by Hennessy on Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:16 pm
I agree that faith schools are an issue but their growth (especially in the last decade) is indicative of what parents see as the failure of the secular comprehensive to bring out anything other than mediocrity in a large share of their students. What really concerns me is the stellar growth of unregulated Madrassas responsible for educating young Muslim children (the subject of a recent Panorama investigation into extremism in Britain). While I can see how this may be of concern I fail to see the same arguments against faith schools applying to Catholic or Anglican or Jewish schools inside the existing faith school system. Fact is, at least those faith schools are inside the state education system and as such receive the same level of scrutiny as bog standard comps, if not more. Faith schools ability to tap religious communities enables them to pick from a (by and large) more dedicated and spiritually driven workforce, who will take the extra time and put in the extra effort because they see it as part of teaching the next generation of their communities.
The opposing argument to this is that all children deserve equal treatment, even when it is probable that this waters down teaching standards overall and does not take into account population patterns which suggest people are more likely to settle down in areas with people of the same background who share the same values (evidence of 'white flight' from certain areas to other areas is a good indicator of this). We've got to face facts and allow people to educate their children as they see fit, according to their own values, in a system that is flexible enough to . I can see the argument which says this will lead to disunity, and it's not a bad one either, but it is also predicated on the belief that "one system for all children" does not produce deep societal divisions. In my opinion that's not an argument that reflects reality - societal divisions aren't simply a symptom of selective schools, they reflect the histories of various communities, existing prejudices and outside pressures on certain communities like discrimination, crime rates and housing. That's why the example that's always trotted out - schools in Northern Ireland, sidelines those other factors and ignores the virtual civil war that existed for a good proportion of the 20th century between those communities. Attempts to integrate failed, for the bloody good reason that parents from one side didn't want their kids being victimised by schools from the other side. If you ignore the loaded term "apartheid" separation of schools on faith lines is just as important a human right as the right to religious belief itself.
The Sinner.
"Apologies in advance for pedantry."