Teachers of ethics, far from being neutral?

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Phd student in sciences of religions at the University of Montreal, Stéphanie Gravel finds that teachers do not hesitate to share their opinions.

Catherine Montambeault

Saturday, 22 July, 2017 21:45

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Saturday, 22 July, 2017 21:45

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Teachers of ethics and religious culture do not interfere not to praise vegetarianism or to spread their political beliefs in front of their class, reveals a new study.

“Whether they are atheists or believers, the teachers are very careful not to pass their religious beliefs to their students. But when it comes time to teach the portion of “ethics”, many of them are going to give their personal opinions,” says Stéphanie Gravel, a doctoral student in religious studies at the University of Montreal.

The course of ethics and religious culture (ECR), which replaces since 2008 the teaching of faith and moral in the classrooms of Quebec, has raised controversy on several occasions.

While critics of the program say usually fear the religious indoctrination of students, the doctoral thesis of Ms. Gravel noted that it is rather the “ethics” that could be a problem.

For more than a year, Stéphanie Gravel was observed 12 teachers and teachers of ECR in all the secondary schools in French-speaking quebec.

In this sample there were people of catholic, protestant, buddhist, and syncretistic, atheists and agnostics.

“I think that there is a social consensus according to which the school is not there for you to convey your belief or you indoctrinate. And it was unanimously applied among teachers, regardless of their religion,” said Mrs Gravel.

Vegetarianism and red square

The student from the UdeM has even noticed that a teacher who is very believer, which gate on a daily basis is a necklace with a cross, concealed his pendant when she gave her course, for the sake of neutrality.

“However, the surprise that I had is that, for the “ethics” of the program, most of the teachers told me in an interview that it was less important for them not to give their points of view to the students,” says Ms. Gravel.

For example, the researcher was witness to a discussion between a teacher, a vegetarian, and students who sought to know why he did not eat never of meat during school outings. The teacher then launched into a speech in favour of vegetarianism, stating that the environmental arguments related to this practice food.

“He would have been able to present the same arguments, but not to speak of his own opinion and also addressing the other points of view that exist,” says Ms. Gravel.

A red square

Another teacher proudly wore the red square on her bag, refusing to see it as a lack of impartiality.

“He explained to me that he never told the students that he was an atheist, but the port of the red square, it was fundamental for him. In his opinion, it was reaching the values of society, then it was okay.”

Sylvain Fournier, president of the Association québécoise in ethics and religious culture (AQECR), is in agreement with this statement, but believes that teachers of RCTS are not lacking in impartiality.

“If the teacher is promoting his point of view, it is sure that it is next to what is requested by the program, because the goal is to get students to think for themselves, to exercise critical judgment. But we, each year, we receive a hundred teachers for training, and this is not a problem that we see”, statue-t-it.