This strikes me as simply another example of the willingness of courts to undermine public education and educational standards, while at the same undermining any separation of Church and State. The Zorach concept was to allow release time, which was bad enough. When I was in school we basically did nothing every Wed. afternoon because all the Catholic kids left for "church school." I was one of two Jewish kids in my school and there were two Greek Orthodox kids. We went to Hebrew school twice a week after the school day, not on release time; the Orthodox kids went to Greek school in the same way. We could never figure out why that system worked that way. I still can't. As a policy matter, this is not "welcoming" to use Rick's concept, but quite the opposite. It separates school children out, it undermines the education of everyone, and leaves less time in the school day for general education. These issues remind me of President Kennedy's press conference response to the school prayer decision. Asked about the decision (which came down the day of one of his scheduled press conferences), he simply said that parents should pray at home with their children before they leave for school. Similarly, religious education ought to be on the non-school time.
Giving credit for religious education outside of school makes no pedagogic sense at all. And it should raise all sorts of entanglement questions, since the school board ought to be examining the credentials of the teachers, the texts, the pedagogy. Does anyone really want that in their religious education? ======================================== Paul Finkelman President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law Albany Law School 80 New Scotland Avenue Albany, NY 12208 518-445-3386 (p) 518-445-3363 (f) paul.finkel...@albanylaw.edu<mailto:paul.finkel...@albanylaw.edu> www.paulfinkelman.com<http://www.paulfinkelman.com> From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Marty Lederman Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2012 9:58 AM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: Providing public school credits for release-time religious classes www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/111448.P.pdf<http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/111448.P.pdf> A South Carolina school district set up a Zorach-like release time program for religious instruction at an unaccedited religious school. Then it decided to give the participating students academic credit for their purely religious studies in the release-time program. The Fourth Circuit upholds this program, on the theory that it's no different from recognizing credits from a private, accredited religious school when a student transfers to the public school. But in that latter case (or in the related context of giving "credit" for home-schooling), the credits presumably are awarded based upon the showing or the presumption that they reflect the student's completion of the necessary secular curriculum. Here, the education in question is specifically religious in nature (that's the point, and there's no indication in the opinion of any secular content). That is to say, the credit is being offered for the religious education simplicitur. Is this holding defensible? On Mirror of Justice, Rick Garnett calls it "welcome," but it's not obvious to me why that might be so.
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