Junior Infants - Religion

xzanti

xzanti wrote: »

I guess the death of a loved one is something that people of all ages have to deal with so it's probably a good thing to bring it up.

I agree but I genuinely don't understand why parents wouldn't prefer to do this themselves (as and when it's needed) and are happy to pawn such an important learning experience off on the schools. Not having a go at you xzanti, just think this is something I'd hate to leave in the hands of some primary school teacher.

iamtony wrote: »

it is what it is and I just don't think that excluding a child and making them different from most othr children in the class is the right thing to do. For reasons I've already mentioned it can have some benefit as well.
As for pushing the chaotic ethos on kids from different religions, from my experiences with my 13 year old who make his confirmation earlier this year, it's not really rammed down their throats and the non catholic kids can sit and read a book while religion is being thought.

You're not really answering my question though, just happy enough with the status quo. What's the harm in religion being taken out of schools and taught by parents/churches?

At the very least, in the examples you've given, it creates a level playing field for all the children so NO-one is excluded or made to feel different. You've included your child(ren) so I'm not sure how you can assume that it's not really rammed down the throats of children who can't participate.

sonandheir wrote: »

I'm not sure why people get all freaked out about teaching religion, when we fill their heads with loads of rubbish (Santa, birds & bees) yet no one ever goes on about this.

Because I think school is important and an integral part of a child's development and it would be nice if schools could stick to the facts, ethics and civics.

I consider filling heads with Santa, (lies about) "birds and bees" and religion to be on the same level and best left to the parents.

But again, where's the harm in excluding religious indoctrination from schools?

Cabaal

GreenFolder2 wrote: »

That is way way too early.

I'd actually consider making a very serious complaint.

Think you'll find the church disagrees with you on that,

If you don't want your kids told this stuff then opt them out of the religion and the type of stuff it trys to brain wash children with.

A complaint is wasting your time as both the church and DOE allow this stuff to be covered in schools at such a young age. If you want to take a meaningful action then opt a child out of this stuff, the more people that do this the more the school and DOE have to deal with the issue in the long term

iamtony

Deleted User wrote: »

xzanti wrote: »

I guess the death of a loved one is something that people of all ages have to deal with so it's probably a good thing to bring it up.

I agree but I genuinely don't understand why parents wouldn't prefer to do this themselves (as and when it's needed) and are happy to pawn such an important learning experience off on the schools. Not having a go at you xzanti, just think this is something I'd hate to leave in the hands of some primary school teacher.

iamtony wrote: »

it is what it is and I just don't think that excluding a child and making them different from most othr children in the class is the right thing to do. For reasons I've already mentioned it can have some benefit as well.
As for pushing the chaotic ethos on kids from different religions, from my experiences with my 13 year old who make his confirmation earlier this year, it's not really rammed down their throats and the non catholic kids can sit and read a book while religion is being thought.

You're not really answering my question though, just happy enough with the status quo. What's the harm in religion being taken out of schools and taught by parents/churches?

At the very least, in the examples you've given, it creates a level playing field for all the children so NO-one is excluded or made to feel different. You've included your child(ren) so I'm not sure how you can assume that it's not really rammed down the throats of children who can't participate.

sonandheir wrote: »

I'm not sure why people get all freaked out about teaching religion, when we fill their heads with loads of rubbish (Santa, birds & bees) yet no one ever goes on about this.

Because I think school is important and an integral part of a child's development and it would be nice if schools could stick to the facts, ethics and civics.

I consider filling heads with Santa, (lies about) "birds and bees" and religion to be on the same level and best left to the parents.

But again, where's the harm in excluding religious indoctrination from schools?

I didn't really answer your question because I agreed with what you were saying. I don't think there's any harm in removing religion from schools and it should be up to the parents if they want to teach it to kids, all I'm saying is that the way the system currently is, its easier for the kids and parents to just go with the flow and not to confuse the kids or make them feel excluded while they are so young.
If you want to fight the system don't make your kids the pawns in the game because its not worth the emotional damage its causing to them and as I said it does have some benefits.

iamtony

iamtony wrote: »

all I'm saying is that the way the system currently is, its easier for the Catholic kids and parents to just go with the flow and not to confuse the kids or make them feel excluded while they are so young

Clarified that for you.

iamtony wrote: »

If you want to fight the system don't make your kids the pawns in the game because its not worth the emotional damage its causing to them

Luckily I never had to "fight" the system or see kids being used as "pawns" in a game (!) because my kid was lucky enough to grow up in a secular country where all kids were treated equally, whatever their religion.

I appreciate that you're ambivalent about this though.

xzanti

Deleted User wrote: »

I agree but I genuinely don't understand why parents wouldn't prefer to do this themselves (as and when it's needed) and are happy to pawn such an important learning experience off on the schools. Not having a go at you xzanti, just think this is something I'd hate to leave in the hands of some primary school teacher.

The choice was taken away from me. Of course I would have liked to broach the subject myself. I certainly never expected death to be part of the curriculum in Senior Infants. I do not 'pawn' anything off on the schools.

What a ridiculous thing to say.

Walter H Price

Cabaal wrote: »

Think you'll find the church disagrees with you on that,

If you don't want your kids told this stuff then opt them out of the religion and the type of stuff it trys to brain wash children with.

A complaint is wasting your time as both the church and DOE allow this stuff to be covered in schools at such a young age. If you want to take a meaningful action then opt a child out of this stuff, the more people that do this the more the school and DOE have to deal with the issue in the long term

have to agree 100% with this, parents are better educating there kids themselves when it comes to the big question schools offer a very narrow catholic only view of life origins,death's meaning and morality. Little or no science and certainly no evolution on the curriculum.

I've said it before i'll say it again OP , opt your kids out and educate them on thees big life questions yourself ironically there school will only fill their heads with narrow minded nonsense, hard to believe were still happy as a nation that this is the quality of primary education our tax pays for, no foreign languages ,Science , Computing, Technology, Nutrition etc... but plenty of religious mumbo jumbo, to be honest id even rather see that class time given over to extra PE , would be far more beneficial.

xzanti

xzanti wrote: »

The choice was taken away from me. Of course I would have liked to broach the subject myself. I certainly never expected death to be part of the curriculum in Senior Infants. I do not 'pawn' anything off on the schools.

What a ridiculous thing to say.

Sorry xzanti but I was referring to people who are happy with the status quo and what happened to your child just seemed like a good example of why people shouldn't be.