer in school (2) teaching about an array of religious models in school (3) and (as a kind of litmus feeler) teaching evolution in school?
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
Full Silos of Iowa
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 27, 2010 - 11:19pm PT
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Alright, I've researched you now...
Jim wrote-
A Brazilian wax job.
That's NOT the worst thing on a woman's body! We're just going to have to agree to disagree. On a few things.
EDIT I'm a fan of C. Hitchens. I only wish he had a lot more science under his belt like his three compadres. Then his "erudition" (I'm just playing) would be even more effective.
You're right, too, you don't know me. If you're being serious and you're not sure I'm not a fundamentalist (!!) check my posts on the religious-irreligious threads. Quite a history there.
I think we're all posers when you get down to it, we all want notice, validation, to some degree (in addition to adventure and fun times) on this fleeting stage called life.
EDIT 8:40p Thanks Jim. I suspect we just got off on the wrong foot. My background's in science and engineering. I'm an evolutionist. Hard-core. Certainly I'm no Abrahamic supernaturalist- you can take that to the bank!
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Tobia
Social climber
GA
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Feb 28, 2010 - 10:19pm PT
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Jim:
Where did you learn of that rule?
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Feb 28, 2010 - 11:26pm PT
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Religious or so-called spiritual concerns, while not at all the same things, are nevertheless pretty slippery merchandise for a lot of people who only have a sense for quantifiable information, everythying else being imagined, unreal, hooey, and so forth. Ergo it seems unlikely that any manner of educational board would ever be able to decide what a religious class would even entail. Only the wholly ignornat would suggest that genuine spirituality is basically the pimping of myths, beliefs and distorted history, but arriving at a concensus would be a long shot seeming that few would have done the work to know.
My sense is that most things spiritual are somewhat like wall climbing or poetry or music - certainly not for everyone, each requiring a certain inate appitude to even begin to grasp what the core issues are actually about. As such, they are probably questionable subject material for primary education, though a little practical instruction in yoga, mind control, emotional detachment techniques, and meditation are things I sure could have benefited from had they been offered to me as a kid.
JL
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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HFCS,
"Biopractic" sounds like a "New Religion" perhaps a New-Age Religion.
(Nothing is new under the Sun)
Perhaps you can start a New Church, "The First Church of Biopractics" and you can be its founding member.
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