Education|Deep Dive - A Tippling Philosopher

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Education|Deep Dive

A collection of 78 posts

Landmark High Court win for UK humanism

Landmark High Court win for UK humanism

A recent High Court judgment recently found in favor of a humanist, and Kent County Council will not appeal the decision. This has been seen as a landmark ruling. The event might ignite discussions of whether or not humanism should be designated a religion. When looking at the definition for

UK's state-run CofE schools plan to 'double number of children who are Christian disciples'

The UK education system is not secular, and the Church of England is looking to schools as a recruitment pool for new believers.

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What's the point of education?

No, really, what is the point? I ask this in light of recent UK government potential demands on universities that they are putting out to consultation. Known as "public comment" in the U.S., this is where the government seeks input from the public and stakeholders concerning a

Government announces more than £2 million in funding enabling religious take-over of yet more schools

Man, the UK government sucks. Big time. This is from Humanists UK: Humanists UK has expressed alarm about the potential for a religious power-grab in schools with and without a religious character after the UK Government announced it is allocating more than £2 million in funding to increase the number

Humanists Challenge Tennessee School District over Unconstitutional Graduation Prayers

This is from the AHA: Today, the American Humanist Association (AHA)’s legal director notified Tennessee school officials of looming legal action over constitutional violations occurring at Bledsoe County High School, and most likely within the Bledsoe County School district at large, in Pikeville, Tennessee. The AHA’s demand letter,

Humanists Halt Indoctrination of Kindergarteners in Texas Public School

Success! From the American Humanists Association: In response to the American Humanist Association (AHA)’s legal director threatening Texas school officials with legal action over indoctrination in kindergarten classrooms, Round Rock Independent School District counsel provided AHA’s lawyer today with written assurances that the unconstitutional conduct will not continue.

Humanists Chastise Texas Public School For Indoctrinating Kindergarteners

This is form the American Humanists Associastion: Today, the American Humanist Association (AHA)’s legal director threatened Texas school officials with legal action over ongoing religious indoctrination occurring at Round Rock Independent School District in Texas. The AHA’s demand letter details that a kindergarten teacher at Chandler Oaks Elementary

Faith Schools in the UK: An Ongoing Battle

Education in the UK is very different to what it is in the US for a whole host of reasons, one being the historical ties to religion and education. Though we are culturally a far more "secular" country, institutionally, we are not. Here, I will relate three articles

Tonight: Openly Agnostic and Running for Local Office in an Area Targeted by Religious Extremists for Decades

Tonight: Openly Agnostic and Running for Local Office in an Area Targeted by Religious Extremists for Decades

Tonight, the American Humanist Association (AHA) will host an event featuring recorded remarks from successful candidate and now elected member of the Fairfax County School Board Karl Frisch, followed by a live question and answer portion with Center for Freethought Equality’s Political and PAC Coordinator Ron Millar. This event

Atheist Parenting: Not Teaching the Conclusion

Here, I look at the core idea behind my approach to parenting as an agnostic-atheist (philosopher): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuewchmwzpw&feature=youtu.be Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher You can also buy me a cuppa. Or buy some of

Number of Pupils at CofE Schools more than Entire ‘Worshipping Community’

The UK education system is not secular in the way that the Us system is, even though we are a more "secular" country. Something like 37% of our primary schools are faith schools, often only nominally in name (it depends on the head teachers, Senior Leadership Teams, governors

By Inside_my_head.jpg: Andrew Mason from London, UK derivative work: -- Jtneill - Talk (Inside_my_head.jpg) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Black-White IQ Gap as Being Environmental

I am tired of the racists who come on these threads and attempt to spread their agenda-laden claptrap of race realism. The latest example was an article I wrote concerning a comment that I so thoroughly debunked that it was no surprise to see the level of cognitive dissonance in

Morals Without Religion - Alice Roberts

I like Prof. Alice Roberts. She is a scientist and author who is excellent at communicating science on TV and other media and, now, humanism. She is relatively newly appointed to the President of Humanists UK. She courted controversy courtesy of the Times and other right-wing newspapers when, in an

School concedes in collective worship legal case – will provide alternative assemblies

This is genuinely brilliant news for those who have long campaigned for the UK statutory requirement for schools to provide Christian collective worship, technically on a daily basis. In reality, it doesn't happen a great deal, but there are certainly schools that do, and this is outside of

Research Busts Faith School Academic Excellence Myth

I have previously written several articles laying out the problems with making the claim (particularly in the UK context) that faith schools are better for one reason or another: Are Faith Schools Better? An Issue of Correlation vs Causation Taxpayers Effectively Completely Fund Faith Schools ‘Faith’ schools three times more

Freethinkers Protest Iowa Public School Visit to Bible Play

Freethinkers Protest Iowa Public School Visit to Bible Play

From the American Humanist Association: Attorneys at the American Humanist Association (AHA) sent a letter late Friday to officials at the Cherokee Community School District in Cherokee, Iowa, on behalf of a parent of a local first grade student. The student's class plans to visit a private Christian

CA School Recognizes Right to Boycott Pledge after Warning

CA School Recognizes Right to Boycott Pledge after Warning

This is from the American Humanist Association: The American Humanist Association received written assurances yesterday from the Manhattan Beach Unified School District in response to a warning letter sent to district administrators more than two weeks ago. Monica Miller, Legal Director and Senior Counsel at the American Humanist Association, warned

freeimages.com / Laszlo Honti

Education|Deep Dive

Trump Is up for Bible Classes

Everyone knows how much of a fan of the Bible and Christianity Trump is. I mean, check out how utterly cringe-worthy this video is: His favourite Bible quote? "I wouldn't want to get into it... It's very personal" "Old Testament Guy or Old

Taxpayers Effectively Completely Fund Faith Schools

I am going to let you into a little secret now that's is not a secret because it is public knowledge but is a secret because apparently, no one seems to know it. And when I say no one seems to know it, I mean no one seems

School admissions appeal system worsens inequalities and increases social segregation, new report finds

This unsurprising news is from Humanists UK. I will be writing something connected to this later today that people are oddly completely unaware of: The chances of parents getting a child into their first choice of school via the appeals process ‘varies considerably by family background, ethnicity, and pupil attainment

Atheists Warn Indiana Superintendent against Unconstitutional Christian Promotion

Atheists Warn Indiana Superintendent against Unconstitutional Christian Promotion

This is from the American Humanist Association: Attorneys at the American Humanist Association (AHA) sent a warning letter to Dr. Jerry Sanders, superintendent of the Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corporation in response to his promotion of Christian ideology. Sanders sent a letter on school district letterhead describing his religious beliefs,

On the Shaming of Karen Pence

The Wall Street Journal recently reported, in "The Shaming of Karen Pence": Will no one speak up for Karen Pence other than her husband? In scarcely a week, the vice president’s wife has become a public face of hate. CNN’s John King suggests that what Mrs.

Bad News for Secular Education in the UK

I will now post three articles from Humanists UK that show things aren't progressing in the UK the way secularists might hope. Sometimes it's one step forward and two steps back. Humanists UK and the National Secular Society are fighting to counteract this - please support

Coalition of academics call for end to collective worship in state schools

Well, that was well timed. I only mention this in my previous article and here it turns up in the news! Christian collective worship is one of those anachronisms that still exists in the assembly halls of every UK school (I believe it is the UK are not just England,

Are Faith Schools Better? An Issue of Correlation vs Causation...

I have recently been talking about faith schools here at ATP, as concerns the UK and Ireland. Ireland recently announced that they are getting rid of admissions policies that dictate access to schools based on the religious denomination of the children applying. There is this general opinion in the UK