Topic: “Released Time” in New York Public Schools for religious education
Summary: Since the 1950s, students in the New York Public School system have had the opportunity to leave school an hour early every Wednesday to participate in religious education. Even though the program has been challenged in court (separation of church/state issues) and fewer people participate today, the program is still in use by over 10,000 kids in the school system.
Intended audience: General Public
Key Points:
- Kids can receive religious education once a week for an hour during “released time”. This instruction is funded by the public schools.
- Traditionally, Jewish and Catholic students have used the program the most.
- Instruction cannot take place on school property.
- This provides a good alternative for parents who may not have the money to send their children to religious private schools, but still want them to receive some education related to their faith.
- Problems can arise when so many students leave a classroom… the teacher can’t deliver any vital instruction, give tests, etc. without those students missing out.
Relevance: I found this article really interesting! I am not particularly religious, so I never would’ve participated in something like this. I do think it looks like a lot of fun to make Matzo bread though… I think it is important for students to learn about all the religions in the world, I hope this isn’t taking the place of that in the regular curriculum. It’s really a shame that not all kids get to participate in a fun out and about every week! This also brings up the same issues that we have talked about regarding pulling kids out of class for Title 1, ESOL, TAG, etc…
LDS students at the high school I attended in Idaho did something similar, except they were expected to take an extra class period (we called it zero hour) to make up for their absence, since there was no credit given for these classes. All LDS seminary classes were held in a privately funded building just outside the campus boundary. Aside from the mild exclusion effects and my own personal beliefs about the religion itself, I thought it was kind of cool to see that system in place and running smoothly. I think it helped those students connect with each other on a different level than the general school setting would normally allow.
ReplyDeleteI think that it seems reasonable that a school accomodate a school schedule that allows students to be released for the purpose of religious education, so long as the time and material missed is made up (like in the example that Kevy gave). I do, however, this it is madness that the school funds this religous education!!
ReplyDeleteI'm not religious in any way, and to be perfectly honest if my taxpayer money, or state/federal funds, were being alotted to pay for a specific religious curriculum in any way, that would frusterate me. I would be really curious to see how common this model is.