The question of how much religion should be incorporated into the schooling system is controversial. Due to the fact that it is a controversial question, we should probably remind ourselves on what controversial actually means. The dictionary refers to the word controversial as: subject to controversy; debatable. Therefore, a controversial question will never truly have a set in stone correct answer. Although everyone would like to say that there is a middle unbias ground, this "ground" in reality is unexistent. Everyone has their own opinions on this subject, and no matter how much we would like to believe that we are capable of being totally objective, we are not. Naturally, everyone likes to believe that he or she is correct, and therefore this hinders humanity at any real chance of creating this "middle ground". Therefore, as I am a typical human, I will be realistic to what I personally believe; even though I wish I could say that there should be no bias in school education.
I believe that religion does have a vital role on American history. Therefore I am not saying that religion should be completely left out of our histories. Rather, I believe that religion should be taught in relation to history, not as the foundation of our history. I know, you may argue that religion is the reason why American history even came to be, but this technically is not true. There were other reasons to the foundation of this great nation also, such as political and economical. Therefore, how can we teach history as if Christianity is the sole purpose of America's existence today? We can't.
While reading The Wall Street Journal's article, I perceived the social conservative's goals and aspirations as to censor any part of history that seemed to taint the Christian faith. For example, the quote "The curriculum...should clearly present Christainity as an overall force for good", this alone is what seemed to give me the most trouble. This "editing" of history is only manipulating history to make Christainity more appealing. Therefore, this is not the right thing to do. I can understand incorporating the Christian faith into history as it relates to it, but censorship is an entirely different concept. History should be told as it happens, whether it gives Christianity a positive or negative outlook. To be fair, not incorporating religion into history is also a censorship, therefore both sides pro-religion teaching or anti-religion teaching must try to be represented.
When it all comes down to it, there will be a bias no matter what. The subject of religion's involvement in education will always be debatable. After all, we are all human, and part of the beauty of humanity is having the capacity to hold our own viewpoints even if they vary from one another. The way I view this subject, religion should be taught in schools only if it has a direct "cause and effect" relation to history. The rest of religion, be it Chritianity or not, should be taught outside of the educational environment.
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Well said, i absolutely agree it will always be controversial and debatable until the end of time.Also that history at this point cannot be altered to side with a certain group because say if they were to do so it would most likely be a contridiction to what we and others had been taught in the past,and many things simply would fail to add up and make sense.It would leave many questions and confusion,Although i do believe that Christianity does play a big role in our history it would be very difficult to incorporate all of it into our history because,and say if we did who would imagine how much more debate and controversy there would be on exactly what the beliefs were and how it impacted history and simply what Christianity was back then because most know that Christianity has changed a lot over time.Therefore i also agree that religion should be taught in schools only if it has a direct "cause and effect" relation to history. The rest of religion, be it Chritianity or not, should be taught outside of the educational environment.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you said "religion" instead of just christianity sparked tons of different ideas within my own mind, and from reading what Anna had said i will continue on with that as well. The fact that the article mentioned Christianity as "religion" solely is somewhat strange. Where there not other religions that had effect on the coming about of the United States. As we learned in Olson's class of the Native American's religion all of these different cultures and different people have different beliefs and in large they effected United States up into what it is now a "collage" of different religions/cultures. This should be included in the history books, no? Since when is Christianity the only religious role that played part in American history? I really do agree with you ali that this is a debate and will most likely never be resolved. If this were to be resolved the "winner" as in campbell's question would eventually have complete control thus influencing the future(1984 relatable). I see the censorship of history books as something that should not ever be in place. If we look at WWII America and most countries do not censor the Third Reich as something that should not be taught to future generations but something to be learned from.
ReplyDeleteI very much agree with you Ali!! And with annasmiles too :) Christianity did have a role in our history, but it's ridiculous to say that everything we have now is because of the "good of Christianity". There are just so many factors that played a role in the past, and made America what it is today. Just because Christians want to make a positive reputation for themselves, they can't just take credit for all of America's highlights. The same goes for the non-christian related events. They cannot be erased just because some event or person did not relate back to Christianity. I believe faith is an important part of America and the people who make up this great nation, but religion should be taught in a religious environment, not through history books.
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