I love poetry, and I can recite a number of my favourite poems
by rote. I can quote chunks of others, and if I feel the need to make
a poetic quotation to support a point I have sufficient knowledge of
poetry to enable me to find appropriate quotes.
Many
of the poems that I know by rote were learned for the purpose of
competing in Eisteddfodau. The ones that I remember best aren't the
ones that were drilled, they are the ones who's meanings and
structure were explained in detail before we even got onto learning
them.
Poems learned in context and taught with enthusiasm can
be a lifelong pleasure. Poems taught by rote because the National
Curriculum says they must be taught could be counterproductive and
put kids off poetry for life. So I give a half cautious welcome to
Michael Gove's pronouncement that Children
as young as five will be expected to learn and recite poetry by heart
in a major overhaul of the national curriculum for schools in
England. If it is done well English kids will have a huge
benefit, if it is done badly English poetry will suffer a generation
of despair.
I sincerely hope it's done well. If not, perhaps this poem by
John Cooper Clarke might be the poem Mr Gove will be most associated
with:
TWAT
Like a Night Club in the morning, you're the
bitter end
Like a recently disinfected shit-house, you're
clean round the bend.
You give me the horrors
too bad to be
true
All of my tomorrow's
are lousy coz of you.
You
put the Shat in Shatter
Put the Pain in Spain
Your germs are
splattered about
Your face is just a stain
You're
certainly no raver, commonly known as a drag.
Do us all a favour,
here... wear this polythene bag.
You're like a dose of
scabies,
I’ve got you under my skin.
You make life a
fairy tale... Grimm!
People mention murder, the moment you
arrive.
I’d consider killing you if I thought you were
alive.
You've got this slippery quality,
it makes me
think of phlegm,
and a dual personality
I hate both of them.
Your bad breath, vamps disease, destruction, and
decay.
Please, please, please, please, take yourself away.
Like
a death in a birthday party,
you ruin all the fun.
Like a sucked
and spat our Smartie,
you're no use to anyone.
like the
shadow of the guillotine
on a dead consumptive's
face.
Speaking as an outsider,
what do you think of the human
race
You went to a progressive psychiatrist.
He
recommended suicide...
before scratching your bad name off his
list,
and pointing the way outside.
You hear laughter
breaking through, it makes you want to fart.
You’re heading
for a breakdown,
better pull yourself apart.
Your dirty name
gets passed about when something goes amiss.
Your attitudes are
platitudes,
just make me wanna piss.
What kind of creature
bore you
Was is some kind of bat
They can’t find a good
word for you,
but I can...
TWAT
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
17/02/2012
What is Fluency in Welsh?
This post was going to be a comment on a post on the National Left blog but has grown too long.
The background is that on Tuesday the Welsh Language Board issued a report that claimed that the number of Fluent Welsh speakers was declining by about 3,000 per year despite the fact that the 2001 and probably the 2011 census results have / will show an overall increase in the numbers of Welsh speakers. If rumours are correct the 2011 census will show that Welsh is now spoken by slightly more than was the case forty years ago in 1971.
The Welsh Language Board claims that the census increases might give false optimism for the fate of the language because heads of households might think that because their offspring do Welsh in school that they are more capable in the language than is practically true, so the census results are very subjective.
I agree.
The problem with the WLB's report is that it is also based on self reporting and is probably as subjective as the Census results. Many first language Welsh speakers feel that their Welsh isn't good enough, despite the fact that they use the language naturally and properly on a daily basis, so they don't declare themselves as fluent.
A few years ago I was in a pub in Llanrwst where two women were complaining to me about an advert for a job in a local retirement home being advertised as one where an ability to speak Welsh is essential. They thought that this unfairly discriminated against them because they were prohibited from applying for the job. The complaint was made in very down to earth colloquial Welsh. When I asked them what the problem was they both replied that our Welsh isn't good enough! They didn't perceive themselves as matching the WLB's fluency threshold, despite being native Welsh speakers!
For us to be able to measure how the language is fairing and in order to enhance its use we need a much more objective way of measuring language skills than either the Census or the WLB's surveys!
I live in a village where the 2001 Census claims that about 35% of the villagers speak Welsh.
