Tag Archives: Education

Multi-Faith Secular?

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There are some phrases that are so oxymoronic that you know that what follows will be some vacuous attempt to violate rules of logic and common sense. At least, that’s how I felt before, and after, reading a piece on the Canadian Educator’s Association blog about “The Multi-Faith Secular” which tries to argue for “spiritually inclusive schools.”

The post is by Nadir Shirazi, who as far as I can tell has created a company to push religion back into schools and workplaces in a politically correct fashion.

He argues that since people derive meaning from religion that we need to meet them where we are and accommodate them. Depending on which side of my atheist lair I climb out of, I am either sympathetic or hostile to this view. Let’s try to continue with an open mind though.

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Alberta Schools: More religious than secular

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Sometimes newspaper journalists can still do their jobs really well and show up us mere amateur bloggers.

Paula Simons’ piece in the Edmonton Journal last week is one of those examples. In it she investigates the policies of the various school boards across Alberta to see whether Luke Fevin’s experience in Sturgeon was the exception or the rule.

The Journal reviewed the policies and procedures of nearly all the 31 school boards that are members of the Public School Boards Association of Alberta.

Six of the school divisions encourage or support religious exercises that could include the Lord’s Prayer. Thirteen allow it with various restrictions, such as making sure students can opt out. Another five school boards impose strict restrictions on prayer in public schools or prohibit it completely. The Rocky View schools policy that says opening exercises “shall not include the recitation of any religious prayer.”

Policies and procedures related to religious exercises and instruction could not be found online for the remaining school divisions or they were unclear.

It’s good to hear the school division I attended, Rocky View, is one of the few expressly secular school boards. But we do have a province, where in 2011 nineteen different public school divisions allow the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, and that’s not counting every single publicly-funded Catholic board. Compare that to the five that understand the need for a secular education.

The article also points out the difficulty of non-Christian minorities in any rural school district in opposing prayers. They face hatred, ostracism, and all out bigotry. Simons also discusses the lack of political will to deal with the issue. What’s most concerning is that the organization with the best chance of changing this policy, the Public School Board Association of Alberta, is trying to wipe its hands of the issue, allowing local majorities to force their religious viewpoints on their entire community:

The Public School Boards Association of Alberta has no official policy on school prayer, said association president Patty Dittrick. However, the association does support the legal right of local public school boards to offer religious exercises, she said.

“We would say that these kinds of decisions are best made by local boards in response to the wishes of the local community,” Dittrick said.

This issue isn’t limited to Alberta, as the laws in Saskatchewan are nearly identical. Even in Manitoba school prayer is still coming up.

The hill just got steeper for secular schools in Morinville

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After some initial progress on establishing a secular alternative to the sole Catholic school board in Morinville, Alberta, Society of Edmonton Atheists President Richard Robinson sends this grim news:

A few months ago we told about the state of public schools in
Morinville and how there was no local option for parents who don’t
want their kids to receive a Catholic education. Earlier this summer
it was announced that the neighbouring Sturgeon School District would
provide staff if the local school board provided portable classrooms.
There’s now been a disappointing turn, however.

http://morinvillenews.com/2011/07/25/back-to-square-one-secular-parents-say/

At this point I’d like to point out that GSACRD offers what it calls
Alternate Programs, such as French Immersion, to meet the needs of
minority groups of kids within their schools. The framework already
exists to meet the needs of these non-catholic kids, but GSACRD has
unilaterally excluded the possibility of this solution. They have the
tool. All they need is the will to use it.

If you want to do something to help these students and their parents,
write to the Minister of Education, Dave Hancock, or to your MLA, and
tell him how you feel about this situation, and that you know this
problem can be solved, and you know he has the power to force the
solution.

For more information and background on this astonishing controversy,
go to: http://morinvilleparentdelegation.webs.com/

Regards,
Richard Robinson
President, Society of Edmonton Atheists

We’re getting to them

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After controversy, after controversy, after controversy, it’s of little surprise that the Edmonton Catholic School Board feels it needs to start a pro-Catholic schools campaign:

Catholic Education in Alberta is being challenged and we are concerned about the long term impact. The Board of Trustees for Edmonton Catholic Schools has developed a plan to lobby the government. Please read more about this advocacy project below.

