Chapter 8 -- School
Wars: Resolving our Conflicts over Religion and Values
A Matter of World Views
When the views of one group are radically different from those of another and when public policy is at stake, debate is inevitable.
Differences in judgment come about because each person starts from different assumptions.
The Power of Paradigms
Human beings interpret information received from the senses via sets of beliefs they hold about the world at large and about their place in that world.
Theories, beliefs, and assumptions through which we interpret the world are called paradigms or world views.
Paradigms provide frameworks with which we organize information about people and about the world limiting what we can perceive.
Culture can be defined as the shared beliefs of a given group of people.
Shared paradigms form the fabric of a culture and determine what is expected and not expected, true and not true, within a society.
Each of us at any given time in life holds certain assumptions that influence our thinking.
Four pivotal distinctions within a world view:
Authority for Knowledge and Truth
The world view of any person is usually consistent.
Christian Fundamentalists
Assume that the Bible is their single authority for religious knowledge
and truth
The Bible provides ultimate and unchangeable truth
Mainline Christians
Important source of religious knowledge is the Bible, both the Hebrew
Scriptures and the New Testament.
Most believe the Bible alone does not represent absolute authority for knowledge
and truth.
Religious Liberals
Assume that the source of all knowledge is "experience and
reason."
Believe the Bible was written not by God but by human beings who recorded their
experience of God.
Views about Human Nature and Self
Christian Fundamentalists
Those who consider themselves part of a Christian fundamentalist
religious community and who take the Bible as their source of truth believe that
each person inherits Adam's original sin
People are continually tempted by Satin to do sinful things.
Fundamentalists believe that people cannot be saved by their own efforts.
Salvation is a givt from God only to those who repent of their sins and accept
forgiveness.
Mainline Christians
Evil comes into the world through the irresponsibility of people.
Transformation is possible, not merely by correct beliefs or actions, but by the
grace of God, who accepts all people just as they are.
Religious Liberals
Liberals are optimistic about human nature and give no credence to the
idea of original sin.
Values
There is common agreement that values such as honesty, integrity, self-discipline, responsibility, generosity, human freedom, and courage need to be emphasized in families, religious institutions, and schools.
People strongly disagree about the essential nature and source of values.
Christian Fundamentalists
Values are objective- The values presented in the scriptures are
absolute and objective truth. They are unchanging written in natural law
and created by God.
Highest value is placed on honoring and worshiping God.
Mainline Christians
Generally agree with fundamentalists on the importance of values and
define values as the human judgments and actions, influenced by religion and
culture that are essential for the well-being of individuals and communities.
For mainline Christians, there is no single or absolute authority.
Religious Liberals
Assume that everything in existence changes over time.
Values are determined by human beings as they seek to discover what is useful,
beneficial, and right.
The Nature of Reality
Within religions, the subject of reality focuses on the topic of God.
Christian Fundamentalists
Christian fundamentalists affirm that ultimate reality is God and
believe that God existed from the beginning of time and that he created the
world and humankind out of nothing.
God is believed to be perfect in knowledge, power, and love.
Mainline Christians
Believe that the doctrine of the trinity best expresses the nature of
God. God is the creator of the world and is also personal in that God's
presence can be felt and known.
Religious Liberals
Assume that ultimate reality, the ground of all existence, is God.
God is not a supernatural person.
The word God is a way of speaking of ultimate reality. They reject belief
in a literal Devil or Satan as being who causes evil.
Do Educators Have a Common World View?
A strong culture of education is transmitted into the community of educators through certification courses and professional journals and books.
The world view of Dewey has helped shape the view of education. Dewy conceived of education as child-centered.
Dewey wrote of his conviction that the native and unspoiled attitude of childhood, marked by ardent curiosity, fertile imagination, and love of experimental inquiry is near to the attitude of the scientific mind. Dewey explained that this attitude of mind id characterized by "reflective thinking."
Dewey believed that there is a difference between "religion" and "the religious." He affirmed instead "religious elements in experience."
Because educators belong to varied religious communities their world views will be shaped in part by the basic beliefs of those subcultures. Generalizations about the world view of educators are imprecise at best.
Gaddy, B., Hall, T. & Marzano, R. (1996). School Wars: Resolving our Conflicts over Religion and Values. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.