I can make a case that puts this as a gross underestimation. I suspect that around 90% of my neighbours understand and use Welsh terms such as "croeso", "bore da", "iechyd da", "paned", "Ysgol", "Ysbyty" etc daily. They know how to spell Betws y Coed, and live in streets called Ffordd---, Rhes---, Bryn---, Maes--- know how to pronounce them properly and know their meaning – I think that such people should be encouraged to consider themselves as Welsh Speakers, as owners of the language and stakeholders in its future.
I could also make the case that the 35% is a gross over exaggeration. I very much doubt that 35% of the villagers actually converse in Welsh on a daily basis, feel comfortable speaking Welsh or would prefer to speak Welsh rather than English.
We can't have an objective assessment that covers everybody in Wales, but a generic Welsh in the Workplace qualification which ranges from the greeting knowledge that 90% have at level one to the specialist proofreading knowledge that perhaps 1% have at level 7, that tells the people of Wales when the Welsh that they know is good enough and encourages them to improve on it might be a step in the right direction.
The background is that on Tuesday the Welsh Language Board issued a report that claimed that the number of Fluent Welsh speakers was declining by about 3,000 per year despite the fact that the 2001 and probably the 2011 census results have / will show an overall increase in the numbers of Welsh speakers. If rumours are correct the 2011 census will show that Welsh is now spoken by slightly more than was the case forty years ago in 1971.
The Welsh Language Board claims that the census increases might give false optimism for the fate of the language because heads of households might think that because their offspring do Welsh in school that they are more capable in the language than is practically true, so the census results are very subjective.
I agree.
The problem with the WLB's report is that it is also based on self reporting and is probably as subjective as the Census results. Many first language Welsh speakers feel that their Welsh isn't good enough, despite the fact that they use the language naturally and properly on a daily basis, so they don't declare themselves as fluent.
A few years ago I was in a pub in Llanrwst where two women were complaining to me about an advert for a job in a local retirement home being advertised as one where an ability to speak Welsh is essential. They thought that this unfairly discriminated against them because they were prohibited from applying for the job. The complaint was made in very down to earth colloquial Welsh. When I asked them what the problem was they both replied that our Welsh isn't good enough! They didn't perceive themselves as matching the WLB's fluency threshold, despite being native Welsh speakers!
For us to be able to measure how the language is fairing and in order to enhance its use we need a much more objective way of measuring language skills than either the Census or the WLB's surveys!
I live in a village where the 2001 Census claims that about 35% of the villagers speak Welsh.
I can make a case that puts this as a gross underestimation. I suspect that around 90% of my neighbours understand and use Welsh terms such as "croeso", "bore da", "iechyd da", "paned", "Ysgol", "Ysbyty" etc daily. They know how to spell Betws y Coed, and live in streets called Ffordd---, Rhes---, Bryn---, Maes--- know how to pronounce them properly and know their meaning – I think that such people should be encouraged to consider themselves as Welsh Speakers, as owners of the language and stakeholders in its future.
I could also make the case that the 35% is a gross over exaggeration. I very much doubt that 35% of the villagers actually converse in Welsh on a daily basis, feel comfortable speaking Welsh or would prefer to speak Welsh rather than English.
We can't have an objective assessment that covers everybody in Wales, but a generic Welsh in the Workplace qualification which ranges from the greeting knowledge that 90% have at level one to the specialist proofreading knowledge that perhaps 1% have at level 7, that tells the people of Wales when the Welsh that they know is good enough and encourages them to improve on it might be a step in the right direction.
10/09/2010
Gareth's School Days
Buried amongst the many is my comment on Gareth Malone's Extraordinary School for Boys blog
At 02:36am on 10 Sep 2010, Alwyn ap Huw wrote:
A lot of negative comments above, many suggesting that it's OK on a programme from the BBC, but couldn't be adapted to practical everyday teaching. I disagree.
There isn't a school in the world, even the most impoverished, that can't introduce,(at no cost) debating skills, an essential ability in answering those exam questions later in life that go "blah di blah di blah" –discuss!
Even the poorest school in the world can act out the meaning of a poem or the storyline of a book, at no cost.
