Posts Tagged ‘education’
A Journey into Apostasy – a brave new world
The journey picks up where we left off, on my becoming an apostate. The first part of the journey – studying with the Jehovah’s Witnesses and leaving can be read here.
Above: My companions while taught at home
Even now twenty years on I can trace the route of my father’s tears of joy as I told him the news we had left the study of Jehovah’s Witnesses, on one of his weekly visits to see me. For years he had not let on his true feelings: regarding my being taught at home or being so close to baptism, and demanding a blood transfusion if needed. He feared not being allowed to see me or my brother had his displeasure been realised. His amateur dramatics in local Gilbert and Sullivan productions had paid off in his once a week performance as Dad. Shows like Princess Ida which no one could stop me seeing now. It was roughly a year or so after the divorce that mum had accepted the bible study. Timing is, as they say, everything as to what happens in your life. It felt like six years of mine had been wasted.
The biggest loss was a religious community, even though it had enforced every facet of belief on my child self. Our lodger was tolerated by the elders of the congregation because he did not “practise” his homosexuality at our home and used the back door to enter his part of the house. Word play is something he taught me, together with an appreciation for Douglas Adams, which I shall always be grateful for. There was no one else, besides him and my father outside the faith because “bad associations spoil useful habits.” Satan and his minions were considered able to use people outside the faith to get you to leave. Apostates are willing agents of the evil one by this reckoning.
There was no one to talk too about losing my religion. My mother had been concerned I would be the one still committed. However we reacted very differently on leaving. She still believed Jehovah existed, but the Society had failed to represent him. My own view was initially a deist but I had my work cut out learning about other faiths and whether science had answers that scripture did not know, before I could be sure of anything. Our views drifted further in time and my future atheism would distress her. She still read the Society publications, whilst I did not even want them on the book shelf. I had realised how easy it was to believe passionately in something that was not worthy of such devotion.
Playing as a war god to be worshipped on a new planet – definite NO
The congregation did shun, literally not talking or meeting with us, save for contact three months later by a ministerial servant (one down from an elder) seeing how we all were. With glee I happened to be playing the strategy god war game Mega-lo-mania on my newly acquired Mega Drive and thought – here is one game you are not burning. Note that playing card games or chess were not allowed because of the tarot origins of cards and the military aspect of chess. Naturally I bought books to learn card games and taught myself to play chess to fill in the spare time I now had by not attending or preparing for eight hours worth of meetings each week.
Being taught at home meant I had no other children to talk too accept at the Kingdom Hall and study meetings. What was now available to openly explore in the world had exponentially increased while the known population had dramatically declined. This was made harsher because I had no childhood friends to call on having existed mainly in a world of suited men and well dressed women old enough to adopt me. Those people from my childhood no longer existed.
Like the elder who led our local weekly study group who I called Uncle (his idea not mine) who grilled me on my bible knowledge; a challenge I revelled in showing off on. The other elder old enough to be my grandfather who used to take me weekly for swimming and diving – his dives from the top board were legendary in the swimming baths. My mother as a single parent with a younger disabled son could not provide such social outlets. To avoid being lonely I read books – but I was now alone.
My private study on evolution reading Richard Dawkins, and desire to go back to school to obtain qualifications, destroyed the relationship with my mother. With the TV aerial back on the roof (absent for two years because of “evil TV”) she shouted at David Attenborough whenever he said “evolution” on his wildlife documentaries. I was no longer turning to her for advice or counsel, nor able to help with the care of my brother when at secondary school as I had when taught at home. I was hitting the library as somewhere to do homework without the distractions of family life. Plus I finally discovered why Ford Prefect liked parties as I socialised. There was resentment too on my part that she had been so gullible to believe what the Jehovah’s Witnesses said. I mourned a childhood of no celebration and no friends to speak of. My adolescent self was being reborn in a brave new world.
Even chess was off limits with the military undertones – yet I could read Old Testament
Going back to secondary school seven months after leaving the faith helped in so many ways beyond obtaining qualifications. There was bullying to start with as the new kid (though I had been there for two terms four years previous). Being in the school play changed everything – there was a camaraderie and sense of belonging with my own peer group. Plus it helped me to understand why my father had the acting bug. I also became the chess captain when chess had a brief resurgence as Britain’s Nigel Short took on the Russian Thinking Machine that is Gary Kasparov.
