Religion and Public Education
in an International Context
Summer, 2010
Instructor: James W. Fraser
635 East Hall
212 998 5413
[email protected]
Course Objectives
The purpose of this course on religion and public education in an international context is
for us to engage together in a critical analysis of what continues to be an important
contemporary issue. The seminar is designed especially for students preparing for
careers in teaching—in both public and private/religious schools, educational
administration, educational research, or other professions which will involve them in the
ongoing public debates about the uneasy relationship of religion and public education in
the United States and other countries. Participants in the course will examine the issue
from a variety of perspectives:

Through readings, research, and site visits, we will explore the different
approaches to the place of religion in the public schools in the United States (with
its long standing and much debated commitment to the separation of church and
state), France (with its national commitment to a secular education; a very
different thing from U.S. separation), and England (with its established church
and national curriculum in religion linked to required religious exercises in the
schools).

An historical examination of the links of religion and public education in the
United States from the growth of public schools as essentially Protestant parochial
schools in the early nineteenth century and before, to the development of
dissenting models, especially Roman Catholic Parochial schools, to the many
battles about the issue in the twentieth century. The U.S. experience will then be
used as a base for comparisons with parallel, but quite different, developments in
the other countries under consideration.

A political review of the debates of the last two decades, such as renewed calls for
school prayer and vouchers and other forms of support for religious schools in the
United States, the debate over the prohibition of head scarfs for Muslim women in
French schools, etc. In pursuing this agenda, participants in the seminar will track
various organizations in considerable detail.

A pedagogical analysis of the options facing teachers and others who want to
approach the issue with respect and seriousness in an increasingly diverse but
sometimes religiously intolerant settings. It is one thing to analyze the
relationship of religion with public education, either historically or in terms of
contemporary public policy. It is quite another to teach in a contemporary school
classroom and find one's way through the competing demands of students,
parents, community organizations, and the makers of current curriculum
standards. It would be irresponsible for a course such as this one to examine
history and policy without also attending to issues of pedagogy.
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Course Schedule
Please note: This course will not follow the standard course schedule. We will meet
on four Monday evenings in June and then meet for three days each weeks during
the first two weeks of July. The first week of July the class will meet in London and
Paris, the second week at Washington Square.
The specific details for each session are subject to Revision as events, student
interests, or the spirit dictates
Introductions
Monday, June 7, 4:30-6:30 The School as Carrier of the Culture—Whose Culture?
Introduction to the course and to each other
Review of the major themes of the course, the course outline, and travel plans
Review of assignments for the course—selection of working groups (see
assignments for week of July 13.
A look at the status of religion and public education in the U.S.
Case Study #1 (2002): The U. S. Supreme Court’s Zelman v. Simmons-Harris
ruling (vouchers for parochial schools) and the U. S. Court of Appeals for the
Ninth District ruling in Newdow v. Elk Grove Unified School District (Pledge of
Allegiance), both issued in June, 2002
Case Study #2 (1848): Horace Mann, Twelfth Annual Report (1848), Bishop
John Hughes, Petition of the Catholics of New York (1840), Catherine Beecher,
"Essays on the Education of Female Teachers" (1835), Legislation to abolish
Horace Mann’s position, Common School Journal (1840), Petition of AfricanAmerican Bostonians (1846 and following)
Religion in the Schools of the United States, Reviewing a Long History
Monday, June 14, 4:30-6:30
Assignment for June 14—Please come to class having read Fraser, Between Church &
State, and be ready to discuss
• Discussion of the origins of the First Amendment separation of church and state
• The emergence and eventual triumph of a “vaguely Protestant” public school
system
• Catholic objections to the Protestant nature of the public schools and the
emergence of the Catholic Parochial school tradition—the Blaine Amendment
• Jewish immigration, Jewish responses to the public schools
• The Scopes Trial as symbol and reality—ongoing debates about evolution
• The expanded role of the Supreme Court in U.S. Schooling
• The Religious Right’s impact on schooling--the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act in 1995 as a case study (where consideration of the bill was held
up for months of heated debate over a proposal requiring the reintroduction of
prayer in the schools.
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Religion in the Schools of England: Examining a 21st Century Religious
Establishment—guest Professor Gabriel Moran
Monday, June 21, 4:30-6:30
Assignment: read T. Copley, Teaching Religion: Sixty Years of Religious Education in
England and Wales and come prepared to discuss it.
