Religious expression case

.docx

School

Grand Canyon University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

501

Subject

Philosophy

Date

Dec 6, 2023

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by starwestrider

Religious Expression Case Analysis and Rationale Template Part 1: Case Analysis 1.Brief summary of the case: A parent and a teacher have presented the idea of adding a religious studies course to the school's curriculum. This course will go over different religions and give students the general history of each religion. This course will be allowed on campus as it is not biased and will allow students to learn about all religions. When the board meeting happened I would be okay with the media being present as well as Ms. Wright because this does fall under being within the law. 2.Identify the issues to be resolved: The major issue that needs to be addressed is that this course is not a religious biased course. This course is to teach the students the history of many religions and overall a historical course. Also this course will be an optional course that students can sign up for. The issue will be resolved by communicating with the community that this course will not be a course that is teaching a specific religion that students will have to hold values to. 3.Stakeholders involved in the issues: The stakeholders involved in this are board members, teachers, and the principal of the school, parents, students, and the community. 4.One or two existing laws or court rulings that relate to the issues: Engel v. Vitale (1962) The reason why this case could relate to the issue is because this cause involved prayer. The court ultimately decided that prayer violated the establishment clause. Prayer would no longer be allowed in public schools. With that being said we would have to ensure to the community that prayer would not be happening in this class. 5.District policies that relate to the issues: District policies state that religion cannot be taught in the classroom if it is biased. When religion is being taught it has to be unbiased and this primarily will fall under the historical parts of the religions. This course would indeed fall within policy as it will not be biased and will strictly teach students about history. When teaching about the bible it is critical that the teacher does not bring religious beliefs into the lesson. 6.Possible solutions to the issues: One of the solutions is to explain to the community and the media that this course is well within the law. The course will not be pressuring students to follow any given religion. It actually is going to be teaching the history of each religion. This course will be designed to allow students to learn about how these religions were created, who wrote them, and how they may be practiced today. The actual content of the religion will not be biased and students will have the opportunity to discuss crucial parts of religious history. Another solution is to provide the standards that will be taught in the course and show that these standards are indeed lawful. 7.The solution you choose to resolve the issues: The solution I would use is to provide the curriculum to the community so they can physically see what the class will be going over. This will allow me to prove that the class is historical and it will not include a biased belief. The goal will be to prove that the course is lawful. I will talk to

other district members and see if they can agree to speak on this curriculum to help further prove that it falls within the law. I believe that by doing this it will prove to the community that we are taking all necessary steps to ensure that this course does not become biased. 8.Action steps (2-5) for implementing your solution, including a timeline for each step: Step 2- Would have to be getting the curriculum approved by the district. This will include presenting the course and gaining feedback on it. Step 3- Is going to be hiring a qualified teacher that can teach the class and going over the content with them. Step 4- Is going to be having the class start and students actually take it. Step 5 will be gaining feedback from students and parents about how the course is going. 9.Potential moral and legal consequences of the solution: A consequence that we have to worry about is not handling this case in the correct way. If we cannot prove that we are going to be using this case to simply teach the history of religions we can be looking at not being within the law. That is why it will be crucial to have the curriculum ready to prove that it is not biased. Part 2 The solution I have come up with for this case simply allows the school to stay within the law. It will support the schools vision, and safeguards the equity and diversity of the school. The overall outcome allows for students' needs to be met while teaching them a unique part of history. This solution ultimately will allow not only the school to collaborate but the community as a whole. This will bring an overall trustworthy relationship between the school and the community. The course will be designed to give students a background of multiple religious groups. When doing this the curriculum will stay unbiased as well as the teacher that is delivering the material to the students. This will be explained at the board meeting when the course is approved. Another critical point to mention is the fact that the course is going to be optional and students will have to sign up for the course. This will allow the community to see that the school took the time to ensure they are staying within the law. The community will then be able to understand the schools overall idea of the course and build trust. The course will support the schools vision and mission statement because it will allow students to achieve excellence together as a community. The mission statement ultimately supports collaboration within school staff members as well as the community. This course will further allow collaboration to build within the school and community. This is because by creating a new curriculum it provides the opportunity to discuss course material. This is where collaboration will help build strengths even further and modify the weaknesses. This course will

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