Without that lifeline provided by teachers who really did look out for my education and gaining life experiences – I honestly do not know what story I would be writing now. My mind was made up that I would achieve something that nobody in my family had done before – attend university. Something which is a low priority when you think the end of the world is soon to be upon you.
It took me five years to get over instincts that constant mind training at meetings had installed on an impressionable young mind. In adult life I have twice on the off chance met people like myself who grew up in the faith only to leave. They had not met someone else like themselves, and the ability to talk about these things with someone who knew first hand was one I wish my adolescent self had access to.
Social media via the Internet makes talking to such people possible now. I hope people take advantage of it. That is why the apostasy project is so important. However, when you are brought up to consider apostates as capable of being a shining light while working for the dark evil one, none of us should take for granted how difficult it is for someone with doubts to reach out.
Article written by John Sargeant on Homo economicus’ Weblog
Follow @JPSargeant78
God is not a fact – Science Education in free schools
Any attempt to present as fact the view that God made the world could lead to new free schools losing their funding under government changes.
The new rules state that from 2013, all free schools in England must teach evolution as a “comprehensive and coherent scientific theory”.
The move follows scientists’ concerns that free schools run by creationists might avoid teaching evolution.
Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society, said it was “delighted”.
Sir Paul told BBC News the previous rules on free schools and the teaching of evolution versus creationism had been “not tight enough”.
There was already a requirement to teach evolution as part of the science curriculum. This new development can be seen as a sanction against teaching creationism as a scientific fact.
The concern though would be that there could still be a distortion between facts and belief in creationist leaning new free schools – in essence avoiding key words that may avoid legal challenges.
When studying with the Jehovah’s Witnesses the first bible study group I attended was reading Life How Did It Get Here: By Evolution or Creation? The key thing was not that creationism was claimed as a fact, but that evolution was just a theory, and the bible had more authority than what scientists may say. In other words, empirical evidence based on science should be considered less significant (if at all) if in conflict with what the Watchtower Tract and Bible Society said was taught by the bible. Through this filter and prism, facts were twisted to suggest only Jehovah could have made it. No other god, and not without such divine, intelligent, conscious, and powerful an entity.
The question of who made god, or why it could not have been another god, or what the Big Bang theory actually is let alone evolution, were never properly debated or examined.
The solution for me is comparative religion being taught – to understand humanity sociologically, historically and culturally this is important – as a compulsory subject. I was excluded from Religious Education which left the Jehovah’s Witnesses teaching me what was wrong with other faiths and why my version of Christianity was the right one by contrast.
The other is to ensure that science education is about science. No more, and no less. The easiest answer to these things is not to have religious character schools at all, let alone the taxpayer funding them. This together with a curriculum that is based on education not indoctrination will allow children not just a great start in life but allow them to come to their own conclusions as adults.
UPDATE:
More on the campaign for science not creationism to be taught can be found in Andrew Copson’s article for The Guardian. To see why necessary have a look at the policy of Grindon Hall school to science education:
“We believe that God, as sovereign Lord of the universe, is capable of creating the world in a few 24-hour days… We will teach creation as a scientific theory and we will always affirm very clearly our position as Christians, ie that Christians believe that God’s creation of the world is not just a theory but a fact with eternal consequences for our planet and for every person who has ever lived on it. We will affirm that to believe in God’s creation of the world is an entirely respectable position scientifically and rationally.”
Blogs on Sir Paul Nurse can be found here
Blogs on Jehovah’s Witnesses here
Picture above comes from University of California Museum of Palaeontology.
Article written by John Sargeant on Homo economicus’ Weblog
Follow @JPSargeant78
Malala Day – 10 November
Malala Day is to promote the education of women and the stand of this gallant girl shot three times on her school bus by the Taliban for daring to publicly want such a thing (read more about that in previous blog here). Gordon Brown has set this day in his capacity as special UN envoy for education, and is visiting Pakistan this weekend to hand in an internationally signed million strong petition to encourage Pakistan’s Government to do so.