Guest: Professor Gabriel Moran
Religion in the Schools of France: The Headscarf Controversy as a Way to
Understand French Secularism—guest Professor LaRue Allen and Adam Strom
Monday, June 28, 4:30-6:30
Assignment: Read What Do We Do With Difference? France and the Debate Over
Headscarves in Schools and come to class prepared to discuss it.
Guest: Professor LaRue Allen, NYU and Adam Strom, Facing History and Ourselves
On Site: Visits and Discussions with English and French Educators
Monday-Friday, July 5-9
The Seminar will meet at 9:00 a.m. Monday, July 5 at the Institute of Education at the
University of London. Monday and Tuesday mornings will be spent in visits to English
schools including time to observe classes in Religion and required religious observances
(chapel) in the public schools in England. After school each day the seminar will meet
with faculty from the Institute of Education for discussion of the English approach to
religious education.—Guest faculty Jo Pearce, Lecture in Religious Education, Institute
of Education, University of London and IOE colleagues.
We will arrange for travel from London to Paris on Wednesday.
On Thursday and Friday, July 8-9—the Seminar will meet with French educators (French
schools end their academic year earlier than English schools) and visit with French
students to discuss their understanding of secular education in general and the headscarf
issue in particular.
Note: Since the seminar will meet in London on July 5-7 and in Paris on July 7-9,
participants will be responsible for their arrival in London from New York and their
departure from Paris for New York. Each participant is encouraged to spend additional
days—perhaps one or both of the weekends—in Europe. The Fourth of July in London
can be fun!
Making Sense of It All—Putting the Pieces Together
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, July 13, 14, 15
The Seminar will meet at NYU from 2:30-6:30 each of these three days.
The overall goal is to integrate the seminar readings and discussions from June and the
site visits from July into a more coherent understanding of three quite different
approaches to the place of religion in the public schools of a western democracy.
Tuesday, July 13, 2:30-6:30
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Reflections on the site visits. The class session will focus on further understanding of the
different approaches to religion in the schools. The first step will be in depth
understanding of the different approaches followed by an analysis of the strengths and
weaknesses (from our perspective) of the three options. One key question will be “what
does this mean for the schools where I plan to teach/lead/send my children?”
Wednesday, July 14, 2:30-6:30 (Bastille Day!)
At the conclusion of the June 7 session, we will divide into five or six research groups.
These groups will be responsible for tracing and analyzing the activities of one of the
major players in current debates about the proper role of religion in the schools in the
United States. In preparation for the July 14 session, the five or six study groups will
each be asked to research one of the major players in current debates:
People for the American Way
2000 M. Street, NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 467-4999
www.pfaw.org
U.S. Department of Education
Washington, DC
www.ed.gov
The Christian Coalition
1801-L Sara Drive
Chesapeake, VA 23320
(757) 424-2630
www.cc.org
Americans United for the Separation
of Church and State
1816 Jefferson Place, NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 466-3234
www.au.org
First Amendment Center
National Catholic Educational
Association
1101 Wilson Blvd.
1077 30th Street, NW, Suite 100
Arlington, VA 22209
Washington, DC 20007
(703) 528-0800
(202) 337-6232
www.freedomforum.org
[email protected]
[LIST UNDER REVIEW—TO BE UPDATED]
This session will open with a review of the questions raised by the six study groups. We
will begin with a preliminary sharing of information by the groups—what has been
discovered to date. Following that we will explore the current state of public policy
regarding the teaching of religion in U.S. schools. Each of the six groups will take fifteen
minutes to present the opinions and activities of the group that they are monitoring. It
will be important to provide as critical but also as objective and appreciative a report as is
possible. Analysis will include the opinions and goals of the organization, its political
effectiveness, and the prospects for its continued role. After the conclusion of the six
reports the class discussion will focus on an overview of the current status of the role of
religion in the public schools today. Each group will be responsible for attending to
pedagogy (teach us well and keeping us interested) as well as content (making sure we
know the basic information about the group under consideration).
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Pedagogy: Teaching Religion, Teaching About Religion, Teaching Religious
Students
Thursday, July 15, 2:30-6:30
Assignment for July 15: Please read all of Warren A. Nord and Charles C. Haynes,
Taking Religion Seriously Across the Curriculum. While this book will serve as the
foundation for the class session, it will be helpful if everyone has read it prior to class.
