Compulsory RE in the UK

[Rat]

Didn't know whether to put this in Education or Religion, so like most people I just dumped it here.

I've been having a discussion on my work forum about RE in the UK, and I'm not sure where we stand in this country. I was surprised at the first post, but it seems the OP may be correct. Is this true, and is there anything that can be done about it if so?

Apologies for hijacking your thread, but speaking of religion, I attended a parents' evening last night at a Sixth Form College. I use the word ‘college’ in its loosest sense and will address the parents' evening bit in a minute. Anyway, whilst talking to these 12 year old teaches that quite frankly struggled to put a coherent sentence together, it appears that they would like my daughter to drop one of her ‘A’ levels as she is studying, ‘one too many’. Now then, there is a compulsory subject at ‘A’ level called ‘General Studies’. This is another government initiative to take away your child’s free will and is also not counted or accepted at some universities. So, instead of dropping this, they would like her to drop a ‘chosen subject’. I digress. General Studies, as explained to me, is a mix of several subject areas. It apparently teaches young adults about religion and a moral society amongst other things. I quote, ‘…instead of making religion (RE) compulsory, it has just been given another name’. What in the hell is all that about? Surely this should be something that is decided upon by the individual, not made compulsory by the government? It seems that, ‘…if your daughter attended a regular college instead of Sixth Form, she would not have to study it’. And another thing whilst our children are currently being spoon fed by the education system, when did they start having parents' evening at college?

No need to apologize, as there is no longer a hijack.

I was not aware that General Studies was now compulsory. If this is indeed partly religion-based, and is indeed compulsory, then it is appalling. General Studies was always seen as a filler course, so it's not surprising that some unis won't accept it. I would advise taking it to the head and, if necessary, to your MP.

That said, thanks in no small part to Vardy and the public-private city academies scheme, we have schools in this country that are actually teaching young-earth creationism to children. They are genuinely teaching children of all ages that Noah survived the flood about 4000 years ago or so, and that the earth is maybe 6-7000 years old. And the government not only do not condemn this, but hold up the schools as shining examples. And then they wonder why the sciences are suffering in this country.

Indeed, I was rather perplexed by this statement of admittance, but as she said, it is compulsory in part because they are told it has to be. It’s apparently not a college decision. Due to it being a Sixth Form, they are under strict guidelines like the school below, whereas a regular college does not have to adhere to said guidelines. As for schools teaching young-earth creationism, I was not aware that it had spread this far ‘across the pond’ so to speak. I find it absurd that such folly could even attempt to pass as education, in light of scientific evidence. In this instance, the Noah story was actually adopted by this particular religion (as most of it apparently was), and it has been suggested that it even predates it too. I blame Constantine. The bloody Romans have a lot to answer for. Fwee Bwian!

 

[Diamond]

I did General Studies back in the 1970s and it had no religious content (then). I have no idea what it does now.

By the way I was not even entered to do Religious Studies even at CSE, I was *that* uninterested.

 

[Cuddles]

General Studies isn't compulsory.

I wouldn't be surprised if it contained bits of RE, since it contains bits of everything. That's pretty much the point. However, learning about religion is a long way from simply being taught religion. Since it doesn't even have any lessons in many schools, it's really just a big waste of time and I don't know of any universities that will count it for entry requirements, although it could always be the difference between two otherwise equally good candidates.

 

[Big Les]

^what Cuddles said. RE, much as I hated it, is a valuable type of education for believers and non-believers alike. These days it covers the basics of the three biggies, plus others, plus it at least touches on the atheist position. If you're religious, it's a good idea to know as much about the other religions, and about atheism, even if it's in a "know thine enemy" way. Likewise if you're atheist.

I'd say there's even less to get worked up about on this score than on that of religious school assemblies - the latter is actual observation of specific Christian ritual. This is just, well, education that happens to be about religion.

 

[Rat]

Hmm, looking around various schools' websites, it seems that they do indeed include whatever subjects they wish. Thus, I suppose it is up to individual schools, and notwithstanding my colleague's saying otherwise, it is something that one should take up with the college. It would, though, presumably be possible for a school to use it to teach religion (as opposed to about religion) if they were so inclined. Possibly that's what's going on here.

 

[sphenisc]

Genera Studies Specification

http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_5028.aspx

 

[Rat]

Ah, that's brilliant. Why couldn't I track that down? My Google-fu is weakened.

As I have no reason to believe that my colleague is lying, I suspect that all that's going on here is Chinese whispers from a source that was mistaken in the first place.