When I was in school, a long time ago, many of the things that Gareth is doing were extracurricular. Debating and acting (passages of the Bible) was done in Sunday school.
The rough and tumble outdoor activities were done in the Cubs and the Scouts.
Competing in elocution, poetry reading or writing, singing, dancing, artwork and a hundred other forms of expression were provided by the local to national eisteddfod movement, encouraged by schools but outside the school curriculum!
It is a shame that children aren't members of as many extracurricular societies as I was 40 years ago. If schools are expected to make up that deficit, then school hours need to be extended.
An interesting point that Gareth made is that boys have to take risks. I agree. It is interesting that girls started overtaking boys academically when corporal punishment in school was abolished, when the risk of six of the best for the rudeness to Gareth that some of the boys on the programme displayed would have earned them a whacking in my day.
The abolition of CP has reduced the risk in boys education and reduced their achievements at the same time!
At 02:36am on 10 Sep 2010, Alwyn ap Huw wrote:
A lot of negative comments above, many suggesting that it's OK on a programme from the BBC, but couldn't be adapted to practical everyday teaching. I disagree.
There isn't a school in the world, even the most impoverished, that can't introduce,(at no cost) debating skills, an essential ability in answering those exam questions later in life that go "blah di blah di blah" –discuss!
Even the poorest school in the world can act out the meaning of a poem or the storyline of a book, at no cost.
When I was in school, a long time ago, many of the things that Gareth is doing were extracurricular. Debating and acting (passages of the Bible) was done in Sunday school.
The rough and tumble outdoor activities were done in the Cubs and the Scouts.
Competing in elocution, poetry reading or writing, singing, dancing, artwork and a hundred other forms of expression were provided by the local to national eisteddfod movement, encouraged by schools but outside the school curriculum!
It is a shame that children aren't members of as many extracurricular societies as I was 40 years ago. If schools are expected to make up that deficit, then school hours need to be extended.
An interesting point that Gareth made is that boys have to take risks. I agree. It is interesting that girls started overtaking boys academically when corporal punishment in school was abolished, when the risk of six of the best for the rudeness to Gareth that some of the boys on the programme displayed would have earned them a whacking in my day.
The abolition of CP has reduced the risk in boys education and reduced their achievements at the same time!
01/07/2010
Wales' first 3/19 School
I was disappointed to read on Cllr. Alun Williams', blog that Ceredigion County Council has decided to proceed with its plan to establish a school for all children and young people in the Llandysul area. The school will provide education for all "children" aged between three and nineteen years old.
I feel that there is something intrinsically sickening in proposing such an institution!
As a parent I would not have wanted my children, when they were small, to be educated in such a school. The idea of sending a small child aged three to a school where pupils were swearing every other word, discussing their pretend sex lives and their sexual desires, chewing gum and smoking disgusts me.
As my progeny are now amongst those who swear every other word, discuss their pretend sex lives and sexual desires and chew gum (but do not, as far as I know, smoke!) I want them to feel that they are at the boundary of adulthood, that they are young men rather than little children sharing the same school as three year old toddlers.
When I moved from the Little School to the Big School, and when my children moved from Primary School to Secondary School it was a milestone on the road to maturity. It was a big step in life, a much bigger step than just moving from year 6 to year 7 or moving from junior campus to senior campus. It was a Right of Passage.
I really worry that depriving the children of rural Wales of such a milestone on the way maturity may create serious social harm in the long term. There is a real danger that young people will not "grow up" and learn to accept the new duties and responsibilities that maturity brings.
I'm glad that Plaid Cymru in Ceredigion has objected to such an abhorrent adjustment in the provision of education in the Llandysul area. I am disappointed that their objections have failed to persuade their fellow councillors to abandon it. But I hope that they will send the evidence which formed the basis of their opposition to their friends in Gwynedd, where Plaid is proposing a similar abhorrent shake up of schools in the Dolgellau and Harlech areas.
I feel that there is something intrinsically sickening in proposing such an institution!
As a parent I would not have wanted my children, when they were small, to be educated in such a school. The idea of sending a small child aged three to a school where pupils were swearing every other word, discussing their pretend sex lives and their sexual desires, chewing gum and smoking disgusts me.