We will focus on a class discussion of Nord and Haynes and on the issues of teaching
religion as a subject and teaching students who bring a religious perspective to many
different subjects including the approach of religiously conservative students to
evolutionary biology, religious holidays, and very secular students who do not “get”
discussions about religion. Among the topics for discussion will be:
o Teach the Literature ("Bible as Literature" courses)
[but of course, the Bible is not primarily literature]
o Teach the World Religions--They are a part of History/ Society/ Culture
o Teach the Conflict: Historically and Culturally
o Teach Ethics without Religion
o Skip the Whole Thing, "You can teach literacy and numeracy without it."
o Integrating religion into the curriculum vs. teaching it as a separate subject
o Ultimately the School as a Part of Building a New Culture
Tolerance, Respect and Understanding/a multicultural approach
In preparation for this class session, you will be asked—in addition to reading Nord and
Haynes—to give significant attention to one of the major issues facing those who teach in
contemporary classrooms. You may focus on one of the following:
• Teaching Religion—as a separate subject or integrated into the curriculum
In which case, please read Nel Noddings Education for Intelligent Belief and Unbelief
Teaching Evolution—how to integrate the teaching of Biology and respect for
religious diversity in a classroom
In which case, please read Stephan J. Gould, Rock of Ages: Science and Religion in the
Fullness of Life
•
• Teaching Morality—moral and ethical education in a diverse classroom
In which case, please read B. Edward McClellan, Moral Education in America
During the course of this class session we will focus specifically on the issues of teaching
about religion in the schools where seminar participants teach, or plan to teach, as well as
the larger policy issues raised about teaching about religion and religious issues in the
schools where participants work or plan to work.
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Course Assignments
All participants in the course are expected to read regularly and participate actively in the
course. Participation in all meetings of the seminar—in New York, London, and Paris—
is essential. In addition, the following specific assignments will be expected:
1) During the four class sessions in June we will read three different books—one
on schooling in the U.S., one on schooling in France, and one on schooling in
England. For one of those books, you are asked to prepare a written book
review which must meet the standards for publication in the Journal of
American History (to be distributed to the class) and must be no more than
500 words in length. All book reviews are due by June 28.
2) For the July 14 class session participants will research one topic in significant
detail and engage in appropriate presentations. A short paper (4-5 page) paper
on the topic will be due at the end of class that day. Grades for the
presentation will include a general grade for each group on the content and
pedagogy of the presentation as well as a grade for each individual on the
written presentation.
3) Finally, each participant will be expected to prepare a significant final course
paper, due electronically to [email protected] by Friday, July 30 and counting for
approximately 50% of the course grade. These papers may take a variety of
shapes and topics should be reviewed carefully with the instructor. Examples
of appropriate papers include:
•
A research term paper that explores one of the topics of the course in considerable
depth and with appropriate scholarly expertise. This could include an historical paper
that places the French headscarf issue in the larger context of French history or the
changing place of the religion curriculum in England since the reforms of education
under the Thatcher government or a paper on the emergence of parochial schools in a
specific city of the United States, an analysis of a specific crisis in public policy such
as the court cases around release time for religious instruction in the 1950s, or a look
at a current court case or piece of legislation in any of the countries under
consideration. Papers of this sort will be evaluated as if they were being submitted to
an appropriate scholarly journal for publication.
•
Participants may also, as an alternative, prepare a piece of curriculum that engages
students in the issue of religion. For example, a series of course sessions and
appropriate readings that might engage secondary students in American history in a
study of the topics of this course, would be appropriate. Such a curriculum should
involve all needed materials for the class sessions, a careful plan of instruction, and
an analysis of the community issues that the instructor might face in implementing
the lesson.
•
A third option would be the development of a clear public policy proposal for dealing
with issues of religion in the public schools. Such a policy proposal would need to be
country and location specific. This could involve a briefing paper for a member of
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the British Parliament on the future of required chapel in England’s schools, a paper
for the U.S. Congress, a local School Superintendent, or a local association of
churches. The proposal should be very specific, that is the specific people or locality
should be specific and real. The analysis of the promises and pitfalls of action should
be detailed, including a careful analysis of goals, necessary means of implementation,
allies and opponent, and the possibility of success. Such a case study will be
evaluated on the degree to which it might actually be of use in a specific and real
policy context.
Please note: All of the above options are only examples. It is important to review your
specific plans for the course paper with the instructor or the teaching fellow early in the
semester and continue this review from time to time throughout the term.
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