Education, not indoctrination!

Education? Or indoctrination?

I was very pleased the other week when the results of the latest national census were released. 

It was incredibly interesting to see in our vast structured society how we as people are changing, how we have developed new beliefs and how our populace demographics have shifted over the years. 

I love that we have become more culturally diverse and I love that we have now so many nationalities living in this one land. 

It's enlightening and we should all be proud to have the opportunity to understand not just our own lives, but also lives that started many thousands of kilometres from shores that are now called home. 

I met an Indian guy the other night, ironically at the local Indian restaurant, and no he wasn't one of the staff. He was just a guy in for the Friday takeaway who'd moved to New Zealand with his family from the Punjab in India to have a better life. 

It was initially perhaps slightly embarrassing as he started our conversation by seeking some agreement from me that the waitress who was serving us both had impressive breasts. I smiled politely opting not to explain my fondness for pecs as opposed to breasts and moved on to chat about his move and his hopes for his family. 

He was a really nice guy and I believe as a country New Zealand is fortunate to have found him. 

Pornography of one kind or another

As a nation it seems we're also some of the most prolific users of the internet in the world. 

Up until this past year we've all just had to be brave and accept that the largest usage of those bytes and bits worldwide related to pornography of one kind or another. 

But assuming no one was drugged, everyone was of age, animals were not involved, all concerned were consenting adults and were provided with some ointment afterwards that's all fine. 

Fortunately it's now been announced that for the first time in the history of the interweb, the greatest usage of the internet is no longer bigboner.com but social media, you know Faceplant, Instabook and all that. 

So while you constantly moan at your teenage children for being on their Ipads or their cellphones, stop and don't worry, they're communicating, they're talking. 

Not to you obviously, but they are engaging with the world in a new and exciting way. 

Of course once they've finished Snipchatting they'll be onto debbiedoesdallas.com again and that's probably where a sensible chat is required. 

But all in all, assuming they're not developing a worrying fascination for the internal organs of rabbits and seeking instructions on the making of human skin suits, leave them alone.

More doddery based accidents

Now in the interests of maintaining some editorial balance I should point out there was some bad news in the results of the census. 

It seems that as medical science gets better and more effective we are all living longer. 

Now while on the surface this seems like good thing, for those of us not yet 82 years old it means more slow drivers, more doddery based accidents, more queues at the post office, more asking stupid questions and more of generally not understanding anything more advanced than the most basic of remote controls. 

We'll all get old and I'm not having a go at older people as such, but what infuriates me about those who we consider pensioners today is that, sweeping statement warning, most of them stopped learning anything new back in 1975 and most are unwilling to adapt personal beliefs developed when Joan of Arc still romped across France in the 15th century. 

Buying decisions are normally based on what was reality 30 years ago which means invariably old people buy the wrong things, which then blow up and do they blame themselves for not keeping up with the world? No of course not, it's all the fault of society and the dodgy bloke that sold whatever it was to them.  

We see this lack of reflection in older people when they knock down and injure someone crossing the road or any other road based altercation. It'll always be because the 'idiot' ran out in front of them or the other person wasn't making their vehicle visible. It'll be nothing to do with the fact they can barely see their own nose and their brain has the reaction speed of a particularly slothenly sloth.

Hold no Religious beliefs

However what I was most pleased to see in last year's census, what filled me with joy and gave me some sense that there is a future for us as humans, was that we are now a country where in excess of 50% of our population now consider themselves to hold no religious beliefs.

Now don't get me wrong, I have a strongly held view that everyone is entitled to believe whatever they choose to believe. 

Provided one doesn't enjoy a weekly attendance at Murderers Anonymous, or hold a view that encourages hatred or violence against another, I'll support anyone in their right to carry on as they please. 

Indeed I'm so passionate about our human right to think and to evolve that my hackles raise to the height of the tallest tower when I find a doctrine that informs me I am wrong to believe as I do. 

However I do worry that religion, and I don't mean any specific religion, but the concept of a belief in an all powerful being or entity is a problem. 

At its most harmless level religion encourages a lack of personal responsibility. You know, the 'leave it to god to decide' or the 'if it's in God's plan' kind of argument. 