As my progeny are now amongst those who swear every other word, discuss their pretend sex lives and sexual desires and chew gum (but do not, as far as I know, smoke!) I want them to feel that they are at the boundary of adulthood, that they are young men rather than little children sharing the same school as three year old toddlers.
When I moved from the Little School to the Big School, and when my children moved from Primary School to Secondary School it was a milestone on the road to maturity. It was a big step in life, a much bigger step than just moving from year 6 to year 7 or moving from junior campus to senior campus. It was a Right of Passage.
I really worry that depriving the children of rural Wales of such a milestone on the way maturity may create serious social harm in the long term. There is a real danger that young people will not "grow up" and learn to accept the new duties and responsibilities that maturity brings.
I'm glad that Plaid Cymru in Ceredigion has objected to such an abhorrent adjustment in the provision of education in the Llandysul area. I am disappointed that their objections have failed to persuade their fellow councillors to abandon it. But I hope that they will send the evidence which formed the basis of their opposition to their friends in Gwynedd, where Plaid is proposing a similar abhorrent shake up of schools in the Dolgellau and Harlech areas.
09/09/2009
Doctor! Doctor!
Last week, when the A level results came out, the daughter of a friend of mine had, what she called crap results. She had one A and three B's.
Since she was a little girl she had always wanted to be a Doctor. Unfortunately her results weren't good enough to give her access to any medical course in any UK university.
A couple of weeks ago Leanne Wood made the pertinent point that:
Welsh NHS Trusts are facing problems recruiting doctors because of new immigration rules.
There are up to 25 per cent vacancies in some key specialities with some Trusts having an over-reliance on locum or agency doctors. Nearly 200 vacancies have been identified at just four of the NHS Trusts in Wales.
At the risk of being called racist, why are we refusing medical training to Welsh girls who could fill some of these vacancies?
If there are 200 vacancies for doctors in Welsh NHS trusts, why are Welsh medical school entry requirements so high as to discourage 200 Welsh school leavers from attempting to train to fill those vacancies?
My friend's daughter has embarked on a nursing course. Something that was available, in my day, to those with two C grade O levels – what a waste of an education! What awaste of public fund investment in her A level education!
Since she was a little girl she had always wanted to be a Doctor. Unfortunately her results weren't good enough to give her access to any medical course in any UK university.
A couple of weeks ago Leanne Wood made the pertinent point that:
Welsh NHS Trusts are facing problems recruiting doctors because of new immigration rules.
There are up to 25 per cent vacancies in some key specialities with some Trusts having an over-reliance on locum or agency doctors. Nearly 200 vacancies have been identified at just four of the NHS Trusts in Wales.
At the risk of being called racist, why are we refusing medical training to Welsh girls who could fill some of these vacancies?
If there are 200 vacancies for doctors in Welsh NHS trusts, why are Welsh medical school entry requirements so high as to discourage 200 Welsh school leavers from attempting to train to fill those vacancies?
My friend's daughter has embarked on a nursing course. Something that was available, in my day, to those with two C grade O levels – what a waste of an education! What awaste of public fund investment in her A level education!
07/05/2009
The efficiency of devolution
Listening to those who still oppose devolution complaining during this weeks decennial celebrations, it has been interesting to note that most of them have based their complaints, not on standards, but on how much per head is spent on Welsh school children, Welsh patients etc.
Because of my health problems I am a heavy user of the NHS in Wales. My experience is that the NHS in Wales is much, much better now than it was ten years ago. English friends who live with hearing loss and epilepsy tell me that my service use experiences are much better than theirs.
As a parent of two children in secondary education I couldn't wish for a better education experience than that offered to my sprogs. English friends are amazed at the range of subjects, extra curricular activities and educational opportunities that my kids have in comparison to what their kids are offered. They can't believe that my children are not just given the range of experiences but that they can access them through a choice of languages!
The funny thing is that those who complain about the Assembly's per capita spending are also the rent-a-gobs who the press can always depend upon to give a quote about efficiency and the need for cutting public expenditure.
Which raises the question: Is the fact that less per head is spent on Welsh Education and Health than is spent on English Education and Health a sign that these services are worse in Wales or a sign that they are more efficient in Wales?
