Political correctness in schools.

Contemplate a non government (private) Christian school in Australia.  It is a fee paying school but also receives some government funding.  It can preach its own religious tenets within the law.  However with the recent same sex marriage bill that made such marriages legal such schools have a problem if they deem by their religion that marriage is only between a man and a woman.

The federal government is to address such issues in 2018.

At a more general level in Australian government schools the approach is secular and along with political correctness in a very multicultural society this means only a thin veneer of Christianity in such schools.  As I said in a previous blog the annual nativity play is pretty much a thing of the past as is the reciting of the Lord's prayer.  The safe route is to teach comparative religion.  I am all for the secularity and the comparative religion, but deep down having been a school principal feel that maybe a bit of ceremony has been lost.  I guess it is up to the various religious groups in the wider community to provide the ceremonies.

In all Australian schools Principals have to address the gender issues now out in the open for LGBTI persons.  The protection of the law is there in terms of acts of discrimination.  However within a school community Principals have to manage parents and their views when it comes to how the school will manage this situation.  It is a very tricky area with parents needing to be well informed of what the school is doing and having the right to exempt their child if it goes against their family values.

There is a more general side to the gender issue of being male and female.  These days and rightly so women keep pressing for equality and the schools need to take this into account.  On the other side of the coin I sense a feeling amongst men that their masculinity is somehow being quietly denigrated. One hears men speaking out about this and at times women also supporting them in this concern.  One boys only private school near my home advertises that it is there to produce "good men".

Then there is the political correctness in day to day language use.  A good thing, but it can be overdone and teachers need to be in top of this.

The joys of being a school Principal in contemporary Australian society.


May the Force be with you on this Christmas day 2017!


GD