Aussie faith schools a threat to society, claims education advisor, according to an article in The Age, 25 Feb 2008. Professor Barry McGaw, the new head of the National Curriculum Board, and most senior Education advisor to Australian Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, claims that the increasing number of independent Christian schools is a threat to social cohesion in Australia. He told The Age “These people often form a narrowly focused school that is aimed at cementing the faith it’s based on … If we continue as we are, I think we’ll just become more and more isolated sub-groups in our community.” There has been “a profound shift in education in the past two decades, with more than 200,000 children — almost 40% of non-government school students — now attending a religious school outside the main Catholic, Anglican and Uniting systems.” Prof. McGaw is particularly concerned that students are being taught Creation in their science classes and abstinence until marriage in their sex education classes. The increase in Creation teaching is having an impact at university level. According to Professor Rob Brooks, the head of the Evolution and Ecology Research Centre at the University of NSW, “There’s been a big move, big gains made by the creationist movement in the last five or six years,” with a growth in the number of biology students holding “irreconcilably strong creationist viewpoints”.
Editorial Comment: History shows that any “social cohesion” enforced by teaching everyone the same lies never lasts. True educators should be seeking the truth if they want a properly functioning society. Does it ever occur to the politicians and education authorities that the increase in private Christian schools may be because parents recognise the truth in what they teach and want it for their children? If the theory of evolution requires politicians and bureaucrats to enforce its teaching, then that is a sign the theory really has nothing to contribute to science, and its impact on society has been negative. (Ref. sociology, education, politics)
Evidence News 18 Mar 2008