I know North Herts doesn't quite have the same level of religious divide as Galsgow and Ireland but on the subject of faith schools causing division... From my village and my year all of the kids from the village junior school went to one of two nearby secondary schools except for one boy went to the nearest Catholic school. So, he no longer mixed as much with the local kids and made new friends who were also Catholic. In my opinion, that is effectively apartheid along religious lines.
Would it not be better if the state provided good schools that didn't try to push some archaic belief on the pupils?
Would it not be better if the state abandoned that archaic tradition? (even though it isn't a tradition)
I used to have this as my sig. It's elegantly relevant to both of your positions: "If you have ever argued with a religious devotee, for example, you will have noticed that his self-esteem and pride are involved in the dispute, and that you are asking him to give up something more than a point in argument. The same is true of visceral patriots, and admirers of monarchy and aristocracy. Allegiance is a powerful force in human affairs; it will not do to treat someone as a mental serf if he is convinced that his thralldom is honorable and voluntary."
It is one of those quotes it is impossible to argue with as ignoring it is treated as tacit acceptance. Arguing against it proves it. Like saying that it is superstitious to avoid superstition. One doesn't have to be an advocate of a particular faith to be an advocate of faith schooling. The problem here isn't Clegg sending his kid to a faith school, it is him sending his kid to one of the very best state schools to create the impression he's in it with the rest of us. Diane Abbott asked a PMQ once to Tony Blair about education and the extra tuition he was getting for his young lad..... It would have been a good question if Abbot didn't have her own son in a private school.
No, that just makes him a weirdo My best mate lived 9 doors away from me, we went to the same nursery but different primary and secondary schools...he is still my best mate AND he is half norn iron prod It never once stopped us being pals, nor me being pals with the other non doms or them making friends with my fellow taigs Everyone got on It's only when bigots get involved that it becomes an issue...be they intolerant because they think their religion is better or be they arrogant because they are atheists and think they are smarter than anyone with a faith
If Cameron has his way they'll be amending sucession laws (not traditions) to allow that to happen.....
I love that quote. Quality. And going back a bit: Does this mean you have softened your stance on those parents who leave money (in their wills) to their children or try to otherwise set them up financially or generally give them a leg up in life? I seem to remember using this sort of argument against you - in an attempt to explain why it wasn't necessarily a bad thing for parents to help their children; indeed, to see it as perfectly natural and understandable - and you were having none of it. What happened?
I'm intrigued as to how the monarchy comes into this debate. Non-Catholic state schools aren't pushing belief in the monarchy. There is no belief, it's tradition, it's what we do - until someone comes up with a convincing reason to stop doing it. I certainly can't recall having belief in the monarchy drummed into me at school. What we did get was a morning assembly with prayers and hymns at junior school and "lower school" at the comprehensive. Loosely Anglican I guess. Upper school (years 4-6) assemblies were non-religious. That was most likely to do with the head of lower school being a reverend and funnily enough he ended up in prison for fiddling wiv da kids. Not me. The Asian kids were excused and I got myself excused as an atheist too, just sat in a room waiting. All a load of ****. Private schools can do what they want within reason as far as I'm concerned but state schools should just be schools.
I buy the Guardian on Saturday and they do a piece called "let's move to..." and doesn't matter what town,city,borough etc but invariably they list a RC school and Ofsted(whoever they are) never have a bad word to say about those schools .Just saying
They are still schools..we don't sit about in robes plotting the end of democracy or pray 5 times a day to Henrik Larsson...primary, learn a bit about God and prepare you for communion/confirmation/confession...high school only do mass once in a blue moon But yes...that's destroying our social fabric for some
They tend to do better than non-RC schools. Many reasons for that and top of the list is that they are selective.
It was a quip based on the state not promoting archaic ideas. Given that the head of state is a monarch which is itself an archaic notion it would be a curious thing for the archaic state to cite archaic-ness as a reason to dispose of something. It wasn't my best ever joke... I accept that. But explaining it has somewhat killed it. The state tends to the needs of its people. Its peoples needs are tended to by having faith based schools. People who need faith based schools pay taxes..... Extrapolate
