Applied Anthro: Language, Culture, and God in Public Education

Aug 23, 2007 17:36

With religious diversity on the increase, Christmas carols and crosses have raised controversies for America's public schools. But debate has been raised to a new level by an Arabic "themed" school in Brooklyn, New York and a Hebrew "charter" school in Hollywood, Florida. "Another school year, another round of controversy about religion in public education" reads an article in this coming Sunday's New York Times Magazine about the two schools. Both schools say they will focus only on language and culture. Critics say it's inevitable they'll be teaching Islam and Judaism at taxpayer expense. It's question as old as the Constitution. Are there guidelines to help public schools from crossing the line that separates church and state?

- Warren Olney on "To the Point," from KCRW

Listen HERE.

NYT Magazine writer Noah Feldman and others argued that it is impossible to teach Arab culture without-at least subliminally-advocating the the Muslim faith. What no one pointed out (that I heard) is that this phenomenon is just as true of "mainstream" American public schools: it is impossible to teach American culture without advocating, to some small degree, the religion (i.e. Christianity) which has been so integral and entertwined in its development.

If Arab- and Hebrew- themed public schools are unconstitutional because they cannot avoid their cultures' inherent bias towards Islam and Judaism, shouldn't regular Western public schools be unconstitutional because of their culture's inherent bias towards Christianity?

More anthropologically speaking, what would it look like to teach "culture" without any attitude, positive or negative, toward religion?
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