Divine and rule (Do evangelical schools foster intolerance?)

[kweerwolf]

Although few people outside evangelical churches have even heard of it, more than 500 families in Britain are currently educating their children at home with the curriculum that Alastair's family used. Accelerated Christian Education was developed in the 1970s by American fundamentalists, but its popularity is now growing in the UK, and not only among home-schooling families - more than 50 schools in Britain are using it. The main teaching tools are booklets relating to each subject - the children read a section and then fill in a questionnaire. When I visit the office for Christian Education Europe, in Swindon, I meet one of the directors, Arthur Roderick, who tells me with great gusto that they are getting more and more inquiries every year. "More people understand why we do this now. Black is getting blacker and white is getting whiter," he says, with the rolling rhetoric that betrays his long experience as a preacher.

<snip>

Much concern has been expressed about independent faith schools in Britain lately, but the anxiety is always concentrated on independent Muslim schools and what children are learning there. Independent Christian schools, on the other hand, are pretty much ignored. The chief inspector of schools, David Bell, for example, recently criticised independent Muslim schools for failing to teach tolerance of other cultures. But after he had made that speech, his office released information that showed evangelical Christian schools are actually even less successful at that task.

Legislation lays down that independent schools can go their own way in many things - they do not have to abide by the national curriculum - but they must "assist pupils to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures, in a way that promotes tolerance and harmony", and of the 40 evangelical Christian schools that were not yet fully registered by Ofsted, 18 had failed on that count.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1556061,00.html

[Maat]

1. No, I live in Fundie Central in SoCal - in the Temecula/Murrieta area;

fundamentalist schools certainly do not promote tolerance - nor do they affirm/celebrate diversity. The ones around here are of the Hardcore Conservative Christian variety.

Sad.

[MountainLaurel]

2. This is a good question for UK DUers

Since I really know nothing about fundamentalists in Britain (I have a personal, in-depth knowledge of American ones).