Monday, May 4, 2009
Religion in children's texts
First of all, I would like to thank Ilyssa and Mallory for sharing with us in class their Jewish heritage last week. It made me realize how very little that I knew about this culture/faith. Why is it that we seem to learn so little about different religions? Religion has caused more conflict and war over the history of humankind than just about anything else- so why have we not yet realized that we should encourage people to have more than just a rudimentary understanding of world religions other than their own. Knowledge can lead to understanding. While I was raised Catholic, I have struggled with my own faith and I think there is still so much more I could learn. We briefly hit on various religions in Habibi and then in Closet Catholic but under the multicultural umbrella you could explore so many different religions. This does not need to be a taboo topic in schools. While we discussed some of the issues surrounding Habibi, that does not mean that there are other books that could be used as well. Closet Catholic presented two different faiths and I think most of the class agreed they did not find it offensive. It would be interesting to find books representing even more faith communities in children's literature. This would provide a safe environment to learn about different religions and open a communication in the classroom about beliefs that are universal. This provides another look at the term multicultural.
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Anne,
ReplyDeleteYou have presented a great argument for including the study of religion in the classrooms, and I agree with you in most respects. It is important to teach tolerance to our future students, not only of race, but of family structure, religion and more. The more students know about different religions, the more likely they are to have a sense of understanding about the differences, and that will hopefully help them to avoid major conflicts. However, to play the devil's advocate, it is also important to remember that one of the foundations of our Constitution is the separation of Church and State, and because public schools are state institutions that is a fine line to walk as teachers. It would be difficult to keep our balance, but maybe it's something that more of us should be willing to risk if the students can learn to be more accepting.