As the Edmonton Atheists point out, however, their arguments are easily debunked:

The argument they make to support publically funded Catholic indoctrination of children is asinine.

1.  History

Just because something has been around for a long time does not mean we should keep it going.  The issue of constitutional protection has been dealt with by other provinces that disbanded the Catholic school system.  And let’s not forget that the UN says funding of Catholic schools is discriminatory — I do not believe our constitution was designed to protect discrimination. 

The argument that they educate 1/4 of children is pathetic – obviously those kids are still going to get a public education in a secular system!

2. Distinctiveness

AKA: Discrimination. They seem to believe that Jesus is crouching behind each student, ready to help them cheat on their math test:

“At every important milestone of learning, Christ is there, igniting a child’s curiosity and desire to learn.”

This type of special pleading, if we followed it to its natural conclusion, is ludicrous.  Should we have an Islam school board so Mohammed can whisper answers into every little child of Muslim parents?  Is the Flying Spaghetti monster telling children of atheists parents how to spell?  Does the Buddha help kids write their diploma exams?  This type of superstitious magical thinking only takes away from the hard work and dedication of the students in Alberta.

…

They know they’re position is indefensible on human rights grounds; hence their last-ditch campaign to defend their system of privilege.

Let’s keep up the fight for secular education across the country!

A failing strategy?

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Apparently the controversy over Gideon Bible’s being given out in Waterloo public school grade 5 classes is driving up demand faster than a Christian boycott of an R-rated movie.

The more controversy there is over whether Waterloo Region public schools should be giving out Gideon Bibles, the more requests there are for the free copies, officials say.

Officials at Gideons International in Canada, an evangelical Christian group that has given away millions of Bibles worldwide, say that there has been a “considerable” upswing of requests this year and last, when the controversy was high and attracted media attention.

An estimated 800 to 1,000 copies a year are now being given away to Grade 5 students in Waterloo Region, said Gordon Balfour, chief business officer of the Guelph-based Gideons organization.

That’s about one student out of four that requests the free copy of Gideons’ Little Red Answer Book, which includes the New Testament, plus the Hebrew Bible books of Proverbs and Psalms.

Of course, I’m not sure why we should take the Gideon’s word on how popular they are, that sounds like asking Pepsi whether people prefer it to Coke. But if it is true it leaves secularists with a potential predicament.

Obviously, the correct action (from a secularists perspective) is to not allow religious propaganda to be handed out in public school, but the article does pose an alternative strategy that, to my knowledge, has yet to be employed:

The public board allows any religious group to send religious material to consenting households in this way, although the material must be reviewed by school board officials first to ensure it doesn’t proselytize and doesn’t denigrate groups protected by the Ontario Human Rights Code.

However, only Gideons uses this opportunity. And school trustees are under increasing pressure from various community and faith groups, including some Christian groups, to stop the 64-year-old practice.

So a neat activity for any atheists with a spare printing budget in the Waterloo area may be to print off a bunch of fliers or handouts, or even try to get a number of copies of The Origin of Species (or even Daniel Loxton’s new evolution book for kids) into the hands of willing children.

The religious wingnuts would have a field day crying persecution (since anything that mentions that we exist is an affront to their theology) which would only further expose the hypocrisy of their position.

And if you do go ahead with this, email me the details and I’ll be sure to post them online.

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Darwin Day 2011

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year — to be a naturalist, that is.  Well, strike that “most wonderful time” comment if you’re in Saskatchewan, where we just had -45 windchills! (brrr)

February 12th is Charles Darwin’s birthday, and marks the celebration of “Darwin Day,” a global celebration of science and reason.

What’s going on in Canada for Darwin Day?  Leave your group’s activities in the comments.

The big news for Saskatchewan is that Education Minister Donna Harpauer has proclaimed February 12, 2011 as Darwin Day in the province.

In Saskatoon, we’ve got a big Darwin Day event on February 12th that is being sponsored by CFI Saskatchewan, the Saskatoon Skeptics, and the Saskatoon Secular Family Network.

The activities for the day include watching part of the PBS documentary What Darwin Never Knew, guest speakers, family activities (for all ages), and of course, birthday cake!

