Gove open to atheist schools

[TheDarkestOfAngels]

Any *intellectual* atheist won't sit there (unprovoked) and preach to you about your stupidity for believing that a man in the sky is controlling your actions.

The problem with many school districts, however, is that they try to shove a particular brand of faith down your throats. In many areas in the US, it can really hurt your career if you're a teacher and you admit that you're an atheist and try, in any way, to teach a more secular view instead of tip-toeing around the controversial issues (such as teaching evolution in biology).

The idea of establishing atheist schools sounds to me like a freedom from that kind of thing, but perhaps 'atheism school' is the wrong term - looking for more of a secular school establishment that avoids matters of faith altogether.

That sounds like something worth doing, in my opinion.

[Tiberius]

An "atheist school". Would that not be called a "school"?

Not in the UK.

Why not just remove faith schools or make them secular?

Because faith schools have every right to exist...as private institutions. Same with the new "atheist" schools. None of them should be government sponsored though. Of course, if I were in charge all schools would be privatized.

[leo-rcc]

So what is the difference between a public school where religion doesn't get taught, and an atheist school where religions doesn't get taught?

[Tiberius]

Are we talking public in the English or American sense here?

[leo-rcc]

Okay, what is the difference between English and American public schools then? You know, you could throw me a bone here and explain these things from the get go as I live in neither.

[Tiberius]

An English "public" school is a privately funded school. An American "public" school is a...well, publicly funded school.

[leo-rcc]

If it is privately funded then how come it is called a public school?

Public schools here in Holland are paid for by the ministry of education and are accountable to that ministry. We do have faith based schools but they still have to uphold a standard where in order to keep their teaching privileges their students must have the same passing threshold as public schools via a national exam. So every school gets exams with the exact same questions as the other schools, regardless of faith. This also ensures that the students have the same skill set to go to different higher education schools once they graduate and not be behind.

[Tiberius]

It's because we're England. We have to come up with backwards names for things or we wouldn't have any fun.