However, just as I mentioned that children are being beaten in the UK to memorise the Koran, the lack of education in some Muslim households is happening at home. Irna Qureshi writes from personal experience about the attitude to educating women:
Not only would schooling broaden a girl’s mind, it might also provoke her to rebel against the system, thereby also dishonouring the clan. I have heard uncles say:
Why would I want to teach my daughter how to write? So she can write love letters?
Aisha’s father was unable to appreciate the value of schooling his daughter so he chose to terminate her compulsory education. He was also deeply uncomfortable about his 14 year old daughter coming into contact with the opposite sex in the classroom.
The education of women is truly an international but a domestic concern to.
Article written by John Sargeant on Homo economicus’ Weblog
Malala – being on the side of the angels
What would you do of you were not afraid?
It is such an easy question to ask, and a popular refrain of self help books to encourage people to take a chance to live your life. The sheer number of best sellers in this genre suggests a number of people are looking for not just confidence, but the conviction to be truly alive.
Malala, a school girl in a Taliban controlled part of Pakistan knew she wanted to go to school. To be educated, and be with her friends. To do so without restriction. What is more, she wanted to tell people about her frustration and share her experiences and views. This went beyond blogging about teenage life to her network of friends. Her outspoken desire to experience life, and question things, had a global audience and had come to the ear of the Taliban. Her voice was one they had already threatened to silence. And by so doing subdue parents and women that may dare to question their lot in life under their tyranny. To show outspoken critics that their life, even that of a child, meant nothing when raised against them.
To this end a man boarded the school bus taking Malala home, and shot her at close range – we can only imagine the screams and the terror onboard. This was not collateral damage, an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was the target; with an assassin asking by name for a child so he could kill her. Silencing her forever.
Now we have a father by the bedside of his daughter, receiving treatment in Britain. Despite the Taliban threatening to kill her if she ever comes back to Pakistan, he wants the family to be together again in their homeland. She is making steady progress, but the road to recovery will be long and difficult one.
Silence is so cheaply won when one attack shakes the resolve of many. That does not seem to be happening here. The world has been sickened by a child being singled out. There are moves to have her nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, let alone the children’s peace prizes which have suddenly sprung up due to wanting to honour her stand. Because she was not an unwitting victim. She knew the risks. But she looked fear in the face. For the real fear in this tragic tale was that of the Taliban that could not handle a little girl.
This is what the Pakistan Taliban said about the world’s vocal condemnation:
“made so much noise when we targeted this girl who made fun of jihad, the veil and other Islamic values on behest of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
“This attack created shockwaves in the ruling circles around the world. They issued a number of statements condemning the attack on Malala. I may ask why? Why is Malala’s blood more important than those killed by the army?”
If we have to explain why the assassination of a little school girl is wrong, then you lose your right to breathe the same air as the rest of humanity. Some things are worth fighting for but forget those which powers vie for, there is one that is a human resource, worth cherishing and enriching:
The education of a child.
Well worth the fight. As her father says she is everyone’s daughter now. As such we all have a stake in the future of the children of the world.
New Blog: Malala Day November 10
Article written by John Sargeant on Homo economicus’ Weblog
Rejoining the working class
Class has a pull on heart strings, and political labels which to the unaccustomed may seem quaint. While in America everyone is middle class, the closest politicians in Britain come to saying that is Middle England. Even then, it is talking about values that supposedly belong to middle class people – holidays abroad, rising house prices, concerned with status in a community and conservative values of society. The opposite view is Big Britain which is more socially engaging, sees money as not a measure of success, and doubts anything they are told from media sources where new ideas are seen as important. One looking forward with new ideas, the other wanting to recapture a bygone era that was better with traditional means.
