Why religious beliefs should not infringe on school curriculum ...

November 9, 2012 ????? 0 Comments

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BY?Pradip Rodrigues

Recently a forwarded piece of mail was accidentally sent to this newspaper, I figured it out after I called the sender who was baffled. He told me it was a private email that was definitely not supposed to be sent to a newspaper office of all places. The email contained two attachments, one pertaining to Bill 13, which amends Ontario?s Education Act with respect to bullying. And the other was a downloadable letter parents could sign and send to their child?s school.
Now Bill 13 is controversial because several faith-based religious groups have resisted it based on the fact that the subjects dealt with are contrary to their religious and moral values. So what exactly is this Bill 13 that seems to have stirred a hornet?s nest. Following cases of bullying and growing intolerance toward LGBTTIQ (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, transsexual, two-spirited, intersex, queer and questioning) people. The Bill introduced by the McGuinty government passed earlier this year is intended to ensure school-going students have the knowledge, skills, attitude and values to engage in the world and importantly, making their schools and communities more tolerant for all people.
The forwarded email had a downloadable letter titled- Our Family?s Traditional Values Letter for parents who wished their children excused from discussions and classes that dealt with subjects like sex education, environmentalism, moral relativism and situational ethics. The reason being that these were sensitive subjects and the position held by a secular society clashed with their conservative religious values.
Thousands of conservative students all across Ontario and more specifically the GTA are routinely pulled out of classes that their parents deem inappropriate . In some schools a significant number of students are excused from attending following notes from their parents. Looked at in another way, this well could be another form of censorship?restricting a child?s access to information being discussed logically in a classroom. This is not to say that the children will feed their heightened curiosity by simply looking it up on the Internet.
I met a conservative Muslim mother recently who was vehemently opposed to any teachings about gays and lesbians because to her it was wrong and unnatural and the way the schools were teaching the subjects tended to lend legitimacy to the subject.I wonder how this parents will explain to her child that in 2012, it is quite okay for a child to have two mothers?
On an online blog, one South Asian parent actually went on to suggest that since pre-marital sex was not an option for South Asian children, attending a sex education class was quite unnecessary. My research for this piece led me to an abortion clinic near Trillium hospital in Mississauga. On that particular afternoon, there were women from all races, 50 percent of the women seeking abortions were non-White, one girl, who I suspected could be no more than 19-years-old was there with her boyfriend, she was obviously in some school for sure, she even had books with her and one more thing, she wore a hijab. I so wish some of these parents who are under the mistaken belief that their children do not need to attend sex education classes saw what I saw. How many of these conservative girls and boys missed those classes because their parents thought it clashed with their religion and values?
As a parent, I teach my child values, but that doesn?t mean I will shield him from a discussion at school on any issue regardless of how I feel about it. For example, my Grade 2 son startled me last year when he told me that men can get married to men, apparently a boy in his class mentioned it to him. When it is time for the school to have a talk on the issue, I will be quite happy to have him sit in there and understand the issue as well as every other issue that will help make him a better and more tolerant individual.
If more and more children are kept away from free and frank discussions on sensitive issues, we risk a return to the dark ages. It is okay for families to privately believe God created earth or that aliens were behind it. But a classroom is probably the only sane place where all viewpoints can be aired, discussed and debated so that everyone has a broad understanding of life in the 21st century.
It isn?t just the separation of Church and State that needs to be enforced but the separation of Church and School.

By Pradip Rodrigues

Tags: Bill, child, issue, letter, school, sex

Source: http://canindia.com/2012/11/why-religious-beliefs-should-not-infringe-on-school-curriculum/

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