Education Matters:

I enjoy this paper’s Saturday religion page because it engages a diversity of thought, regardless of one’s affiliation. As a teacher, I have for many years traversed the middle ground between recognition and denial of religion as a valid topic in a public high school classroom. One thing that I do know is that the subject always invites strong opinions.

Ending the confusion and conflict about religion and public schools would be good for public education and for our nation. If school districts (and beyond) are ever going to move from battleground to common ground on the issue of religion in the public schools, there needs to be a different approach to something that has divided Americans since the early days of the common school movement.

I have broached the subject before in this column and some have suggested that I just leave it alone. It’s the whole separation issue (church and state) that we teachers are obliged to recognize and take great pains not to violate. But I would ask, as a social studies teacher, how can I ignore the role of religion in my presentation of human history? How can I omit a human impulse that has, to a very large extent, determined history? The question becomes, how do I teach about religion without being religious?

There are some who would advocate what might be called the “sacred public school” where one religion (theirs) is preferred in school practices and policies. On the other end of the spectrum would be schools that push for “religion-free zones.”

My preference would be public schools that neither inculcate nor inhibit religion but become places where religious conviction is treated with fairness and respect. It would protect the religious liberty rights of all faiths or none.

School curricula would include study about religion as an important part of a complete education. It would be educational and not devotional. Schools would strive for student awareness as opposed to acceptance of any religion. They would expose students to a diversity of religious views without imposing any particular view. The school would educate about all religions, but not promote or denigrate any religion.

That seems pretty basic, but a teacher venturing into the area of religion assumes a certain risk. There are always vigilant parents poised and ready to object to any religious reference that does not coincide with their own.