Its only anecdotal evidence, but my experience is that Wales is more efficient, providing more for less.
Because of my health problems I am a heavy user of the NHS in Wales. My experience is that the NHS in Wales is much, much better now than it was ten years ago. English friends who live with hearing loss and epilepsy tell me that my service use experiences are much better than theirs.
As a parent of two children in secondary education I couldn't wish for a better education experience than that offered to my sprogs. English friends are amazed at the range of subjects, extra curricular activities and educational opportunities that my kids have in comparison to what their kids are offered. They can't believe that my children are not just given the range of experiences but that they can access them through a choice of languages!
The funny thing is that those who complain about the Assembly's per capita spending are also the rent-a-gobs who the press can always depend upon to give a quote about efficiency and the need for cutting public expenditure.
Which raises the question: Is the fact that less per head is spent on Welsh Education and Health than is spent on English Education and Health a sign that these services are worse in Wales or a sign that they are more efficient in Wales?
Its only anecdotal evidence, but my experience is that Wales is more efficient, providing more for less.
29/11/2008
BA = B**** All
In the 1970's a job was advertised in the local press for a Librarian in Dolgellau Technical Collage. Applicants had to have a minimum of two O levels (GCSEs in new money). The successful applicant had 6 O levels and 1 A level, so he was heavily over qualified. The current holder of the same post, I am told, has a Masters Degree and a Post Graduate Certificate in Librarianship qualification.
I am a Registered Nurse. The minimum qualification needed to apply for nurse training when I did so was one O level. I had 5 O levels and 2 A levels when I applied, I was over qualified for the course. Today, one needs to gain a degree in order to become a registered nurse, and one needs a sackful of stared GCSE's and, at least, three A levels to get into a nursing course. Yet first year qualified nurses in these days are much less competent than they were thirty years ago!
When I was in the sixth form (year 13) those who failed to get two A levels could go to Teacher's Training Collages to train as Primary School Teachers. Today you need a degree and a postgraduate certificate in teaching in order to become a primary school teacher.
Listening to Assembly Members (and bloggers) argue about the costs of Higher Education, leaves me in a state of despair, because they don't ask the most basic questions:
Harold Wilson's government raised school leaving age to sixteen years old and lowered the age of majority to 18 years, which left the unqualified school leaver just two years to learn a trade before attaining adulthood. Before Wilson, those who chose the apprenticeship or the graduate route to employment would both qualify at the age of 21, when they became adults.
The answer to the funding of higher education problem is simple! Go back to the situation where two O levels are good enough for a simple clerical job. Allow 14 year olds to become 7 year apprentices for skill orientated jobs; and use the universities to educate just the top percentile of our national intelligentsia, where an university education is absolutely necessary, rather than forcing all and sundry to gain an unneeded university education for the sake of being politically correct!
I am a Registered Nurse. The minimum qualification needed to apply for nurse training when I did so was one O level. I had 5 O levels and 2 A levels when I applied, I was over qualified for the course. Today, one needs to gain a degree in order to become a registered nurse, and one needs a sackful of stared GCSE's and, at least, three A levels to get into a nursing course. Yet first year qualified nurses in these days are much less competent than they were thirty years ago!
When I was in the sixth form (year 13) those who failed to get two A levels could go to Teacher's Training Collages to train as Primary School Teachers. Today you need a degree and a postgraduate certificate in teaching in order to become a primary school teacher.
Listening to Assembly Members (and bloggers) argue about the costs of Higher Education, leaves me in a state of despair, because they don't ask the most basic questions:
Why do we need so many bloody graduates?
Why does a job that needed two O Levels 30 years ago need three degrees now?
If I have been a competent nurse for the past 30 years, without a degree, why does my son need a degree to follow in my footsteps?
Harold Wilson's government raised school leaving age to sixteen years old and lowered the age of majority to 18 years, which left the unqualified school leaver just two years to learn a trade before attaining adulthood. Before Wilson, those who chose the apprenticeship or the graduate route to employment would both qualify at the age of 21, when they became adults.
