Should Religion be Taught in Public Schools - Written by my 14 year old son.
Following is a paper written by my 14 year old son, Chris. He thought about the topic, did the research, and came to his own conclusions. I am very proud of him, his thought process, and the decisions he is making.
I told him that I was proud of him and wanted to share this on my blog and he said ok.
God Bless,
Robert
Should World Religion Be Taught In Public Schools?
There are nineteen major religions in the world, and these are some of the known religions: Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Mormon, Sikhism, Baha’ism, Confucianism, Jainism, and Shintoism. A religion is considered a major religion based on the number of followers. For an example, Sikhism has a following of twenty- three million people, and Shintoism has a following of 4 million. While Christianity, one of the most popular religions, has 2.1 billion followers. With this many religions and their conflicting views, religion should not be taught in public school. The reason why religion should not be taught in school because of these conflicting views; teachers have a personal preference towards their own religion, the difference between a parent’s and the teacher’s beliefs, and the costs involved in teaching the different religions.
A teacher has a personal preference towards their own religion. The teachers are government employees and are subject to the Establishment Cause of the First Amendment. Teachers have to remain neutral regarding their personal religious beliefs. All people have the right to have freedom of religion. The students are expected to believe that what the teachers says is correct. This would cause a problem if the students’ beliefs are different than teachers’ beliefs. An example is a Buddhist teaching on what he or she thinks about Christianity to students who are Christians. This would lead the students to feel their beliefs are wrong.
Not only would this cause confusion for the students, the parents could have a problem with what is being taught. The parents could have a problem with what is being taught about a different religion. The most known conflicts between two religions is Judaism and Islam that has been going on for three thousand years. The conflict is about where the Jews put their city, Jerusalem, and their beliefs about the God. Islam believes that the location their holy place is where the Jews are and has a different belief system with different gods. There are more conflicts than just Judaism and Islam. The parents would want the school to do something different like split the classes into different groups. Another option is to hire a teacher for every religion that is in the school district.
Speaking of hiring teachers from every religion this will cause an unrealistic increase in cost for the school districts. The schools only have so much money to use in order for the school not to be shut down for financing problems. If the schools have to hire a teacher from every religion then the school will have to raise a lot of money because they will need to pay the teachers to work. They will also need to build new classrooms and buy new desks and textbooks. The average salary of a teacher is $52,000 a year. If the school needs to hire five teachers from five religions it would cost $260,000. There are 532 school districts in Missouri. The state of Missouri will need to pay $138,320,000 for new teachers. This is an expanse that would bankrupt the school district.
The high cost of things and other problems leads us to this solution. World religion being taught in public schools would be a bad idea because of the conflicting view of other religions. The problems that would happen if schools did start teaching world religions are teachers has a personal preference towards their own religion, parents’ problems with the teacher’s thought on other religions, and the high cost for the schools needed to hire teachers from every religion. Instead of the schools teaching world religion the students should share their beliefs and be understanding about other religions.
Works Cited
"A Teacher’s Guide to Religion." freedomforum.org. N.p.. Web. 9 May 2013..
Broocks, Rice. GOD'S NOT DEAD Evidence for god in an age of uncertainty. Nashville, Tennessee: 1982. 1-279. Print.
"Current Religious Based-Conflicts." current2000.org. N.p.. Web. 9 May 2013. < http://www.center2000.org/hotspots-middle-east/>.
"Indeed. one search. All jobs." teacher salary in Centralia, MO. N.p.. Web. 9 May 2013..
I told him that I was proud of him and wanted to share this on my blog and he said ok.
God Bless,
Robert
Should World Religion Be Taught In Public Schools?
There are nineteen major religions in the world, and these are some of the known religions: Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Mormon, Sikhism, Baha’ism, Confucianism, Jainism, and Shintoism. A religion is considered a major religion based on the number of followers. For an example, Sikhism has a following of twenty- three million people, and Shintoism has a following of 4 million. While Christianity, one of the most popular religions, has 2.1 billion followers. With this many religions and their conflicting views, religion should not be taught in public school. The reason why religion should not be taught in school because of these conflicting views; teachers have a personal preference towards their own religion, the difference between a parent’s and the teacher’s beliefs, and the costs involved in teaching the different religions.
A teacher has a personal preference towards their own religion. The teachers are government employees and are subject to the Establishment Cause of the First Amendment. Teachers have to remain neutral regarding their personal religious beliefs. All people have the right to have freedom of religion. The students are expected to believe that what the teachers says is correct. This would cause a problem if the students’ beliefs are different than teachers’ beliefs. An example is a Buddhist teaching on what he or she thinks about Christianity to students who are Christians. This would lead the students to feel their beliefs are wrong.
Not only would this cause confusion for the students, the parents could have a problem with what is being taught. The parents could have a problem with what is being taught about a different religion. The most known conflicts between two religions is Judaism and Islam that has been going on for three thousand years. The conflict is about where the Jews put their city, Jerusalem, and their beliefs about the God. Islam believes that the location their holy place is where the Jews are and has a different belief system with different gods. There are more conflicts than just Judaism and Islam. The parents would want the school to do something different like split the classes into different groups. Another option is to hire a teacher for every religion that is in the school district.
Speaking of hiring teachers from every religion this will cause an unrealistic increase in cost for the school districts. The schools only have so much money to use in order for the school not to be shut down for financing problems. If the schools have to hire a teacher from every religion then the school will have to raise a lot of money because they will need to pay the teachers to work. They will also need to build new classrooms and buy new desks and textbooks. The average salary of a teacher is $52,000 a year. If the school needs to hire five teachers from five religions it would cost $260,000. There are 532 school districts in Missouri. The state of Missouri will need to pay $138,320,000 for new teachers. This is an expanse that would bankrupt the school district.
The high cost of things and other problems leads us to this solution. World religion being taught in public schools would be a bad idea because of the conflicting view of other religions. The problems that would happen if schools did start teaching world religions are teachers has a personal preference towards their own religion, parents’ problems with the teacher’s thought on other religions, and the high cost for the schools needed to hire teachers from every religion. Instead of the schools teaching world religion the students should share their beliefs and be understanding about other religions.
Works Cited
"A Teacher’s Guide to Religion." freedomforum.org. N.p.. Web. 9 May 2013.
Broocks, Rice. GOD'S NOT DEAD Evidence for god in an age of uncertainty. Nashville, Tennessee: 1982. 1-279. Print.
"Current Religious Based-Conflicts." current2000.org. N.p.. Web. 9 May 2013. < http://www.center2000.org/hotspots-middle-east/>.
"Indeed. one search. All jobs." teacher salary in Centralia, MO. N.p.. Web. 9 May 2013.
Great response. Thats ny nephew!
ReplyDeleteThat was a couple of years ago, he is about to turn 17 in May.
ReplyDelete