What Are Faith Schools?
Faith schools base the educational values on a particular religious teachings or sect. Ordinary school curricula and lessons are incorporated with different faiths and beliefs of the religions in faith schools. These faith schools are governed, wholly or partially, by a mosque, a church, a synagogue, or another faith.
It is not that these faith schools are creating people with extreme views such as an Osama Bin Ladens. What they are doing is indoctrinating the young ones’ minds and making them rigid. These young minds get hampered by extremist thoughts that are not just adaptable to today’s modern British society. The sad point about the faith-based schools is that they are segregationist in principle. They divide, and not unite. Do we need these faith schools at all has been the question for all the public in the recent days.
Until the 19th century, the government in the United Kingdom did not fund the religious schools or the faith based schools. They were funded by the Churches or other religious institutions. When United Kingdom, as a State, assumed the responsibility to educate all children, many of the faith schools were supported by the government’s funding.
Presently, there are many controversies, namely the Fair Admissions Campaign, arising in the United Kingdom regarding the faith schools (Hand, 2003). This is because Britain today is truly cosmopolitan and is based on multiple faiths. Children going to a Hindu school, or a Muslim one, or a Christian organization could become segregated and the cosmopolitan outlook would be lost in these children. Division and prejudice could crop up to some extent in such a society dominated by the faith schools (Short, 2003). The other worry is that politics, religion, and education would become inter-twined by the faith school presence, and funding of them by the government is not appropriate (Jackson, 2003). Many British citizens believe that the government is supposed to promote an egalitarian society and must not promote religion.
The present government is bent on promoting faith-based schools, and even looking to increase their numbers (Denham, et al., 2009, p.9). There have also been plans chartered for the religious institutes to begin governing the City Academies. The argument the ruling side has is that faith schools provide great academic competencies to the students and those schools that are steeped in religious ethos do much good to the young minds (Glenn, 2000, p. 8). Although the number of private-based faith schools is also on the rise, the real debate is whether the State should continue its funding for the faith schools.
Since the riots by Muslim youth in Bradford in the Summer of 2001, the question of whether the faith schools are promoting hatred and violence and religious intolerance has risen. Faith schools must be abolished. Only in the presence of secular schools, children can unite and think they are all “One” in a truly harmonious society. Secular schools can foster friendliness amongst children of different races, color, and languages, and caste. This would pave way to the enhancement of the secular nature of any society.
Thus, “faith schools” is a term that covers a number of schools that operate under a particular faith and disseminate the relevant teachings and the doctrines to the students studying there. They include the Church of England’s primary schools in the villages to the Muslim academies (Short, 2003). The two important providers of faith schools in the UK are the Catholic Education Service and the Church of England.
In the United Kingdom, a far as the faith schools are concerned, the Left seems to oppose their existence, while the Right supports them. The attitudes of the voters towards faith schools in the United Kingdom do not offer comfort to either side. It is found that it is the middle-aged and the weakest amongst the youngsters oppose the faith schools. The Left opposes faith schools because they believe that such schools lead to segregation. The Right favors the faith schools because they think that these schools teach morality to young children, which the secular schools do not.
Even the most ardent believer in the Church thinks of sending children to a school based on the quality of education given there, rather than the passing down of any religious faith to the children. The British population has come to believe that all organized religion is “weird”. The majority of the British population is against the Government spending for faith schools. Faith schools make up a third of the school system in the UK, and the majority has openly displayed their opposition to the running and funding of these schools.
Around 60% of the population is found opposing the Muslims schools, and 40% of the British population is opposed to faith schools for Christians. Parents and grandparents are much more opposed to these schools than the youth. The grounds on which these faith schools are opposed are that these schools differentiate applicants based on religion, and this is usually not expected out of state-run schools. These schools are also thought of as not promoting integration and this includes the Christian schools and not just the Muslim schools.
What is unpopular in the UK is the trend that the children of religious, devout parents are alone selected by the faith schools. That is the reason for the parental revolts against the London schools performing such acts of discrimination.
Reasons to Abolish Faith Schools
We are all Born Equal
It is vital that no extreme thoughts be taught to children. All of us need to live by a set of harmonious rules that promote positive and tolerant interactions. Should such rules be broken, then a neutral redirection must be made available, instead of having the children resort to extremist thought or behavior.
Children Should only be Taught the Truth
It is essential to impart to children rational things instead of the irrational. Religion is based on irrational sets of beliefs that cannot be tested or proven. This, ultimately, allows the children to be under a false sense of belonging or security. Instead, education must disseminate aspects that can broaden and develop the mind (Flint, 2007). Religion tells children of the “us and they” concept, which are different from what we would want a secular system to exit and sustain (Burtonwood, 2003).
