By Hilary White
LONDON, August 1, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a move that may be called a redundancy by some, British schools have been told by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) that they will no longer have to teach children right from wrong as a “core value” of the curriculum.
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In a letter to former education secretary Ruth Kelly, the QCA said the National Curriculum say the schools should teach “secure values” instead of right and wrong. The current wording of the Curriculum’s Core Values, states, “The school curriculum should pass on enduring values. It should develop principles for distinguishing between right and wrong.” New wording will say that children should “have secure values and beliefs”.
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A spokesman for the National Union of Teachers said that the decision to remove the moral law from the curriculum would “make no difference” to most teachers. “Teachers always resented being told that one of the aims of the school was to teach the difference between right and wrong. That is inherent in the way teachers operate. Removing it from the National Curriculum will make no difference.”
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Support for increased cultural relativism and moral ambiguity from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) is not surprising given the organization’s vigorous involvement as a backbone of the UK’s homosexual lobby. In a recent public announcement, the NUT demanded that the “normalcy” of homosexual relationships be taught to children as young as three.
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The National Curriculum’s current wording says a school’s aims should be to develop pupils’ “ability to relate to others and work for the common good”. Under the proposed changes, reference to “the common good” is deleted.
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The curriculum will also excise the word “Britain” and all reference to Britain’s cultural heritage is to be dropped in the core values section.
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The new wording removes previous requirements that children age 11 to 14 develop a “sense of identity through knowledge and understanding of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural heritages of Britain’s diverse society.” Now they will be taught the more relativistic goal to “understand different cultures and traditions and have a strong sense of their own place in the world”.
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At a time when critics are increasingly pointing to the erosion of traditional moral teaching and the loss of the sense of “Britishness” as the source of Britain’s social decay, the announcement of QCA, to scrap right and wrong has elicited an angry response.
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Nick Seaton, of the Campaign for Real Education, told the Daily Mail, “I’m shocked that they are suggesting moving towards a value-free curriculum which I believe would be disastrous for future generations.”
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“It makes a mockery of Tony Blair’s talk of respect – if young people don’t have a proper moral education, what’s to stop them respecting thieves or even terrorists? Youngsters need to know the difference between right and wrong and to understand the culture in which they live if they are to become successful members of society,” Seaton continued.
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The Telegraph reports that Nick Gibb, Tory opposition shadow Minister of Education, responded to the proposal saying, “The education establishment is constantly engaged in these type of reforms with the result that everyone is horrified. Ministers must engage with the public so that this type of nonsense is not allowed to prevail.”
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Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Pre-Schoolers Must be Taught About Gay Lifestyle: Teachers Association
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