Since I’m the facilitator for the Saskatoon Secular Family Network, I’ve been rounding up volunteers to put on science demonstrations and experiments for the kids.  So far I’ve got volunteers in the areas of biology, chemistry, physics, and epidemiology.  One activity I’d like us to run is a station where people can see what they look like “devolved” into an earlier stage.

2011 marks the 202nd birthday of Darwin, and I’m already looking forward to a great day celebrating science and reason.

Education Minister Donna Harpauer has proclaimed February 12, 2011 as Darwin Day in Saskatchewan

Edmonton school trustee cares about real issues

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With all the garbage pseudoscience and bad journalism flying around about parents freaking out about wireless internet giving kids headaches in schools, it’s good to hear from one school trustee in Edmonton who cares about the real issues.

Go read the whole thing at MichaelJanz.ca, but here’s some highlights:

I’m concerned that the attention being paid in the media and the community to the wi-fi debate has become a kind of unintentional red herring, distracting the public, the board, and the district from some of the more pressing and more unhealthy challenges facing our students that stem from pollution, poor nutrition, auto-dependency, and the lack of density/walkability in our urban form.

…

Let’s stay vigilant, but let’s make sure we are focusing our efforts on the areas where we can make the most difference and where we have the science to back us up.

…

As always, if the facts change, I’m open to changing my mind. [emphasis original]

The person in question is not even 30, but campaigned hard, listened to what the constituents wanted and brings forward sound proposals based on engaging the school board with parents.

But Michael can’t do it all by himself, so I strongly suggest we all take a note from his page and get involved politically (by whatever vessel suits your leanings). We can make this world a better place.

Support skeptical education in Uganda

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Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. I blame the holidays and then a subsequent lack of motivation to write, but hopefully that will slowly dissipate and I’ll return to my regular frequency.

For now, care of the Atheist Alliance International, I direct your attention to their commendable efforts to rid Uganda of superstition by building a school and teaching critical thinking.

Uganda has recently made headlines for its abhorrent attempt to enact a bill to make homosexuality a crime, punishable by death. While we may lament pseudoscience in Canada like Wi-Fi fears and homeopathy, they are small fish in comparison to the damage that this bill is presenting.

Since schools aren’t free, they need your support to help continue the fight against dangerous superstition and intolerance, so go and donate what you can today.

The Bible’s unlikely ally

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The King James Bible will celebrate its 400th birthday later this year, and to commemorate the occasion, Richard Dawkins wrote an op-ed where he praised this particular version of the Bible as literature:

Let’s celebrate the 400th anniversary of this astonishing piece of English literature. … Warts and all, let’s encourage our schools to bring this precious English heritage to all our children, whatever their background, not as history, not as science and not (oh, please not) as morality. But as literature.

I find that many nonbelievers are divided over the issue of religious literacy — you’ve got some (like me) who think it’s important to have a certain level of knowledge of religious ideology/dogma/literature in order to combat it.  But there are others, I’ve found, who would just as soon discard anything having to do with religion, and think that paying *any* attention to it is the same as condoning it. 

As I’ve mentioned, I’m more of the persuasion that you need to know your opponent, so I often advocate for a certain degree of religious literacy — for Christianity, that means knowing something about the Bible.

One book that I found that gives a pretty entertaining overview of the Bible is the book Biblical Literacy: The Essential Bible Stories Everyone Needs to Know by Timothy Beal.  If you were fortunate to escape the binds (and flannelgraphs) of Sunday School growing up, this book helps to give a quick overview of some of the more important stories of the Bible — plus it also helps to give context to many of the everyday sayings we have in our culture today, that come straight from “the good book.”

AB Catholic schools in the crosshairs

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After spinning tires in Ontario for a while in any attempt to end what the UN has declared a discriminatory process, a former education minister in Alberta has begun a petition to end the separate (Catholic and protestant) school boards in Alberta.

Alberta currently fully funds competing school boards in every district. Most have a secular public and a separate (but equal) Catholic board. St. Albert features a Catholic board and a separate protestant board (with no secular board).

Anyone who lives in Alberta should sign their petition today.

Good luck Dave King.

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