AuH20

Study: Religious School Kids Are Way More Tolerant And Informed Than Public Schoolers
BY: TIM GOEGLEIN


A new study by researchers at the University of Arkansas and the University of Buckingham, which analyzed 57 international studies, concluded that religious schools are far more effective at teaching children to become engaged citizens than secular public schools — resulting in students who model political tolerance, knowledge, and skills better than their publicly educated peers.
The study found that receiving a private, faith-based education increased political tolerance and knowledge by 12 percent of a standard deviation. In turn, receiving such an education also resulted in increased volunteering and community engagement — all positive traits for a healthy society.

However, this is not good news for the leftist leaders of teachers unions, such as the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), who have preached the company line that private religious schools produce the exact opposite of what this study proves, claiming such schools promote bigotry and intolerance.

As Patrick J. Wolf, an education policy professor at the University of Arkansas and co-author of the study, puts it, “We should care about these findings because free countries establish public school systems for the express purpose of preparing their young citizens for the responsibilities of self-government.”

“Some people (such as the NEA and AFT) oppose private school choice policies because they claim private schooling is privatizing and undermines civic outcomes, especially if the private schools are religious,” he added. “Students don’t have to choose between God and country. They can enthusiastically support both.”

Yet, our current public education system, ostensibly set up to produce good citizens, does the exact opposite. It has kicked God and the teaching of virtue out. Meanwhile, teaching civics is basically ignored, as the study’s authors note, citing statistics showing that only 22 percent of eighth graders are proficient in the topic.

Another recent survey of Americans aged 18–24 found that only 4 percent of them answered four standard civics questions correctly and only 48 percent of them responded that they planned to vote in the 2024 election.

Back in 1991, the late liberal historian Arthur Schlesinger raised the alarm on the state of civics teaching in public schools after reviewing a New York report calling for K-12 curricula to address “racial and ethnic oppression” and focus on group identities instead of collective culture.

While the study did find that private and public school students have similar levels of political participation, the other question we have to ask is this: “What does that political engagement look like?”

Unfortunately, given the current left-wing climate that Schlesinger warned about and is promoted by organizations such as the NEA and AFT, our public schools are often little more than training centers to create angry student activists, teaching intolerance of other views while keeping children in the dark about our national history, and promoting incivility.

Is it any wonder that Americans no longer share a hope for the future and a sense of the common good?

As I write in my recent book, Toward a More Perfect Union: The Moral and Cultural Case for Teaching the Great American Story: “… young people leave our education system cynical, entitled, and aggrieved. Rather than being thankful, they are indignant. Rather than proud, they feel ashamed. Rather than feeling free, they feel oppressed. Rather than wanting to fix America’s faults, they want to burn it down. Rather than asking what they can do for their country, they demand to know what their country can do for them.”

Hardly the recipe for an engaged and civil society.

Meanwhile, faith-based schools are more likely to focus on civic duty and public civility, including, as mentioned, tolerance of other views, which is the proper recipe to create a society that is truly “e pluribus unum” or “out of many, one.” That is hardly a message of bigotry and intolerance.

Jonathan Zimmerman, a self-described liberal professor of history of education at the University of Pennsylvania, states: “This study … suggests religious schools promote more tolerance of differences than secular institutions do. As religious affiliation and practice decline, Americans have increasingly turned to politics for identity and meaning. But the churches of red and blue don’t teach us to love our neighbors.”

In fact, when we emphasize accusing our neighbor over loving them, we end up in our current morass of division and incivility. Perhaps that is why the best way to create an engaged, civil society — “an informed patriotism” as President Reagan called it — is to return to the very values taught by private religious schools. Which is to treat all, even those with whom we may disagree, with respect and dignity. That is the key to how we can renew our civic discourse and heal the present societal and political chasms in which we presently find ourselves.

Coos Bay Tom Loc: coos bay oregon

My accountant put her kids In a religious school preschool Thru Senior graduate . Her kids learned the Earth was formed in 6 days and was only 6000 years old and also that carbon dating was fake and dinosaurs were created by the devil . My kids learned science and have common sense to guide them not what they have been programmed to believe with God constantly watching their every move and hearing their very thoughts .

Lily

So, you are judging a whole group by one example.

My example is a school system stopping homeschoolers/religous students from taking standardized tests because their scores were much higher than public school students in the same grade level.

The elder I care for daughter went to all religious schools, scored in the upper 2% on SATS and graduated college with honors.

AuH20

Yet here am I , who attended a private religious school from grades 1-12, having received an academic scholarship to college, where I maintained a 3.4 GPA. It is pondering how my parents could make such a major financial error in their decision to educate me.

As your comment pays particular attention to science, let me address that.

My private religious school taught all of the standard current science curriculum, and the religion curriculum taught Old and New Testament, including the six days. What so many choose to ignore is, you are basing your creation philosophy on a twenty-four hour day. Are you able to provide the source of determination that God’s day was twenty-four hours?

AuH20

Your school system joins the ranks of quite a number of systems in the same position. My parents neighbor’s son took the city school system’s standardized test and scored a perfect score.

Coos Bay Tom Loc: coos bay oregon

Just saying what I know as a fact where I live . A lot of friends and some of my cousins went to Sacred heart academy ---A Catholic school and they received first class educations

Coos Bay Tom Loc: coos bay oregon

That is the problem -Gods days may be 1 million years long but the zealots I have experience with say it was a 24 hour day . If you want to get technical God worked on creation for 6 days and on the 7th day he rested and the scriptures say --so shall you rest .-- look at a calender --The first day of the week is Sunday and the last day of the week is Saturday -- Saturday is the Sabbath .

LostAggie66 Loc: Corpus Christi, TX (Shire of Seawinds)

Good counter argument Tom

AuntiE Loc: 45th Least Free State

Then, I can go through my neighborhood (which is 98% blue) and show you a multiple children performing substantially better than their public school counterparts and bringing home more academic scholarships.

I will not mention the five teachers who have their children in private schools, among a multitude of others doing the same.

AuntiE Loc: 45th Least Free State

The simply fact of the matter is since inception of the US Department of UnEducation public schools have precipitously fallen in education. There are third world countries who outperform the US on world education testing. There is more discussion about sexual matters than there is teaching core subjects. The only thing sexual that should enter public schools is basic biology.

AuntiE Loc: 45th Least Free State

You used one example to describe every religious school.

NotMAGA Loc: Upstate NY - in a very red county

👍👍

NotMAGA Loc: Upstate NY - in a very red county

I've talked with people around here who have the same views. "Every word in the Bible is literal and inerrant." No room for any other interpretation of passages that would make no sense if read and taken literally.

AuntiE Loc: 45th Least Free State

So, based on your conversations, you assume any and all religious schools must teach that? I am not even going to address that as my mood today will lead to very unkind snarky words.

Lily

I was looking forward to your answer.