Ethics a trial to religious leaders

by Millicent Caffrey

Posted 2nd December

Ethics classes were enshrined in the Education Act by the NSW Government last week after the Coalition announced that it would abolish the lessons if it gained victory in the March election. Opposition leader Barry O’Farrell announced in September that he does not support Special Ethics Education as he believes it will compete with scripture class in NSW primary schools.

However, Teresa Russell of the St James Ethics Centre stated that ethics classes are not being proposed as an alternative to scripture. “Socrates stated that the unexamined life is not worth living,” Ms Russell said. “Ethics classes are about helping children to make decisions based choices.”

The Australian Christian Lobby also opposes ethics classes, despite a number of other faiths having supported the introduction of lessons. “The Uniting Church, the Baptists, the Islamic Council and the Hindu Council have had no issue with the implementation of ethics classes,” Ms Russell stated.

The Christian Democrats also contest the lessons, with a press release from Reverend Fred Nile condemning the “arrogant attitude” of NSW Labor for introducing the classes, in which he stated that “children simply share their ignorance.”

This directly contradicts descriptions of the classes by Crown Street Public School community group’s Lesley Holden. Crown Street is one of ten schools that participated in the trial of ethics lessons earlier this year. “There is no right or wrong answer in Special Ethics Education,” said Ms Holden, who described the trial as “absolutely fantastic” and “transformational”.

Ms Holden said that the lessons provided the opportunity for children to think broadly around issues relevant to their experiences. She also said they were beneficial for children in a school where approximately 60 per cent of students come from non-English speaking backgrounds and scripture classes may not represent a diversity of faiths.

A KidsPoll conducted by the NSW Commission for Children and Young People in July recorded that 65 per cent of 797 respondents supported the introduction of ethics classes in public schools. A comment on the poll also highlighted a voice that has been largely missing from the debate, that of children themselves. “I used to be so bored while my friends went to scripture. It would be good to learn something interesting instead.”