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Money, some of the less critical curriculum that I believe could take a back seat: Recreation, Health Care, Sex Education, Driver Education, Art, Music just to name a few! I am not saying that these are unimportant. I am saying that the challenge we face today requires us to adjust to survive.
Okay, this is an interesting proposal.
Recreation. I never took a class called Recreation in all my years of schooling. Perhaps robertrosen is referring to recess or free periods, which are typically offered to younger students (elementary level). The function of recess/free time is for younger children to blow off excess energy, get some exercise, and get a mental break (usually midday) to refresh them for the afternoon's lessons. How would religion be more useful here? Well, I suppose the students could be put into a prayer meditation... no physical exercise, and as there's no conceivable way to make sure students are praying, it would just be an enforced Quiet Time.
Health Care. The purpose of any health class would be, of course, to teach students about the nature of the human body and how best to keep fit and prevent illness and disease. In the United States, there is an effort underway to emphasize preventative care, as treating the already-diseased is very costly, raises insurance rates, is a drain on Medicare/Medicaid, and can ruin familes with no health insurance. However, I suppose people can just trust God to heal them if they fall ill. Of course, if that doesn't work, well, we're screwed.
Sex Education. I'm sure there's no winning an argument with a conservative Christian on this one, but here I go. Educating teenagers about sex is the only way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies in those people. You can say they should wait until marriage to have sex. Fine - not even going to go there. But marriage licenses don't come with a sex ed class either. Someday those people are going to have sex, and it only takes *one* partner to have not quite saved hir virginity for the other to contract an STD. And I think it behooves all people, but perhaps particularly women who intend to bear children, to have some clue about STD symptoms and treatments... to say nothing of just understanding their own bodies.
Drivers Ed. Well, you got me there. But Drivers Ed is typically optional anyway and often not even part of the school curriculum, but offered through the DMV.
Art & Music. This I think may be too large an issue to attempt to address here. What is the relative value of arts education to a culture, as compared to religious studies?.... |
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