Should courses in Religion and Philosophy be set up as electives in public schools?

Question

When I say 'religion' I don't mean an indoctrinatory class, rather a class designed to show how religions of all kinds develop culture, with the goal of creating 'world citizens' our of our children.

How about Philosophy? Will educating our kids in logic and philosophical discourse assist them in become more conscious American citizens and more moral human beings?

I appreciate all opinions, agreeable or not.

Answer 1

Absolutely. They are facts of life in the modern world:

Philosophy of Religion - Yes
Sociology of Religion - Yes
History of Religion - Yes
Comparative Religion - Yes
Psychology of Religon - Yes

Theology of Some Specific Religion - NO WAY

Answer 2

One way I saw this addressed, is a class where different religions were compared and contrasted, rather than teaching just one class on one specific religion (which can be interpreted as indoctrination.) In specific, my friend's 6th grader had a quiz that compared the Old Testament Mosaic Covenant, to Greek Mythology and asked the students to differentiate the characters involved, and what their beliefs meant compared to one another. I thought this was an excellent way of addressing the problem of needing to educate our children about logic and philosophical discourse so they could become more consious American citizens and more moral human beings. No parents took offense to this approach.

Answer 3

As electives to teach the history of Religion as well as it's modern beliefs, sure. I wouldn't have problem with that. As well as Philosophy. Yes, I believe it would help our children. As it stands now, schools teach the basics and a lot of things that really don't apply to our lives in the world. Example: How in the world does knowing the date of the beginning of the Civil War help any of our children function in the world today? I don't think these types of things are of benefit to our children. Discussing the Reasons for such things and Why they came about would be more appropriate. Instead they focus on names and dates and don't address real issues.

Answer 4

I think that some schools do teach philosophy as an upper-level elective for high school students. I would be ok if a comparative religion class were offered as an elective IF the curriculum got very closely monitored.

Answer 5

I think its essential. Our education system has lost touch completely with educating kids to think. That's where the philosophy comes in. And a comparative religion education is vital unless we want all our citizens to get everything they know about the world's religions from Brother Bubba and his Crackerjacks box Bible College diploma or from Sheik Yerbouti and his Wahhabyist funded Madrassa of Hate.

Answer 6

Of course.

We can only hope that one day the definition of an atheist is someone who has never heard of god...but in today's world you must understand the lunacy of religion in order to effectively combat it and protect yourself from it.

Philosophy on the other hand is entirely different. Studying philosophy teaches you how to think, and once you are armed with that skill, you can accomplish anything. My degree in Philosophy prepared me for a career as a computer programmer.

Answer 7

When I was in high school, we had LDS seminary which was "released time" from regular school but during the day like a regular class...seminary is of course still available and a person can have that class starting at age 14/15 9th grade. I loved seminary.

Answer 8

Don't most high schools have Comparative Religion and Intro to Philosophy?

Answer 9

And just where will the average public school find anyone qualified, yet unbiased enough to make such an idea work? If you look closely, they already have enough brainwashing going on for those young skulls full of mush.

Answer 10

Maybe, but as i see it in California, the public schools eat up almost half of the state budget. As a person in management, the ability and readiness of young persons to succeed in a 40 hour a week environment is in doubt. I think rather than wasting children's time with knowledge they should be getting from their parents, I would rather see, an early emphasis on vocational training, and preparation for the workplace. We really do our children a great disservice, by giving them all these unnecessary days of, a week in winter, a week in spring, 2 months in summer. These days off of school serve to undermine a person's ability to come quickly to terms with the fact that, these ridiculous amounts of leisure time are not realistic.

I can remember that, at the age of 11, I wanted to learn about electronics, and how they worked, yet, at school, there was nothing in place to foster this strong interest. In fact, by the time I was 13, I was thoroughly bored, by the complete lack of mental and physical challenges, the homogenized school curriculum provided.
What do you suppose happens to the energy and enthusiasm of our children, when, the school system has no elasticity to recognize there are different levels of stimulation in relationship to the IQ of the child?
What I think, is that, those of us that found learning easy,were severely shortchanged by the education system.
We were typically held back by the 'average'.
Meanwhile, in our boredom, we began giving school a miss.
To us, there was this entire exciting world outside, and we were being imprisoned by the math class at high school regurgitating the same lessons we had studied 4 years previous.
To bring this full circle, I will reiterate, teachers, and the teaching industry, do not need more counselors on campus (i heard on the news some chowder head politician wants to in crease the school budget to 2TIMES the annual state budget, to hire more counselors), they need to be taught to recognize that we/our children, all have e different levels and rates of learning, and what we as people need, is to have a little of the Montessori mentality injected into the PS system. I, for one would have greatly appreciated the opportunity to have been able to do more, than the work required by the PS system.
I would have loved to have been given a chance to spend at least four hours a day learning a useful trade. Courses like religion and philosophy are a waste of our education dollar, just as the teaching of the unscientific doctrine of evolution is.
We need our children to be allowed to develop ate their own pace, without the stigma of the current grading system.
What I really despise about the education system is this:
During my entire school career, learning for me was way to easy. (Seriously, this ain't me patting myself on the back).\
And, as a result, the schools, exalted me as 'smart'.
This was not my decision, nor was the exaltation done with my permission. As a result, the schools create animosity between who they call intelligent, and those that do not seem to test well. This friction has continued to today. How this works is that, in my field of work as an electrician, the ability to solve problems related to installations for some is simple, yet for others, it is difficult. The net result is this animosity that was started back in the school system reverberates into the workplace. This could all be done away with if children were taught at their individual rate of learning. as it sits, the odds of this ever happening are slim to none, but the hopes i have for my son, are this, I will not sit by and allow the PS system to shortchange him the way I was. I, will take the time to give to him what, apparently, the PS bureaucracy, is refusing to deliver.

So, I say, NO, to religion in PS.
No, to philosophy in PS.
Yes, to education relevant to gainful employment.
Yes, to education that considers each child's individual learning ability.