For some time now I have been troubled by the secondary (high school) and elementary public school systems here in
Though there are quite a few areas I could point out that need “reworking” in the Public School System in order to give students the best possible education to prepare them for living and working in the 21st century, in this blog I will only investigate and raise questions about one area of the “ideal” curriculum: should religion/culture studies be added to the curriculum of Primary and Secondary education?
I believe that there should be additions to the curriculum of elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools that require students to take a certain amount of hours in Religion/Sociology/Philosophy to prepare them (as much as possible) for the effluvium of peoples, cultures, and ideas that they are likely to encounter in the interconnected world of the 21st century and to teach them how to think openly about said world.
From my research I have found that the majority of the Public Schools previously mentioned, do not offer or require these types of classes.
Thoughts?
1 comment:
On the subject of education reform, I believe that we will have to do much more than add a religion/sociology/philosophy section---the entire function for elementary and primary schools does not fit with the upcoming generations learning capabilities. The fact is that schools haven't been reformed in probably 50-60 years. yes they've attempted to add technology to the curriculum but they have not adequately analyzed how technology has effected the learner over time and made changes accordingly.
I think due to christian fundamentalism and conservatism in this country it will be slow going to get religion, and philosophy courses required because of the laws that attempt to keep religion out of schools. I may be out of bounds but I don't see a lot of public schools in the bible belt requiring students to take classes on islam, or buddhism or atheism. Its not that students wouldnt greatly take to learning about all those subjects but I think the struggle here is going to be with parents. The Idea of students today even the college demographic is highly publicized as the country's "children" despite the fact that the college demographic ranges in ages mainly from 18-24. So I believe it would take several several years to get a curriculum change that involves religion in any way to come to fruition.
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