Re: introducing faith/religion to kids

Clisby wrote:
Beliavsky wrote:
On Jun 12, 11:11 am, toto <scarec...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:58:27 -0400, Ericka Kammerer
<e...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

We don't wait until people are adults
before teaching them math, science, or language skills. We also
shouldn't wait until they're adults to teach them to evaluate the
facts, form opinions, and speak about them. That should happen
right alongside reading "Henry and Mudge" and learning to write.
Sure. I'm asking for a *higher* standard, not a lower
one in terms of critical thinking. And there are *plenty* of
opportunities to learn critical thinking at school without being
unmannerly.
And many of those opportunities are objected to by Fundamentalists
because they involve the examination of beliefs that are *against*
their religious beliefs. Anytime you examine ethical dilemmas, you
risk overturning various religious dogmas.

Just try presenting something like this to high school students in
the appropriate class.

http://www.goodcharacter.com/dilemma/dilemma.html

I don't think the example you posted was an ethical "dilemma". Since
someone's life could be at stake, her friends must call 911, and
"face the music". Even looking at it selfishly, they don't want to
forever feel guilty over a friend dying because of their negligence.
That could happen if they do nothing.

Another phony dilemma from the site is

"#13: You are stumped on an important math test and you have the
perfect opportunity to cheat without getting caught. What do you do,
and how do you explain your decision?"

Why should students *debate* this? What if they come to a consensus
that cheating is OK? They should be *taught* by authority figures
such as their teachers and parents that it is better to be honest,
even if that means a lower grade.

This reminds me of a "dilemma" posed in a newsletter my daughter (now
12) received from Duke University. Emma's a part of Duke's Talent
Identification Program (http://www.tip.duke.edu/).

I don't have the newsletter in front of me, but basically the question
was: You go to the school bathroom, and on the floor you find a copy
of the upcoming (history? math?) test, with the answers. What do you
do? The kids were invited to think (and, I believe, write) about this
"dilemma". When I showed it to my husband, he instantly said, "What
dilemma?" That was my question, too.



In the asbsence of practice, it is a dilemma to choose right over easy. I
would rather see this kind of thing handled at home. But *talking* about
integrity and character are worth it, in my book. Being able to articulate
the whys and wherefores of integrity and character will help during tempting
situations more than just knowin gsomething is wrong because authority
figure X says so.

Why SHOULD that student hand the answer *** over? Would yout child be
articulate why? There are so many families who dont talk about this sort of
thing. Then answers would include things like I might get caught (which
would require poor reading comprehension but there it is).


Clisby



You don't need to be a fundamentalist to object to the material at
that site or to wonder about the judgement of teachers who use it. Is
there any evidence that such programs improve the behavior of
students?


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