And at its most harmful we see religion across the globe every day killing hundreds of thousands of people under the guise of 'freedom' or 'Sharia law'. 

But to bring a localised perspective, along with of course providing the editorial nod to the title of this particular missive, the incident that filled me with absolute disgust this week was an article on Seven Sharp. You know, the TV One current affairs show. 

Bible studies

Apparently you see, a Auckland couple were horrified last month when their ordinarily level headed daughter returned home from her day at the local state primary school. 

When being asked as usual by mum and dad as to her day at school, daughter explained that she had been taught that it was wrong for parents not be married, her own parents were not. It was equally wrong she mused, for same sex couples to be married. 

The couple were so shocked and understandably concerned by the troubling views parroted by their daughter, the next day they immediately contacted her school. 

It was explained that bible studies formed a part of their daughter's education and that while the specific views discussed by their daughter were not part of the official lesson, their daughter would be taught Christianity per the bible. 

The couple concerned, being one of the in excess of 50% holding no religious beliefs, had no interest in their daughter being as they saw it, brainwashed into Christianity and so started a Facebook page calling on and encouraging others to stand-up against what they saw as the propaganda of the religious right. 

Fortunately a sizeable number of families have now come forward and are in the process of complaining to the Ministry of Education suggesting that quite correctly, a schooling system, particularly a state schooling system should be secular and is no place for religious instruction.

I find it just incredible that in a secular society, in 2015 when New Zealand is home to so many different cultures and ethnicities let alone the majority who simply have no religious beliefs, that a school would attempt to force all children into a Christian faith.

Of course one of the arguments presented by the schools who practice this religious training is that parents can opt their children out of those classes. While that's true what does that do to the child? They become ostracised by their friends, they come to believe they're missing out and they are. They're made to feel abnormal and that's a hideous thing to do to a child.  

You see I would suggest that children should be educated about religion, absolutely yes. But all religions in the context of society as a whole and none should ever be portrayed as correct or morally proper. If as a result of being informed, a child then chooses to practice one of those religions they are entirely entitled to do so.

Killed a bunch of Indians

Those in favour of the teaching of Christianity in schools suggest that as so many of our national holiday periods are based on the Christian calendar we must teach children about them. I agree wholeheartedly, but I'll give you Thanksgiving Day in the United States as an example. 

Children in the US today are taught about the pilgrims and initial settlement of their country. However they are also taught about the killing of indigenous peoples by those pilgrims and the morally questionable actions undertaken against minorities in their name over the years. Consequently Thanksgiving Day has become more about family and friends and celebrating being together than it is about celebrating those nutters who landed Stateside and killed a bunch of Indians.

So yes, teach kids about how the holiday of Christmas came about, Easter and so on. But the minute we drag our kids through a Christian church demanding they sing Glory be to God and his boy without giving them the option of whether they want to or not we cross the line and become that propaganda, we become those who force and brainwash, rather than teach in order to seek those of independent thought. 

So should we teach Nazism?

I find it utterly disgusting that the daughter of this Auckland couple and her fellow students were in the first instance force fed a diet of Christianity. In addition it's utterly abhorrent that we find the person teaching this religious education chose to go outside of the 'official lesson' to preach their view of morality, hate and homophobia. Even worse still, apparently those further up the educational ladder didn't view it as appropriate to discipline this 'preacher' and would seem to believe it correct and proper to 'teach' a Christian faith in our secular society. 

What would be said if it were suggested teaching Nazism in our schools? 

You may now be thinking 'well come on Gordy, it's not really the same thing now is it?' 

Really, not the same thing? Millions killed in its name, the hatred of others based on some inexplicable view of idealism, a refusal to understand opposing views, need I go on? 

Believe as you feel you want to, but please do so because you actually believe it not because you've been told to believe it and for crying out loud, don't impose your views on others or suggest that you are morally correct and everyone else is wrong. 

Ours as a society is to actually teach our young. We are here to arm our kids with the tools they need to survive in life, to get on and be happy. 

Our is to educate, not to indoctrinate.