We’re ramping up for a provincial election this October where I live. The Liberal party in power have some broken promises to account for if they want our votes again, but do people really believe that politicians ever fulfill their promises?
One issue that’s become a bit of a wedge issue is the idea of public funding for faith-based schools. About 40% of Canadians are counted as Catholics, and in Ontario there are publicly funded Catholic school systems, which I’m a product of. But there is no money available for any other religious schools.
The demography of Canada is changing; we have a much more diversified population than a generation ago (it’s a good thing!). So the question of whether other faith-based schools should get funding is getting louder.
Personally, I feel that if a school system adheres to the provincial curriculum, and maintains a high standard of learning, then there could be a case to allow them access to public money.
BUT
This means giving up any faith-based non-religious teaching; no creationism in science class, no lies about the definition of what a “Theory” is, and zero tollerance for any teachings that contradict the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms. For example – homosexuality being ‘evil’, abortion, or women not being equal. I’m not debating whether these issues are right or wrong, I’m only saying that legally, the debate is over. Women are people, abortion is legal, and every (legal) sexual orientation is equal.
I absolutly believe that any money towards faith based schooling should not happen. I beleive that your spirituality is important, but school should not be the place to learn it. If the purpose of schooling is to make children into a valuable contributor of society, to basically prepare them for a career, than teaching a faith in school wastes time that could be better used. What happened to parents teaching thier beliefs to the child? If you want to talk about what whould and should not be taught in schools, why not start with something practical, like personal finance? I cant tell you how many people I talk to know nothing about how or where thier money is spent. Spending 500 million of my tax money to pay for educating children in any relegious teachings is a waste of money.
Yeah, your *but* assumes that zealots follow the rules and don’t try to push the boundaries.
I agree that it would be difficult to monitor and ensure that all publicly funded faith-based schools don’t cross the line. And for that reason, you’re probably right, it’s not a good idea. There might end up being a “faith-creep” that over time would find a way to get around public-funding rules.
Maybe the answer is to remove funding for Catholic schools (over time) instead of giving new money to other-faith-based schools?
yeah, but that’s very utopian. the minute they allow more faith school, you will start seeing more inequality and we’ll be going backwards. plus, allowing society to divide up further by their religious beliefs segregates us more. there are no positives to this idea, i would not support it. at least in a forum in which you have different rep of different religions, there are differing opinions. in faith school, there is no discourse, there is just a reiteration of your faith, without question, and that will lead to more misunderstandings. this is a bad idea.