Time to secularise our primary school system.

[goatstoe]

True thanks for the correction, it turns out that Gageby was called a white N%%%%r because he went against McDowell's preferred narrative on Northern Ireland that was pro-British - so it's actually worse - Gageby is called a white N or a traitor to his 'white' Protestant group by leaning more towards the Irish Nationalist Catholic position - therefore the Irish Nationalist Catholic position was simply regarded as simply a N%%%%r position without the qualification of 'white', the 'white' was only included to signify that Gageby was a Protestant like McDowell.



That we know of.



It doesn't matter, there should be no change unless the movement for change is initialised by the parents - saying you are 'of the opinion' that there is support is like what the IT is doing, this is a corporation not an eye and an ear into every home in Ireland. Starting a party about it is a healthy way to gauge public opinion and would certainly qualify as a barometer (particularly if it was a one-issue party) of people's opinions on this subject in Ireland.



The issues of ethics and right/wrong are mostly timeless and don't need constant updating, exceptions could exist, such as gays objecting to some religious teachings and i can certainly understand those objections. Normal subjects like mathematics, science and English etc would still be taught the same way in a faith school as in a secular school, they are updated everywhere as and how required... In fact i don't think the evolution/creationism issue even comes up in Catholic schools - i believe even the Pope discussed the big bang with Stephen Hawking when he visited!

You seem to have a bit of a fixation about The Irish Times there Thranduil. Major T McDowell called Douglas Gageby a white n***er because of his perceived pro-nationalist stance on the civil rights movement in the north in the 1960's. That there would be another advantage of reducing religious influence in our schools; when the kids come out they will be better educated than us on other subjects and they wouldn't care or even know if someone was one religion or another. Double result there then.

Another thing you said was - "Starting a party about it is a healthy way to gauge public opinion and would certainly qualify as a barometer (particularly if it was a one-issue party) of people's opinions on this subject in Ireland." There would be no need to start a party on this issue any of the existing parties could take up the matter as a policy on education reform and pick up a few votes. Fly a kite on it and see what the response from the public would be.

[MichaelR]

Douglas Gageby - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Didimus]

You seem to have a bit of a fixation about The Irish Times there Thranduil. Which Mcdowell are you talking about

I presume Major T McDowell former chairman of the Irish Times.

[factual]

Catholic Church 'should give up control of primary schools' - The Irish Times - Mon, Jan 25, 2010

Now that all the furore about clerical child abuse and the utter failure of the church authorities to manage the issue has died down, it is time for this state to take control of our schools. This is not an anti-church thread - I am not really interested in what the church does. This is simply a call to parents throughout Ireland to insist on the secularization of our schools. When I went to primary school myself I remember well that at least two years in a child's school years were dominated by religous doctrine for communion and confirmation. The rest of the years also had a strong presence of religous (catholic) doctrine. It is my contention that valuable school time in our kids lives have been and continue to be dominated by religion and in particular catholic education activities. Religion should be a subject in our schools but religous doctrine and preparation for sacraments etc. should be extra curricular.

As yet no political party leader has touched this subject (secularization of our schools). I would encourage them to think about taking up the issue and make it an election issue. I am convinced there is an appetite for change among parents in Ireland on this matter.

Correction - it is well past time to secularise it.

[wombat]

Correction - it is well past time to secularise it.

Another massive vote winner for SF

[goatstoe]

I presume Major T McDowell former chairman of the Irish Times.

Oh right, thanks Didimus.

[Thranduil]

Another massive vote winner for SF

As far as i know this is a poster with a Sinn Fein Logo, he may not be involved at all or if he is then not in a senior position,

Although Factual's comments come across as robotic and like electioneering/sloganeering at times and this is the way many politicians have adapted their speech - so i could be wrong.

[TDs_cant_legislate]

I have more confidence in the church running the schools than i do in the state. Me personally, I would rather see some system where a community ran and funded (through tax credits and some state funding) its own schools. Different communities could run their schools differently, as long as they adher(or even surpass) to a state minimum level of education (the standard of which would still be rasonably high). Lenster House control of everything means that everything it touches is inherently f*%KED. BTW, communities could also control of what they pay teachers, which could result in higher quality, better paid teachers.