Religion Exam:Waste of time Or Huge waste of time

4Xcut

I did my junior cert 2 years ago, before religion was brought in and i know that my answer would have been to hell with it.
Whats your opinion on the religion exam.

grimloch

you probably know my answer already but i really couldnt be arsed to spent another hour of my life on something as redundant as a religion exam

i dont oppose it being taught as far as educating our children on other religious beliefs, but to have an exam on it...

its up there with CSPE and SPHE, i know schools with more religion classes than geography, combine that with CSPE/SPHE too,

im sure that time could be spent more productively

PurpleFistMixer

Thankfully I don't have to do the exam so I don't have to bother caring about how little I'm studying for it. If I did have to do it... well, I'd either try and get myself an exemption or just... not care about it.

However I do like having religion class. It gives everyone time to relax from our other classes (and doing last minute homework), and we don't do particularly religious things in it anyway. We just sit around and talk and such, so it's good. And earlier on in the year we were having extra history during religion anyway, so if the teachers feel we need more classes, they just take it out of our religion time and it's okay.

the_syco

PurpleFistMixer wrote:

However I do like having religion class. It gives everyone time to relax from our other classes (and doing last minute homework), and we don't do particularly religious things in it anyway. We just sit around and talk and such, so it's good.

Pretty much what we did, in my class. The one big difference, in my school, was that in the catholic religon class, we were thought about only catholic religion, but in the prostant religion class (mate was one), they were thought about their religion, and other religions as well.

Dunno if its still the same now. That was about 4 or 5 years ago (or 5/7 years since the JC).

I wonder; is this optional. I wonder does the parents have to let their kids be taught this, otherwise it would strike me as being oppresive.

Rozabeez

In my class we sit silently and sometimes read a magazine called "FaceUp", but if we turn the pages and make too much noise....they get taken away. Then we go back to sitting silently, staring at the teacher, as she sits silently also.


We obviously dont do religion exams.

Victor

the_syco wrote:

I wonder; is this optional. I wonder does the parents have to let their kids be taught this, otherwise it would strike me as being oppresive.

It's obligatory under the constitution that you get some religious education.

4Xcut

its ok to force you cos it doesnt say "Catholics are right every one else is wrong" it says is "Catholics believe this, Protestants believe this, Jews believe this, etc. now learn it all and some other stuff that's not going to get you points, get you into the course you want or put money on the table"

kasintahan

Would I be right in thinking that the Catholic Church (tm) owns the majority of school grounds in the country?

4Xcut

No. Most grounds have benn turned over to the state with the phasing out out of the brothers and the nuns.

grimloch

4Xcut wrote:

No. Most grounds have benn turned over to the state with the phasing out out of the brothers and the nuns.

in our school the monastery was sold and converted into an office

we happen to have a brother lying around though

i can alos think of a few schools that have sold their religious ground and are run by the board now i assume

declan_lgs

Everybody in our school does religion (dunno if that includes leavin certs...) which I think is a good thing. It's just another school subject imo, except we (my class) don't get an exam. In first year each religion class (4 in all) was asked if they wanted to do a religion exam for the JC. Only one class had a mojority for (which wasn't mine, thankfully). I think the ones that are doin it have to keep some sorta diary or something.

Is anyone here doin a religion exam for the JC? Whats the diary thing bout?

PS: absolutely nothing to do with this topic but....

grimloch

we have 3 religion classes per week (in fifth year anyway) which i dont really mind as its a nice break in the day, but having it as an exam subject is ludicrous

not sure about a diary, noone im aware of has to do one

JBoyle4eva

My 1st Year eligion teacher told me that our school was gonna do it as an exam, but our school probably thinks it a waste of time, given only one class of relgion a week.

I don't oppose it, I just don't know why you'd need it as an exam when you learn nothing from it that I wouldn't define as 'knowledge' but rather I'm being taught how to be living a religious life instead.