The middle and working class distinction is still there, though more a cultural one then an attitude save for those political warriors of another time. John Prescott – deputy leader of the Labour Party during Tony Blair’s Premiership and the man thought to have brought the trade unions on side with the Blairite project – has a new series called “Prescott – The Class System and Me“. While this may take us on a whimsically philosophical view of class attitudes and culture (a chippy will be included) that distinction can be shown with Jamie Oliver trying to change attitudes to food. Food is culture, and even though Jamie Oliver is advocating healthy eating at budget type prices the difference that seems clear is education – at least the ability to actually use a pan rather than a microwave.
The ability to do well in education and get a high paid job is a key factor. Prescott failed his eleven plus and had jobs as a waiter and sailor before joining the trade union movement and becoming an MP. What you lack academically can be overcome by sheer bloody hard work and self improvement. The uphill battle Jamie Oliver is having on working class mothers – tired from unsocial hour jobs, not spending quality time with their children, and no cookery or nutritional savvy at all – is seen by some as an attack on class culture.
Yet cultural life style attitudes have an impact. How much education you have, how long you live, how healthy you are. It then impacts on your children too. The cycle can be broken of course; but overcoming ignorance and aspiring to try something different is not always something people want. Culture has become territorial and the grub you eat regarded as a status symbol of where you come from. Leaving you unable to concentrate at school, and later health problems.
Where you come from, your roots can be important. In my case, the first person from my family to go to University. As a manager the only time I have done any physical work was volunteering with a conservation group pulling up Rhododendron bushes. I had backache for three days, and regular hot baths. When I see one blossoming in a garden it’s beauty is diminished as I think of them as the weeds they were in the forest where they strangled the life out of trees. My voice developed mixing with middle class people at church, and a conscious mimicking of BBC news readers. It helped having a political correspondent as a name sake. If that is the reason for my interest in politics and current events then what would have happened to me as a child watching him on Strictly Come Dancing I have no idea.
The key to your future
My brief period of unemployment has come to an end. The credit crunch resulted in my taking voluntary redundancy. Now I am working for an international bank that sees itself as the local bank. Hopefully not a case of out of the pan and into the fire in these financial stormy times. The fact that there is a two year wait on a car parking space amounts to job security at these times.
So working again. Which seeing as the claimant count for job seekers will be two million by Christmas is not something I take lightly. The whole class distinction has to be put to one side when we look at what allows people to achieve high incomes and healthy life styles. Good education, high paying jobs, social hours.
In a recession, where graduates work at Starbucks because there are no other jobs available and they are closing down as people rein in their spending that matters more then ever. Lack of opportunity gives way to lack of aspiration. The drive to succeed, for personal enrichment through education, and learning the life skills to get ahead in life are important. Denying people the opportunity to make use of that hard work is one that we cannot afford to squander with social immobility and lack of access to education.
Those distinctions of working and middle class need to disappear. Education and aspiration, with equal access to opportunity are the words that need action to mobilise people to become more than their roots statistically ever suggested they could be. We need a society which works for people by rewarding the contribution people make to it, rather than putting obstacles in the way.
OTHER BLOGS:
Letter from Sir Richard Roberts asking Professor Reiss to step down
I have already blogged on the issue – and it seems that the letter below does indeed need the clarification which I included in the blog. If Reiss is against creationism being taught in the science classroom, then the move to have him removed is based on his religious belief – rather than his ability to perform the job.
I hope that Reiss can confound his critics and show that he is active in promoting science and not intelligent design in the classroom. If he cannot make that clear the voice of discontent will cause friction. At the moment it looks like a witch hunt rather than evidence that he is ineffective and not doing his job.
Is it possible that Sir Richard has not read Reiss’ actual articles? Hopefully with the clarification by Reiss Sir [Richard] Roberts may realise that the whole issue is based on a spinning of what Reiss actually said. But I agree that unless Reiss shows himself to be a godsend (like Ken Miller is for evolution) to science education then the critics will have something to go on.
But criticism of Reiss should be based on his actions, and not speculation or misunderstanding of what he has done.
by Sir Richard Roberts
President of the Royal Society
London
September 13th, 2008
Martin:
I am writing on behalf of myself and my colleagues Sir John Sulston and Sir Harold Kroto.
We are greatly concerned by the remarks recently made by Professor Michael Reiss, who is currently Director of Education at the RS. We appreciate that there will be a clarification, but the fact that the comments were made in the first place by an official representative of the premier scientific society in the UK, if not the world, is most disturbing.
