Religious schools

In our Ontario provincial election, the Progressive Conservative party has proposed the funding of all religious schools as long as they teach the Ontario curriculum and use certified teachers. This is the issue that will probably hurt the party the most. On this issue alone, the Tories, who are led by a man by the name of John Tory, will not form our next government. Not a chance.

Many criticize parents who opt for a school based on their faith. I can understand why some parents want to send their children to religious schools. There are special interest groups who have agendas to infiltrate the school systems. Some parents don’t agree with that agenda, so they send their kids to a school more sympathetic with their own values. In other words, many of them take their responsibility of raising their kids seriously.

However, I am against the founding of religious schools. My reason is one that is seldom mentioned.

As an occasional teacher, I travel to many schools. I see many kids. I get to know quite a few of them through their pictures and stories. Many of them blurt out their values in discussion time.

For those of you who know what occasional teaching is all about, it is a difficult job. You suddenly face some students who somehow believe that it is their duty to give you a hard time.

More often than not, the children who are the best-behaved, the ones who actually help me through the day, are the ones who have had some sort of religious upbringing. They seem to know right from wrong.

There seems to be a teaching today that people are essentially good. We mustn’t introduce feelings of guilt and failure into their lives. Well, if people are essentially good, then why don’t they act that way in the majority of cases? Some may blame the circumstances. He grew up in a social-economic background where he didn’t have a chance. You can use any situation as an excuse or a motivation. We do it all the time. The time has come to start emphasizing those who have hurdled those barriers and learn how they did it.

Let’s get back to my reason for not supporting faith-based schools. If you take the kids who follow a certain faith out of the schools, the ones who have some sort of a concept of right or wrong, what are you left with? I shudder at the thought.

So what’s the answer? Parents, if you have certain values and your child is in the public system, get involved – I mean really involved. Let your beliefs be a shining example to others. One of the rights in our society, I believe, is freedom of religion. Exercise that right. You want society as a whole to improve? Why not try being part of the solution rather than hiding away behind your beliefs?