I recieved a "Notice of Motion" from my member of parliament today
that is as follows:
"The [my area] Labour Party believe that the artificial religious
divide created by the separate education of our children should be
brought to an end as quickly as possible. We therefore believe that
school placements should be made on the basis of proximity to the
school and not on the basis of religion, sex, colour, ability, or
parental choice.
Further[more], [my area] branch agrees to forward this motion to the
Constituency Labour Party, Local Government Committee and the Scottish
Policy Forum.
Moved by: [My MP]
Seconded by: [Some other geezer]"
It might seem like small potatoes, but when foxhunting was banned in
Scotland it caught the attention of the rest of Britain, and I'm half
expecting to see a similar sequence of events.
Why is this encouraging news? Because I didn't even know there were
any "religious divides" in my area. In fact, I didn't know there were
any religions. This letter, therefore, indicates much positive energy
being channeled in the right direction.
Although it doesn't directly address issues such as curricula subject
matter and the Emmanuel College nonsense, it erodes the context for
such things. As Richard Dawkins pointed out: "if it wasn't for the
fact that they have already existed for centuries, there would be
something peculiarly odd sounding about the notion of religious
schools".
Another reason why this is encouraging is that it is the opposite
stance of the upper, federal Labour party and of Blair and his
grinning indifference(and mild enthiusiasm) towards such issues.
As a mild aside, I'm glad when parents have no say; education is
education.
Iain
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