Letter: Small town secular education

Editor:

I was surprised and excited to learn of the recent changes that could be made to the legislative act to bring true public, secular education to our tiny community of Legal. The common thinking has been that our town was too small to support it, which was obviously mostly an excuse but one that we’d heard so many times that it seemed pointless to argue, at least until the situation in Morinville and St. Albert could be resolved. I am so proud of the parents and legislators that understand that being from a small community does not make the rights of our children any less valid than those from larger metropolitan areas. To ignore our children’s right to this education simply enforces the stereotype of small town people as resistant to change, old-fashioned, and obstinate.

In reading about the proposed bill I came across the following comment: “History has been changed because a few people are anti Christ. Wow. There was a Historical Reason things are the way they are and now that History has been destroyed thanks to the few imposing their ways on the majority. Very disgusting indeed.” This is an opinion I run up against constantly and this is how I responded: “This implies that Christians are the majority. But is that based on fact or assumption? And if it is indeed fact, I seriously doubt it’s an overwhelming majority. Just because I am not a Christian in no way makes me “anti-Christ” and it’s not particularly “Christian” of you to paint us all as such. And by “us” I’m referring to ANYONE that isn’t Christian: Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Agnostics, Atheists, Buddhists… It’s a long list of people, of parents with children in those schools. Hence my doubting the idea of Christians as an overwhelming majority. I’m a strong proponent of learning from the excellent morality stories included in many religions. But there is a BIG difference between learning from history (whether documented in religious texts or otherwise) and the lessons learned there, and indoctrinating my child in a religion that is not my own.”

Not sharing a group’s faith does not make me, and certainly not my children, “disgusting” and it’s disheartening to see us described as such. At the very least I hope with everything I’ve got that this legislation DOES pass so that the assumptions being constantly lobbed our way can be disproven.

Leah Elzinga
mom of 2 and cheerful atheist

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