Let Children have a Choice and Decide
Children are most likely to believe what we tell them as they are at a tender age. It is at this time that if we tell them that women are inferior to men and that things must always be covered up, otherwise one would go to hell, then the child grows into an adult with little openness in his or her personality. Children can be taught good morals, but forcing doctrines into them at a tender age will leave them influenced. Children must be brought up as ideally secular individuals, neither theist nor atheist, and then when they grow up, they can think for themselves what to make out of life and its governing principles and values.
Religion is Private
Faith, unfortunately, is not based on facts. It is also an aspect of personal interest. Myths and talks about fairies and heaven are not supported by concrete evidence. When feeding these stories to children, we are influencing them and giving them information that has no substantial basis. This would ruin their questioning and logical capacity, and even turn them into blind followers of what is being thrust on them in the name of religion.
Faith Schools are not Inclusive
Although children should be made aware of the various belief systems existing in the world today, they should not be forced to adhere to one faith tenaciously at such a young age when they cannot make decisions for themselves. In addition, faith schools choose students coming from religious families in which parents visit the church regularly and take part in the religious practices. This would limit the students present in nearby places to the faith schools, but who would not hail from religious families from gaining admission to these schools. In addition, families that are not so religious may have to send their children to far off schools if the local community school is faith based. All these are hindrances to education and a smooth way of educating children equally in a community.
Children Should Be Guided
While a child must be educated in different faiths from across the world, they must not be forced to into one faith only. This would only make them more narrow-minded. The child can be exposed to various doctrines and allowed to choose from them once he becomes an adult and is mature enough to seek what is good for him. Until then, schools must refrain from blindly leading a child on a set of principles that do not have proof or relevance.
Do not Teach Beliefs to Children as Facts
Belief is not fact. All religions are merely beliefs and have no concrete evidence or factual basis. Thus, beliefs forced upon a child in his early years of comprehending the world around him would mislead him. No one is sure of these beliefs and faiths, and so cannot proclaim them whole-heartedly as true. In this case, these schools may only lead to the child growing up with a narrow mind set. They will not be allowed to experiment on their own and find the laws governing the Earth.
Secularism Should be the Doctrine to Follow
Secularism should be the doctrine to be adhered to at present. Society has reached a stage where extremist thoughts and beliefs have no place. The world is a global village now due to communication channels opening up, and with the advent of the Internet. Trade and skill sets are being exported as much as they are imported in this global scenario, and holding onto a particular set of beliefs that are not recognized universally will only allow the child to face culture clashes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, faiths schools divide and do not unite. They breed in young children the notions that each system of religion is different from the other. They also preach to young minds that their religion alone is the superior one and that women are inferior to men. All these prejudices arise from funding and running faith schools. The faith schools must be abolished in order for Britain to enjoy an egalitarian society and environment. Today, the influx of immigrants has increased, and if each thinks that they are different, and religious intolerance is practiced, then communal hatred and personal conflicts will be the consequence. We must shape the young children into intelligent, tolerating, broad, and friendly-natured minds. For this to happen, faith schools must cease to exist.
Some faith schools even integrate gender bias. These faith-based schools do not allow the girls to speak to boys and forbid the girls from participating in extracurricular activities. Do we need the bias in term of religion, gender, and color and caste? This is a personal question each British citizen must ask himself or herself and raise their voice against faith-based schools.
References
Burtonwood, N., (2003), ‘Social cohesion, autonomy and the liberal defence of faith schools’, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 415–425.
Dinham, R., et al., (2009), Faith in the public realm, p. 5.
Flint, J., (2007), ‘Faith schools, multiculturalism and community cohesion: Muslim and Roman Catholic state schools in England and Scotland,’ Policy & Politics, Vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 251-268.
Gardner R., et al., (2005), Faith schools, consensus or conflict, Oxon: RoutledgeFalmer.
Glenn, C. L., (2000), The ambiguous embrace, New Jeresy: Princeton University Press, p. 8.
Hand, M., (2003), ‘A philosophical objection to faith schools’, Theory and Research in Education, vol. 1 no. 1 pp. 89-99
Jackson, R. (2003), ‘Should the State Fund Faith Based Schools? A Review of the Arguments’, British Journal of Religious Education, Vol. 25, no. 2.
Marples, R., (2005),‘Against faith schools: a philosophical argument for children’s rights’, International Journal of Children's Spirituality, Vol. 10, no. 2.
Short, G., (2003), ‘Faith Schools and Social Cohesion: Opening up the Debate’, British Journal of Religious Education, Vol. 25, no. 2.