We gather Professor Reiss is a clergyman, which in itself is very worrisome. Who on earth thought that he would be an appropriate Director of Education, who could be expected to answer questions about the differences between science and religion in a scientific, reasoned way? Creationism, Intelligent Design etc. have no place in a science classroom discussion and should not be legitimized as acceptable alternative theories to evolution by anyone who claims to be a scientist. Ill-conceived opinions by a representative of the RS will only encourage those teachers, both scientists and otherwise, with a creationist agenda to speak about it to their students in the classroom.
We would urge that Professor Reiss step down, or be asked to step down, as soon as possible.
Rich
Sir Richard Roberts Ph.D. F.R.S.
1993 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
Chief Scientific Officer
New England Biolabs
Reiss clarified his remarks this way at the Royal Society website 12 September 2008 saying:
“Some of my comments about the teaching of creationism have been misinterpreted as suggesting that creationism should be taught in science classes. Creationism has no scientific basis. However, when young people ask questions about creationism in science classes, teachers need to be able to explain to them why evolution and the Big Bang are scientific theories but they should also take the time to explain how science works and why creationism has no scientific basis. I have referred to science teachers discussing creationism as a worldview’; this is not the same as lending it any scientific credibility.”
You may notice the dates. Sir [Richard] Roberts sent his letter the day after the Royal Society sent a press release with Reiss’ clarification. My concern is that this whole fiasco will turn into a farce that will not exactly show secularist[s] and those for science education in a positive light.
First Hindu faith school state funded in Europe
In London a new primary school has opened – the Krishna-Avanti primary school. At present just taking 30 children the plan is by 2014 it will have 236 pupils and a nursery; by next year the school will be in its new £10 million site.
Part of the curriculum is appreciation for the divine and holistic health
The school charter is based on the Hare Krishna movement, funded by the taxpayer, and located in Harrow where a quarter of the population that is Hindu live. Whether they will be teaching their sales technique for raising money is unclear. My concern for a faith school is the selective nature of education, and that it reinforces segregation in society.
Not least when you consider the broad mission statement:
The Krishna-Avanti School helps children realise their spiritual, moral and academic potential in a welcoming, secure and supportive environment centred about loving service to Lord Krishna. The school enables pupils to enjoy learning, to develop character and competence, and to prepare for secondary education and the responsibilities of adult life in contemporary Britain.
Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain of Accord Colaition said:
Some parents will feel reassured by a school that shares their faith and cultural background, but everybody should be aware of the impact this may have – limiting their children from other cultures, and also depriving other community schools of Hindu participation.
Categorically the children are being classed as Hindu. While a poll suggested that Hinduism has the highest retention rate in the US from childhood to adulthood (over 80%), considering children’s identities as based on the faith of their parents is worrying because the child should be able to develop that identity for themselves.
That concern is followed by what the chair of governors at the school said:
By helping children to develop strong self-identities, the best faith schools also give children the confidence to play a full part in the wider community.
Which really means encouraging Hare Krishna faith so that it thrives in the community. This is not coincidental when clearly the purpose of the school existing is to educate children within a particular religious ethos.
Parents want schools that instil discipline, and give a good education. No loving parent would want less. However, separating children on the basis of parent’s faith is encouraging people developing in their own corner of the community. This is called multiculturalism – that with respect for people developing from cradle to grave in their own sub cultural diversity is enhanced, racial relations improved, respect and understanding are enhanced.
We cannot afford to take this myth at face value – it has not played out that well. Children growing up in their own neighbourhood, cut off from daily interactions with people that are different, do not aid social cohesion. Rather it builds entrenchment, people do not understand one another because they do not interact or grow up with each other. Without understanding people have misgivings on one another. It is a part of our human nature; the insider outsiders divide. It does not improve human relations in the long run – and if we value our kid’s futures encouraging segregation is not in their interests.
Comparative religious education, teaching children about humanity – it would be great to think all schools do these things well. Yet if we have learnt anything, categorising people on faith or ethnicity is not a recipe for making society harmonise or encouraging good race relations.
