How children should be taught in schools - AC Grayling

A.C.Grayling, British Humanist Association 2010 AGM.





Is inculcating beliefs in children moral? The Jesuits - "Give me the child till the age of seven and I will show you the man." (10m). Spartans inculcated boys to be soldiers. (16m) Is inculcating school ethos moral? Should children be taught that deities are real and do these children then rely on imaginary gods to solve their problems during a later life crisis?


How should children be taught? 'Dissenting Academies' taught children to think critically, take nothing on authority or trust, investigate evidence yourself (19m). 


Do children think about religious belief? Do school friends go to hell because they have different religious or non-religious beliefs? (23m) 

AC Grayling on religion in education & why he does not subscribe to religious beliefs

In A.C. Grayling, To Set Prometheus Free, 2009, Chapter 2 Grayling says that he does not subscribe to a super-naturalistic worldview but instead a naturalistic worldview (page 31).


'If there is one practical move I would advocate towards diminishing the place of religion in human affairs, it is shriving education of it: that is the key to a better future.'
A.C. Grayling, To Set Prometheus Free, 2009, Oberon Books Ltd, London, Chapter 2, p. 52