Ethics Classes
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
14 Nov 2010
Public school education in New South Wales has been free, compulsory and secular since 1880.
Since then, volunteers of different faiths have been providing thirty to forty minutes of special religious education (SRE) a week in public schools to those children of their respective traditions who choose to attend.
Today there are 12-15,000 volunteers teaching SRE in public schools, making them the second largest volunteer force in the state behind surf life-saving (17,000 volunteers).
This right of children to receive religious education in public schools is protected by legislation. Regulations prohibit other subjects being offered in SRE time.
Although the law is very clear, this right is being undermined by the state government and the inappropriately named St. James Ethics Centre by the introduction of ethics classes in SRE time. Ethics classes in SRE time were trialled in ten public schools in recent months.
Until recently the trial was shrouded in secrecy. It was almost impossible to discover the content of the ten ethics units and nearly as difficult to discover the terms of reference of the follow-up enquiry.
While it still claims that the ethics courses were offered only to those who had opted out of SRE, in fact the St. James Ethics Centre invited all Year 5 and 6 children in the trial schools to attend. As a consequence 478 deserted Anglican SRE and Catholic numbers fell by 29 per cent.
Despite their hostile approach, the secularists behind this push could not find sufficient volunteers for every class in the trial. When a petition with 52,000 signatures supporting SRE was quickly produced, a counter-petition in support of ethics could only gather 2000 signatures.
If ethics courses are to continue in aggressive competition with SRE, it should be on the same footing; taught by volunteers with no direct or indirect government funding. It should also be described for what it is.
Some principals from the trial schools expressed concerns about the content of the ethics classes. Some units took a relativist approach to issues like lying and terrorism. One child thought the classes were great because there were no right or wrong answers on moral questions!
A good course in secular ethics could be useful, if it is broadly compatible with community values and the 10 Commandments.
It should be approved by a broad based committee representative of the community, rather than cobbled together in secret. It should also be available to all students in normal school time.
