At a time when a style of bureaucratic non-speak prevails in our education system, the head of the federal government’s national curriculum review, Kevin Donnelly, is refreshingly plain-speaking. He has endorsed corporal punishment in schools, accused some primary school educators of seeking to promote homosexuality as a lifestyle choice and suggested religion needs a stronger presence in Australia’s “very secular” curriculum. While I find the first two pronouncements disturbing, the third arguably has merit.
This is not an invitation to God to enter the classroom. Quite the reverse: he/she/it/they should be comprehensively banished from public schools. The distinction I’m drawing is between instructing students in a faith, as opposed to educating them about religions. The first involves insiders declaring a believed truth, such as “God created light”. Education, on the other hand, is strictly objective, as in “some monotheists believe God created light” and perhaps, on an objective analysis, schools need to do more of this and do it smarter.
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