Say NO to Free Muslim Schools....
Gee, this is from the UK....are they listening to John Tory???
Dozens of new Muslim state schools could be created in a controversial expansion of faith education planned by Ministers.
Schools Secretary Ed Balls promised funds to take more than 100 private Muslim schools into the state sector to meet rising parental demand.
But there were immediate warnings that setting up new faith schools could backfire by increasing religious tensions. Opponents said it could entrench segregation and called them "plain madness".
And a Muslim leader admitted the biggest obstacle to the opening of new Islamic state schools was public fears that they would "produce fundamentalists".
Mr Balls said the schools could be a force for improving community relations and warned that minority religions currently did not have enough free faith school places.
The schools do not have to admit pupils of other religions if they are over-subscribed and can follow their own curriculum for RE lessons.
posted by GayandRight @ 10:54 PM
3 Comments:
As a gay Liberal... for some reason this whole religious school thing doesn't bother me... maybe I'm naive... I mean as long as you believe there are religious schools out there... who aren't teaching anything super radical... why not fund them like the Catholic schools?
Merboy... I think that's the issue. Most people who have seen how everything else has gone with Muslims in the last generation will say that it's very likely that the curriculum WILL become infiltrated and coopted by radicals.
The radicals (from Saudi or Pakistan mostly) are well funded, organized, and have an endless supply it seems of young men willing to travel from Saudi or Pakistan to help systematically target every institution they can and radicalize its youth. It's already happened in much of England's mosques. Do we really want to start the process in grade 1?
There are so many issues with Ontario at the moment, particularly economic issues, that need attention. The whole issue of religious schools is just so far down my list of issues that will affect my vote, I just don't understand why it's such a big deal.
It reminds me of the Sunday shopping debates from the late 80s. Yeah, it needs to be discussed, but aren't there more pressing topics to deal with first?
However, if we are going to make this an issue, I don't mind the funding of religious schools if it provides a tool to ensure we can control what is being taught (ie. nothing too radical, as merboy says). To me, this is key. I want to control what they are teaching in those religious schools.
Ontario's education system needs some major work. Between bloated administrations and out-of-control teacher unions, the system is in need of a major overhaul. How do we make our schools competitive? How do we make them work to improve themselves, to use our money more efficiently and improve their quality to compete over students? The current system doesn't encourage schools and boards to be entrepreneurial in how they spend and save money and to improve themselves.
Rather than talking about funding to religious schools, I would like to see a politician talk about sweeping changes to improve our public education--both in quality and efficient use of tax dollars.
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