I have always said that all children should be free to express themselves. What I do not want is anyone in authority expressing themselves on personal matters like religion. There are problems in the classroom when you have evangelical children who want to coerce other children. I do think that has to be contained, since people do not send their children to school with the expectation that they will be evangelized. I had a Buddhist boy in my class last year along with a VERY strong willed little Christian girl who sat next to him. At one point during the year she apparently asked him about God and he answered. I then heard "Mrs X, Joe says there is no God, MAKE him say there is one."
Ahem
Well. I told her I could not do that. And that we all had a right to our own beliefs and that she should talk to mom and dad about this when she got home. She wasn't alarmed by my response, and neither was Joe- they probably both felt vindicated- the trick is to say as little as possible and leave as much room as one can for their own sense of self righteousness. I continued to receive beautifully painted crosses decked out with flowers from this little girl throughout the year, so I know I did not traumatize her.
I had a few other religious contretemps among my students, but they were handles quietly, and I always kept the parents informed, and I had no problems. Religiously I had an extremely diverse class. And we had to make special accommodations for some of them- for example the two boys who were Jehova's Witnesses could not take part in any celebrations at ALL- not holiday celebrations, no birthdays, not Mother's Day cards- nothing. So we had to plan to work around that, without making the boys feel excluded. Since there were two of them it made it easier to make them comfortable. For Holidays I actually partitioned off the library for them, and set out snacks in both areas- because the boys could eat the special Holiday treats as long as they were "celebrating" the Holiday. Don't ask me why that is ok- I don't know. But the parents assured me this met the conditions of their faith. So we can protect all children's faith, and yet not force anything on anyone else. If I did not firmly believe that, I wouldn't be such an advocate for it. But I've seen it work. |