The answer to the funding of higher education problem is simple! Go back to the situation where two O levels are good enough for a simple clerical job. Allow 14 year olds to become 7 year apprentices for skill orientated jobs; and use the universities to educate just the top percentile of our national intelligentsia, where an university education is absolutely necessary, rather than forcing all and sundry to gain an unneeded university education for the sake of being politically correct!
22/12/2007
Welsh MP - English History
Gareth Young's blog regularly comments on the injustice of Welsh and Scottish MPs interfering in what are English only matters since the advent of devolution. It is a point with which I have much sympathy. One of the main reason's for the change of fortune in the devolution debate in Wales was the fact that Wales suffered so much during the previous Conservative government, partially because four Secretaries of State for Wales were MPs from English constituencies who had little knowledge of and less sympathy for Wales. I see no difference between Lembit Opik's new responsibilities for the Lib Dem's policies on housing in England and John Redwood's former responsibility for housing in Wales.
One of the issues devolved to Wales is education and the school curriculum, so I wonder what Gareth will make of Wrexham MP Ian Lucas' latest publicity stunt.
Ian Lucas has published an article in the Fabian Society's magazine suggesting that as Welsh History is taught in Welsh schools and Scottish History is taught in Scottish schools, then "regional" history should be part of the curriculum in schools in the English administrative regions.
Apart from the fact that this devolved issue is none of the Welsh constituency MP's business, Mr Lucas' plan has another fatal flaw. The administrative regions of England are not historical regions, so they don't have a shared regional history.
Coming from Newcastle, Lucas said his own schooling included none of Northumberland's rich history, yet his children's schooling in Wrexham is strong on the history of Wales. And he said the different experience of the industrial revolution around England could be reflected in what children are taught.
But Northumberland isn't an English administrative region Mr Lucas!
I have nothing against teaching local history to children, indeed it is something which deserves support, but isn't the most appropriate historic unit on which such history should be taught the ancient county rather than a non-historic region?
Of course Ian Lucas' silly idea has nothing to do with teaching local history in schools it is part of Labour's plan to "save the union" by denying England's right to exist as a nation. He wants to teach regional history for political rather than educational reasons. It is part of Labour's ploy to force regional rather than national devolution onto England, because Labour hates the idea of English nationalism ten times more than it hates Scottish and Welsh nationalism.
One of the issues devolved to Wales is education and the school curriculum, so I wonder what Gareth will make of Wrexham MP Ian Lucas' latest publicity stunt.
Ian Lucas has published an article in the Fabian Society's magazine suggesting that as Welsh History is taught in Welsh schools and Scottish History is taught in Scottish schools, then "regional" history should be part of the curriculum in schools in the English administrative regions.
Apart from the fact that this devolved issue is none of the Welsh constituency MP's business, Mr Lucas' plan has another fatal flaw. The administrative regions of England are not historical regions, so they don't have a shared regional history.
Coming from Newcastle, Lucas said his own schooling included none of Northumberland's rich history, yet his children's schooling in Wrexham is strong on the history of Wales. And he said the different experience of the industrial revolution around England could be reflected in what children are taught.
But Northumberland isn't an English administrative region Mr Lucas!
I have nothing against teaching local history to children, indeed it is something which deserves support, but isn't the most appropriate historic unit on which such history should be taught the ancient county rather than a non-historic region?
Of course Ian Lucas' silly idea has nothing to do with teaching local history in schools it is part of Labour's plan to "save the union" by denying England's right to exist as a nation. He wants to teach regional history for political rather than educational reasons. It is part of Labour's ploy to force regional rather than national devolution onto England, because Labour hates the idea of English nationalism ten times more than it hates Scottish and Welsh nationalism.
30/11/2007
Teaching RE in schools
Not wanting to be outdone by fellow bloggers Adam Price and Normal Mouth, I managed to get mentioned in Golwg this week too. Here is the translation of the article (written by Ifan Morgan Jones):
Complaint About Changing the Ten Commandments
Ifan got the gist of what I said, but not quite!
My children were not given a new commandment. Respect your god and the gods of others, was given as an explanation of the meaning of the first commandment. However I did say that this was a totally false explanation of the meaning of the commandment, indeed, it is quite the opposite of what the first commandment says.
