Atheist sending kids to a church school?

notanewuser

andygb wrote: »

As someone who went to a Catholic school, and very quickly found that the teaching was good, but that having religion shoved down your throat was bad, here is what I would do.
I would keep my trap shut, look for the best school possible for your child, to give them a head start in life. If that means you having to swallow your pride and pay lip service to things which you do not agree with, then so be it, you are simply looking out for your child's best interests.
I totally disagree with the fact that certain faith schools should have better teachers/facilities than non faith schools, because this is discriminations, and goes against the basic teachings of all religions.
History however, has taught us that very often religions ignore their own teachings.

This makes no sense at all.

Many of my teachers were utterly hopeless teachers!!! You can't say with any assurance that the teachers at church schools are better than anywhere else!!!

Person_one

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I used to tell my son '.... Christians believe this..... some people believe that....still others believe the other....'

He has always said he was glad he went to church and to church schools because he wouldn't have known anything about it otherwise. He is an agnostic, tending towards belief.

Oh no! What if one of the other religions is right for a child, they can't to special schools for all of them!

steve-L

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I used to tell my son '.... Christians believe this..... some people believe that....still others believe the other....'

He has always said he was glad he went to church and to church schools because he wouldn't have known anything about it otherwise. He is an agnostic, tending towards belief.

But belief in what?
If you had sent him to a Hindu or Buddist school he might as well be an agnostic tending towards belief but in a completely different religion.

From an outside view he only tends towards the belief of the religion he was given..... did he get an equal chance at other religions?

seven-day-weekend

Person_one wrote: »

Oh no! What if one of the other religions is right for a child, they can't to special schools for all of them!

I'm only repeating what my son said.

And anyway, I think he meant it made him aware of spiritual things in general, not just Christianity. They did learn about other religions, even in a C of E school (and they were not told all the others were wrong, they learnt about them as you would any other subject, factually).

seven-day-weekend

steve-L wrote: »

But belief in what?
If you had sent him to a Hindu or Buddist school he might as well be an agnostic tending towards belief but in a completely different religion.

From an outside view he only tends towards the belief of the religion he was given..... did he get an equal chance at other religions?

I refer the honourable gentleman to the reply I gave a few moments ago:

I think he meant it made him aware of spiritual things in general, not just Christianity. They did learn about other religions, even in a C of E school (and they were not told all the others were wrong, they learnt about them as you would any other subject, factually).

miduck

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I refer the honourable gentleman to the reply I gave a few moments ago:

I think he meant it made him aware of spiritual things in general, not just Christianity. They did learn about other religions, even in a C of E school (and they were not told all the others were wrong, they learnt about them as you would any other subject, factually).

My experience of C of E schools is that they are pretty open in terms of religious education, hence your son's viewpoint. I went to a C of E primary school and am now atheist, so I don't feel that I was indoctrinated in any way. Indeed, I would say that my (non faith) secondary school gave a more narrow perspective than my primary.

steve-L

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I refer the honourable gentleman to the reply I gave a few moments ago:

I think he meant it made him aware of spiritual things in general, not just Christianity. They did learn about other religions, even in a C of E school (and they were not told all the others were wrong, they learnt about them as you would any other subject, factually).

But isn't that the point.... I don't think that when you say factually you apply it equally. When they learn about Christianity is it in the same context as learning about Hinduism or another polytheist religion? i.e. Do they get told Jesus did ....., God said ..... in Christianity vs Hindu's believe that Lord Krishna did.....

Because they can't all be factual..... indeed from an atheist POV non of them are factual just beliefs and from any monotheist religion then all the others are just what people believe vs what is considered fact.

I have yet to hear of a church run school actually treats its own religion as a fictional story as it treats other religions.

That is: "There is a story that Jesus helped some guy from a neighbouring province called Samaria and the Samaritans were not liked very much, now isn't that a good thing to do even if it's just a story"

Janepig

notanewuser wrote: »

I do have a different dilemma though - I'd like her to have a welsh medium education - where every subject is taught in welsh - but at secondary level the teaching may be poorer because there aren't as many specialist teachers who speak welsh. It's hard work, this parenting lark!!

It's worth you checking that out because I don't know of a shortage of welsh speaking teachers at secondary level. Certainly our local welsh medium comp is fine - it's worth checking if they teach exclusively in welsh (other than English lessons, obviously) or whether there are quite afew lessons like maths and sciences which are also taught in English. My understanding is that there aren't that many fully welsh secondary schools - the one DD & DS will go to taught quite afew subjects in English when DH went there, but they've recently changed so that everything (except English) is taught in Welsh initially, with some leeway in the upper years of the school.

Also WM primary schools have various levels of "welshness". DD/DS's school is completely welsh, English is only taught from year 3, but I know some of the other WM primaries in town aren't so immersed in it, they're alot more bilingual. Imo, an approach like the one DD/DS's school have is advantageous, especially for those children coming from a non welsh speaking home (the majority) because it gets them hearing the language when they normally wouldn't at home.

Sorry, completely OT. As you were .

Jx

notanewuser

Janepig wrote: »

It's worth you checking that out because I don't know of a shortage of welsh speaking teachers at secondary level. Certainly our local welsh medium comp is fine - it's worth checking if they teach exclusively in welsh (other than English lessons, obviously) or whether there are quite afew lessons like maths and sciences which are also taught in English. My understanding is that there aren't that many fully welsh secondary schools - the one DD & DS will go to taught quite afew subjects in English when DH went there, but they've recently changed so that everything (except English) is taught in Welsh initially, with some leeway in the upper years of the school.

Also WM primary schools have various levels of "welshness". DD/DS's school is completely welsh, English is only taught from year 3, but I know some of the other WM primaries in town aren't so immersed in it, they're alot more bilingual. Imo, an approach like the one DD/DS's school have is advantageous, especially for those children coming from a non welsh speaking home (the majority) because it gets them hearing the language when they normally wouldn't at home.

Sorry, completely OT. As you were .

Jx

That's very helpful. Thank you.

Madmel

This probably sounds like seriously jumping the gun, but do both primary schools feed into the same secondary school, and is that an acceptable school? That may sway your decision.

In rural East Devon, we had no choice other than to send our children to a C of E primary school. DH is an avowed atheist, I am more open-minded but will not nail my colours to the mast of any organised religion. The school was not oversubscribed so no issues there.

The children went to church every week and at first, most of the services were taken by the vicar. He was a really nice chap, slightly bonkers sense of humour, but really kind and perceptive. He was also shrewd enough to realise that it was better to be welcoming to the non-believing parents, rather than trying to convert or alienate them. He then retired & moved away and the kids were subjected to indoctrination from more radical people that one of the parent governors thought would make the church *more appealing*. DH and I didn't need to do anything to turn our children off religion, the zealots did a pretty fine job!

The Diocese inspected the school, graded it as very good and made various recommendations such as a religious section within the school library. DD2 was forced to take out a religious book, duly complained and got into trouble. She pointed out that all the books were Christian and that was biased so they eventually let her off, but not until I had been called in to "discuss" matters . OFSTED came in and graded it as satisfactory, something which was a lot more meaningful than the church report, given the standard of teaching & learning [I am a teacher but not in that school].

Not all faith schools require letters from ministers of religion, and many families in this part of the world would love to send their children to schools where ALL faiths are discussed openly. Now my kids are in a secondary school where the assemblies are thought-provoking rather than fire & brimstone & the kids are much happier.