Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By Jonathan Eckert
20
Kappan
Thinkstock/iStockphoto
Comments? Like
Kappan at www.
facebook.com/pdkintl
driven public education. While the history of religious influence on public education is long, it has also
changed significantly over time. From the founding
of the United States, a separation of religion and
state has been implicit. The courts have repeatedly supported this mutual protection of state from
church and church from state. The First Amendment
Center, with 24 national organizations spanning the
political spectrum, has defined the role of religion
in education. Public schools may not inculcate nor
inhibit religion. They must be places where religion
and religious conviction are treated with fairness and
respect (Haynes, 2008, p. 5). Trust has been placed
in public school teachers trust that they wont
indoctrinate nor proselytize students. This trust is
essential for schools to remain open forums, a prerequisite for maintaining a democracy. For this reason, teachers of different faith backgrounds should
not be viewed as threats to the beliefs of students
and families; instead, they are the ethical stewards
of democratic education in this open forum.
Faith and teaching
Deepen your
understanding of
this article with
questions and
activities in this
months Kappan
Professional
Development
Discussion Guide
by Lois Brown
Easton. Download
a PDF of the
guide at kappan
magazine.org.
kappanmagazine.org
21
Because
teachers
are defined
by their
identity and
integrity,
who they
are is
dependent
on what
they
believe.
P1/2 students at the International School of Moshi Arusha campus in Arusha, Tanzania, present Kelly with a book they
collectively wrote and illustrated. (Photo by Diana Kraft.)
Pre-primary students at Matonyok Parents Trust Orphanage in Olasiti Village, Arusha, Tanzania, listened
as books were read bilingually in English and the national
language of Kiswahili. (Photo by Nosim Ndemno.)
22
Kappan
Implications
References
Bowker, J. (Ed.). (1997). The Oxford dictionary of world
religions. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Haberman, M. (2011, August 5). The beliefs and behaviors of
star teachers. Teachers College Record.
Hansen, D. (1995). The call to teach. New York, NY: Teachers
College Press.
Hansen, D. (2001). Exploring the moral heart of teaching. New
York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Haynes, C.C. (2008). A teachers guide to religion in the public
schools. Nashville, TN: First Amendment Center.
Johnson, S.M., Berg, J.H., & Donaldson, M. (2005). Who
stays in teaching and why: A review of the literature on teacher
retention. Cambridge, MA: The Project on the Next Generation
of Teachers.
Lewis, C.S. (1944). The abolition of man. San Francisco, CA:
Harper Collins.
kappanmagazine.org
23