Comprehensive school means being in classes with children of Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, catholic and protestant children. Those interactions allowed me in time to compare my own culture and belief system. Everyone else seemed so sure of their faith and on the same level of reasoning that this was true – and that others were not only wrong but heading for damnation. It also encouraged me to learn firsthand about other people’s cultural backgrounds. It allowed me to question the views of people my parents age that had never gone school with children from that background.
Parents want the best. They think an education within a religious school will help their kids become moral upstanding members of their community. With a good education behind them, and encouraged to be involved with the community. Yet they have been brought up to think that community is with people of their own faith and ethnicity. That their self indentify is separate from people outside their own background.
The world is bigger than the background of faith – and failure to recognise and understand that is one reason where religion is one of those labels by which people ignore our common humanity. Whenever they can separate one another, demarcate one another. Growing up separate does not make people more homogenise. It makes the world smaller, the focus narrower – and the world’s problems that little bit bigger. As a taxpayer I do not want to finance an experiment that will narrow participation in the school system and legitimise segregation for children in the school system.
An education system that actually gives children a decent education no matter what their parents background or the location. State financed faith schools are not the answer to this problem – properly funded schools are. Deepening the social divisions in this country further with a widening religious divide in education is going to fracture society further. We need less, not more faith schools.
The Royal Society, a clergyman, and education
Click the photo where Reiss talks about animal ethics using theology and science (scroll down)
A debate rages in the Royal Society over the continual appointment of Michael Reiss, who in an article mentioned that creationist views of students should be discussed in the classroom. Nobel Laureates Sir Harry Kroto and Sir Richard Roberts have written to the President of the Society to dismiss him.
Reiss in an article wrote:
Just because something lacks scientific support doesn’t seem to me a sufficient reason to omit it from a science lesson. When I was taught physics at school, and taught it extremely well in my view, what I remember finding so exciting was that we could discuss almost anything providing we were prepared to defend our thinking in a way that admitted objective evidence and logical argument.
So when teaching evolution, there is much to be said for allowing students to raise any doubts they have (hardly a revolutionary idea in science teaching) and doing one’s best to have a genuine discussion. The word ‘genuine’ doesn’t mean that creationism or intelligent design deserve equal time.
The question is was he suggesting that in the Science classroom teachers challenge student doubts about how old the world is and the validity of evolution (which he claims) or that creationism should be taught as an alternative so that the scientific viewpoint could be considered as a different world view (which the Nobel Laureates rightly oppose). The problem is saying another world view makes it sound like an equal alternative.
If Reiss was suggesting that the discussion should be student led, with the teacher showing the validity of the scientific method then this would be a good thing. One that I would have benefited from at school seeing as I was brought up to believe that evolution was wrong on a scientific basis – if we could have discussed the science behind evolution and why we know the world is billions rather than thousands of years old would have been brilliant.
Reiss clarified his remarks this way at the Royal Society website saying:
“Some of my comments about the teaching of creationism have been misinterpreted as suggesting that creationism should be taught in science classes. Creationism has no scientific basis. However, when young people ask questions about creationism in science classes, teachers need to be able to explain to them why evolution and the Big Bang are scientific theories but they should also take the time to explain how science works and why creationism has no scientific basis. I have referred to science teachers discussing creationism as a worldview’; this is not the same as lending it any scientific credibility.”
I have just posted that clarification on the Dawkins website. It seems too many people were making judgments about him being sacked based on second hand comments of what he said, rather than reading his original article.
Florida: Academic Freedom Bill – Evolution Myths
Florida’s Senate has passed a bill that will allow teachers to bring their own personal belief into the class room when teaching evolution. While the House and Governor have to still approve the bill the implication is that what does not matter is the facts, the evidence. What matters is the sensibilities and religious convictions, regardless that personal opinion has no bearing on how things are – natural history, the science, the processes at work.
One may as well include this for sex theory:
The NewScientist magazine this week has a cover feature on "Evolution: The Ultimate Guide To A Beautiful Theory" and more can be found on that following this link on evolution myths.
