The decision of Stirling Council to deny 13-year-old Reece Swain a free bus pass to go to school because he is not a Catholic is a complete nonsense. The boy had a pass in his first year to go to the Catholic St Modan's High, but has been taken away now after his faith status was uncovered.
I hope the Catholic Church or someone in authority somewhere comes out and condemns this fast. It does a disservice to faiths and faith schools.
David Cameron yesterday called for Muslims to follow the example of the Church of England in allocating 25% of their school places to non-Christians. Personally, I don't have a problem with this in principle. I've said from the beginning that Scotland's first state Muslim school must be open to all, and indeed if it is the successful school we anticipate and want it to be, it would be natural that people would want to send their children there.
The aim is not about segregating kids out. We should actually probably stop calling them 'Muslim schools', as that denotes that it's about people. What the campaign is actually about is to have a school with a unique set of values based on Islam. I can well understand people's concerns about segregation, even if I do not agree with them myself. But this about having an Islamic school, not a Muslim-only school.
"What the campaign is actually about is to have a school with a unique set of values based on Islam."
Aye, that was the twaddle RC bigots have came out with for years, too, Osama. Though, strangely, the 'values' of the school have proven to include such charming notions as the insistence of separate bogs from the Proddy weans even when forced to share campus. It's the values, innit?
"and indeed if it is the successful school we anticipate and want it to be"
Aye, that's another RC bigot myth. When segregating weans or insisting on a superior religious ethos proved difficult to argue they changed to 'but the schools are academically successful!!!'. And South Africa was a relatively successful country without any interference from 'the bleks'.
The faith school tune is a crufty old melody.
Posted by: Ted | 06 October 2006 at 10:46 AM
The 25% quota idea is a pipedream that while on the surface looks a good idea, simply will not work:
Bluntly, 90-95% of non-Muslim parents will not have their child go to an Islamic school, including many of those who would not normally consider themselves in any way prejudiced. Despite the fact that I support 99% of your views on this blog, I think I would include myself in this number: as an atheist, I would not want my child to be brought up in a religious atmosphere of any sort, where faith-based ideas and viewpoints are given precedence over reason.
Where school places are short, this could lead to a disastrous flashpoint in race relations. It is not difficult to imagine the resentment (and media hysteria) that would result if a white non-Muslim child - particularly in an area such as Oldham or Bradford - were forced against their will to go to an Islamic school in order to make up the 25% quota. Equally, if Muslims were denied access to a school they had campaigned for not because of any lack of capacity because not enough willing non-Muslim pupils could be found, that would also lead to tension (although of course the media would ignore that, and therefore it would be the likely outcome of the quota system).
Posted by: Sam | 15 October 2006 at 01:03 PM
I think the 25% quota has been marketed wrongly by the newspapers. I believe the way it would work is that 25% of places would be set aside for non-Muslims who would get 1st priority. If the places weren't taken up (and I agree with Sam on the likelihood of that currently) then rather than desks lying empty, they would be taken by Muslim pupils.
Posted by: Osama | 15 October 2006 at 02:34 PM