Gossip_girl

I did it as an exam last year and it was a bit of a joke to be honest. Our teacher being totally against any other religion except catholisim probably didn't help either. It's grand as a class but as soon as you have to do an exam in it, it's different. I think the diary thing your talking about is called a religion journal (not sue though). You have to do a project from a choice of department titles and the journal is a sorta reflection on how you did the project and what you learned and stuff.

Mysteryfish

we had religion for 1st year and 2nd year, and half of this year, but we can choose whether or not to do the exam. I chose not.

Victor

JBoyle4eva wrote:

I don't oppose it, I just don't know why you'd need it as an exam when you learn nothing from it that I wouldn't define as 'knowledge' but rather I'm being taught how to be living a religious life instead.

It is a bit like CPSE insofar as it isn't critical education. It is however, useful education.

Fobia

I don't have a choice in the matter, I didn't think there was a religion exam until I saw it on another thread.

I enjoy religion class, as PurpleFistMixer said it's a nice relaxing break from school (aka, a dos). Though in my class we don't learn about other religions, just catholitism. Our teacher's one of those Youth2000 religious freaks so it's interesting to listen to his views, though often they're wrong imo

Keep your friends close......

johnnyq

Fobia wrote:

I don't have a choice in the matter, I didn't think there was a religion exam until I saw it on another thread.

I enjoy religion class, as PurpleFistMixer said it's a nice relaxing break from school (aka, a dos). Though in my class we don't learn about other religions, just catholitism. Our teacher's one of those Youth2000 religious freaks so it's interesting to listen to his views, though often they're wrong imo

Keep your friends close......

How can your teachers views be wrong? Sure, u mightnt agree with them but they're not wrong. A scientific person like u shouldn't make that mistake.

Fobia

johnnyq wrote:

How can your teachers views be wrong? Sure, u mightnt agree with them but they're not wrong. A scientific person like u shouldn't make that mistake.

"imo" is an acronym meaning "in my opinion".

philologos

nah religion exam isnt a waste of time, and I think while doing the JC course on it it has been a good experience because I have a much better view of religion than i did before. The course is more detailed than you might think it is. It is good to learn more about religion out of the box instead of about the Church of Ireland (anglicanism) the whole time.

Daire10

Religion as an exam subject for the JC is definitely NOT a waste of time.
In fact I found it to be one of the most beneficial and educational subjects. The Religion for exams is nothing near to this "Catholic indoctrination" some if you are talking about. I learned so much about other religions and practices, their beliefs and philosophies. We studied:
Communities of Faith
Foundations and Celebration of a Faith: Judaism
Foundations and Celebration of a Faith: Christianity
Foundations and Celebration of a Faith: Islam
Major World Religions (Hinduism, Buddhism
Question of Faith (Meaning, Humanism, Atheism, Other Philosophies etc.)
Moral Challenge (Moralities of world religions and humanists etc.

We also did a huge project and journal work component (20% of exam) on the rituals, festivals etc. of Muslims.
It is actually a very difficult subject, I got an honours A with a lot of study. Lots of people barely passed or got Cs (at OL even).

I am conying with it for my Leaving Cert where we will study Philosophy, Mythology, more Religions and NRMs, Celtic religions, history and prehisoric religions, various concepts of God, and lots more.
If I get an A1 in Religion I will get 100 pts. It's a very long and difficult exam though!!

Kevin!

I am in no way religious, haven't gone to church since christmas but I thought religion was a worthy exam.

We had a terrible teacher for two years for religion, and in third year we got a good one. In a year I managed to grace a B (should have been an A imo).

Our studies were based around Islam, which is a religion that is quite interesting to learn about and thought us that it's not just based around terrorism.

coffeelover

I just did my JC this year and for 1st and 2nd year we did absolutly nothing. We had free classes everyday where we did our homework. Then in 3rd year we got a different teacher and we had to do the whole book in a year. I wrote the greatest load of crap down in the JC and I managed to get a B :eek:..