My loyal reader will know that given my opposition to “faith” schools, I was not exactly delighted to read that one of Theresa May’s first acts as prime minister was to announce both the reintroduction of grammar schools and to allow “faith” schools to select all their pupils on the basis of the religion of their parents. It was bad enough before when there was a 50% limit on admissions to “faith” based schools, but now there will be no limit at all.
Doubtless the Catholic church will be thrilled by this development because despite the fact that the number of Catholics is in rapid decline, like the numbers of most religions except Islam, here is a golden opportunity to build up numbers. They don’t want to run schools out of the kindness of their hearts: they want more Catholics. How convenient to allow the state to pay for them, too!
Put to one side the number of people who lie through their teeth to get their children into Catholic schools – is this a religious virtue, lying to get a school place? – this is not just about Catholic schools. How about Islamic schools? What’s good enough for one religion will surely be regarded by the Imams as good enough for theirs?
I start from a position where I oppose all religious schools as a matter of principle. Christian, Catholic, Muslim, Sikh, Scientologists, Mormons – the lot. And this is for one simple reason: there is no such thing as a religious child. We allow our children to grow up, to teach them about the world and most of us allow our children to make up their own minds regarding religion. This worries the devout because it is vital to catch them young. If you leave it too late, those pesky kids will only go and make their own minds up and if they weigh up the evidence, without indoctrination, they may rely on reason.
Because I believe in secularism, I disagree with the idea of “faith” schools in the first place. I disagree with the failed concept of multiculturalism but I do welcome and indeed encourage diversity within a stable societal framework of British values and those values that have been embraced over many years. As for religion, it is simply wrong to separate people on the grounds of God.
Surely schools are there for children to learn the skills for life, not to tell them which supernatural being they should believe in and pray to? Why have, say, 1000 children being told in one school that they should study and live by the Qu’ran and down the road to do the same with the bible? I am in favour of religion being taught because whether or not it is true, people have believed in various gods throughout the last couple of thousand years. It’s part of our history. By all means let children learn about the various religions, but also let them make an informed choice when they are old enough. Tell them about humanism and secularism, too. Theresa May wants to hand over our schools to the priests, the imans and the vicars. It is a complete coincidence that her father was a vicar.
The minister who unveiled the proposals was Justine Greening, the first education secretary to attend a state school. As someone who recently declared that she was in a same sex relationship and was rightly praised and congratulated for so doing, how does this square with organised religion’s hatred of all things gay? I am sorry to bring her sexuality into this, but as a straight person doing her job (unlikely that I ever would, I know) I would never in a million years allow religions that carry bigotry not as baggage but as part of their very being to get near running schools.
We can debate the return to grammar schools another day and perhaps we will see opposition from the Labour Party comrades like Corbyn, McDonnell and Abbott, all of whom attended grammar schools. Not their fault, they were children when they were sent to grammar schools, just like Diane Abbott’s son was a child when she sent him not to a grammar school but to a private school. I expect them to oppose the return to grammar schools all the way, if they can spare the time after doing what they really care about: getting Corbyn re-elected as Labour leader. That’s another story.
I have no “faith” in Jeremy Corbyn opposing extra “faith” schools. He said, in classic politician speak: “Faith schools do a good job in many cases but pupils must be taught about the multiplicity of faiths so they understand the make-up of the UK.” No, they don’t do a good job. They exist to indoctrinate, to proselytise. We need no “faith” schools at all, not more.
Mrs May seems to have learned nothing from Michael Gove’s disastrous Frankenstein experiment with our schools. Instead, she is pressing ahead with a big step into the past with the extension of grammar schools and a potentially catastrophic step into the future by allowing more “faith” schools.
Will any government ever understand that schools are there for learning?