The point that I was trying to make is that most religions are exclusive they are totally intolerant of other religious viewpoints. One might think that this is unacceptable in a modern, diverse society, but it is still true!
Traditionally RE taught children how to live as good Christian citizens in a Christian country. Today RE attempts to teach a child about many faiths but it still has a role in teaching morals and citizenship. However, the moral and civic values that it teaches are secular, not religious. My complaint is that because secular mores are taught in RE the religious aspect of the education is falsified in order to fit into the secular mould.
Learning about religions is essential to understanding the arts, the humanities and, if not pure science, the antecedents of science. Teaching false religion for the sake of political correctness hinders such understanding. (Try teaching the end of the Tudor period to kids who are taught that Christianity is a lovey-dovey nice religion!)
During the next 15 days children in schools thorough England & Wales will pretend that a plastic doll is the baby Jesus, and will be loved by their parents for doing so. At the same time an English woman brought up on the fallacies of religious equality and religious tolerance will be in gaol for calling a teddy bear Mohammed!
On a final point of clarification, it wouldn't need a Miss Marple to work out which school my kids attend! I didn't want to name "the" school because I didn't want to blame one school for what I see as a general problem. The RE problem is one that exists on, at least, an England and Wales basis - so picking on the school that my boys attend would be unfair!
Ultimately, the problem is more than educational, it is constitutional! The United Kingdom is not a secular state it is a .. ym .. sort of... Christianish, if you can work it out let me know state!!!
Complaint About Changing the Ten Commandments
A preacher from the Conwy Valley is unhappy, because he claims that a school in his area has re-written a part of the Bible in order to make it politically correct
Alwyn ap Huw claims that his children have received a new version of the Ten Commandments that changes the Christian message.
In place of: Thou shalt have no other gods before me, he claims that the children had received a commandment that said: Respect your god and the gods of others.
That, he said, is the complete opposite of the central Christian message that God alone can give salvation.
"They are trying to teach respect for other religions, but lying about religious beliefs doesn’t show respect to them at all"
"They shouldn't try to change a child's understanding of religion by trying to make it more nice".
"Teaching things such as tolerating and respecting the views of others belongs to another subject".
"If lies, that do not reflect the facts of faith, are what is taught in Religious Education lessons, is there any point to such lessons?"
For the sake of his children, Alwyn ap Huw wasn't willing to say which school had made the change, but he said that this sort of thing was common in religious education thorough Wales.
Ifan got the gist of what I said, but not quite!
My children were not given a new commandment. Respect your god and the gods of others, was given as an explanation of the meaning of the first commandment. However I did say that this was a totally false explanation of the meaning of the commandment, indeed, it is quite the opposite of what the first commandment says.
The point that I was trying to make is that most religions are exclusive they are totally intolerant of other religious viewpoints. One might think that this is unacceptable in a modern, diverse society, but it is still true!
Traditionally RE taught children how to live as good Christian citizens in a Christian country. Today RE attempts to teach a child about many faiths but it still has a role in teaching morals and citizenship. However, the moral and civic values that it teaches are secular, not religious. My complaint is that because secular mores are taught in RE the religious aspect of the education is falsified in order to fit into the secular mould.
Learning about religions is essential to understanding the arts, the humanities and, if not pure science, the antecedents of science. Teaching false religion for the sake of political correctness hinders such understanding. (Try teaching the end of the Tudor period to kids who are taught that Christianity is a lovey-dovey nice religion!)
During the next 15 days children in schools thorough England & Wales will pretend that a plastic doll is the baby Jesus, and will be loved by their parents for doing so. At the same time an English woman brought up on the fallacies of religious equality and religious tolerance will be in gaol for calling a teddy bear Mohammed!
On a final point of clarification, it wouldn't need a Miss Marple to work out which school my kids attend! I didn't want to name "the" school because I didn't want to blame one school for what I see as a general problem. The RE problem is one that exists on, at least, an England and Wales basis - so picking on the school that my boys attend would be unfair!
Ultimately, the problem is more than educational, it is constitutional! The United Kingdom is not a secular state it is a .. ym .. sort of... Christianish, if you can work it out let me know state!!!
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