Tim Abbott

Research confirms that young people want good RE

Into the current debate on the place of RE in the 'English Baccalaureate' (see REact) Robert Jackson, Professor of Education at the University of Warwick and Director of Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit, has responded to David Cameron's speech in Munich where he spoke on multiculturalism, security and religion. In particular, he highlights the desires of young people for more and better qualitiy education on these issues, and particularly on the role of religious education. This extract is from an overview article in ekklesia:

Professor Jackson cites European research – notably the European Commission Project on Religion, Education, Dialogue and Conflict (REDCo) among 14-16 year olds in eight countries, with which he was involved – as demonstrating the desire of young people for a 'safe space' within the school curriculum to explore different beliefs in a thoughtful way.

He declares: "Mr Cameron might give some careful attention to their views. First, the majority of students surveyed wish for peaceful coexistence across differences, and believe this to be possible. Second, they believe that peaceful coexistence depends on knowledge about each other’s religions and worldviews and sharing common interests as well as doing things together."

The research also shows that "students who learn about religious diversity in school are more willing to have conversations about religions/beliefs with students of other backgrounds than those who do not... They want learning to take place in a ‘safe’ classroom environment ... They want teachers to combine expertise in the study of religions and social and cultural issues with expertise as facilitators of discussion and exchange."

"Students do not want to be told what to believe," stresses Professor Jackson, "but would like the state-funded school to be a place for learning about different religions, and for clarifying their own views."

The original article by Robert Jackson is here.

The full REDCo report is here (pdf) and there are some compelling research findings from students, some cited in the extract above, as well as policy recommendations. It's only 4 pages long and succinct.

More info about REDCo here and here

Possibilians vs Agnostics

Possibilians vs Agnostics by Kevin Kelly picks up on Neuroscientist David Eagleman's new religious vocabulary for the belief state between Atheism and religious faith including a link to Eagleman's 20 minute talk at Pop!Tech.

To me, this gives language to the way many (young) people approach the problem of not knowing for sure if there's a God. It's about a fascination with the questions, rather than simply deciding not to decide.

 

Social networking 'damaging school work' say teachers

Well... further to my previous post, the BBC reports that in a recent survey of 500 teachers half of those who took part said children's "obsession" with social networking was affecting their ability to concentrate in class. One in four said they believed children with the poorest grades in school were those who did the most online social networking.

I wonder, is Social Networking principally the cause or a symptom of a more distracted society. Competition for our attention is immense - we have more channels to watch on TV, there's more advertising, most of us have mobile phones, we shop more, we live in more socially fractured homes and generally live life at a more accelerated pace than previous generations. Social networking is just one part of this whirlwind of diverse activity, this multiplexed existence and although I feel sure it plays a contributory part in our lack of focus or concentration I think it's just one aspect of a bigger picture.

What fascinates me is that when we run a Prayer Space in school, one of the most popular activities is the 'quiet tent' - a place where students are invited to relax and be still. Some come back repeatedly at break times and lunchtimes. Some are reluctant to leave. The experience of peace and stillness seems almost to overwhelm them, to catch them by surprise.

Is Facebook Making Us Stupid?

Happiness, distraction and social media (or, Is Facebook making us stupid?) is a well argued and well researched post by Fernando Gross that I found encapsulated many of my ponderings on the subject of the omnipresence of the online world. I admit that I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook, well, more of a tolerance/hate relationship, in that it has great value in keeping up with people and is useful in some ways as a disseminator of news to those who follow several ministry activities I'm involved in. The now almost obligatory ubiquity of Facebook disturbs me, but it also beckons to us to live our lives there, to stay involved, not to miss a moment. Fernando sees this as symptomatic of a deeper issue.

He writes;

We are heading towards something one might call the distraction economy. A lot of the time we spend on social media comes from moments of distraction. It’s the moments between things (or the moments when the current tasks seem to demand less than full attention) that people are filling with these digital interactions. Next time you go to a film, look around and see how many people are looking at Facebook, email or whatever even while the opening credits are rolling.

I recognise myself too easily, and painfully, in some of his observations. What is it about distraction that we love? Is a hyper-connected world gradually eroding our capacity for focus, for Getting Things Done? Where will it all lead? Ultimately I have faith in a human-ness that is intrinsically part of how we're made - an echo of Eden. Just as you can't make a device requiring physical input that's smaller than the capabilities of human fingers (though voice control may get round this), and there's little point creating screens with resolutions better than the human eye, so our soul, our desire and ability to communicate, has limits that are not easily transgressed. At the extreme some individuals can spend their entire social life online, but as a society we still find this aberrant. All ages celebrate, seek out and enjoy the gathering, the meeting up, the being together. It's still something we seem to want to do, as though we're made that way and our souls become restless without it. I'm not sure this is such a generational thing - the main difference is that younger generations are more adept at using the technology and therefore subsuming it into their connected life. There are plenty of 'silver surfers' who spend a lot of their time there too. The question remains, is it making us dumber?

Fernando concludes;

Facebook is just a part of this equation. It stands out because it so clearly embodies many of the problems of the distraction economy as well as being the most successful player in that field. I’m not sure the internet or even Facebook is making us stupid. But, I am sure that living in a permanent state of distraction and partial attention is far from smart.

I agree. Read his full post. The well researched links are worth a look.

Now, I must get back to work...!

Facebook musings

A couple of Facebook related posts caught my eye today.

In Zuckerberg: Non-Evil Non-Genius? Robert Wright reflects on the growth stages of Facebook, and how a sequence of largely unplanned developments became a killer strategy, levering the power of "positive network externalities" - basically, it's not what you do, it's how many people connect to what you do that counts.

 

While over at The Guardian Charles Arthur asks, Is your private phone number on Facebook? Probably. And so are your friends'. Be careful what you post on your profile people... I'm just saying...
h/t Dave Walker

Wired predictions from the 90's

I was fascinated by this list of quotes from the first five years of Wired magazine, from May 93 to Dec 97, compiled by Kevin Kelly. His conclusion,

"all predictions of the future are really just predictions of the present."

There's variety here. With the benefit of hindsight, some are mildly bonkers, some are pontifications about things that would have been fairly obvious at the time and some are stabs at pop philosophy. Some predictions, however, seem to have become even more true with the passage of time.

My favourites:

• We as a culture are deeply, hopelessly, insanely in love with gadgetry. And you can't fight love and win. (May 93)
• Yesterday, we changed the channel; today we hit the remote; tomorrow, we'll reprogram our agents/filters. Advertising will not go away; it will be rejuvenated. (Feb 94)
• The scarce resource will not be stuff, but point of view. (Mar 94)
• Life is not going to be easy in the 21st century for people who insist on black-and-white descriptions of reality. (Nov 94)
• The very distinction between original and copy becomes meaningless in a digital world -- there the work exists only as a copy. (Dec 94)
• The future won't be 500 channels -- it will be one channel, your channel. (Mar 95)
• The human spirit is infinitely more complex than anything that we're going to be able to create in the short run. And if we somehow did create it in the short run, it would mean that we aren't so complex after all, and that we've all been tricking ourselves. (Nov 95)
• We have a predisposition in Western culture for "just do it," whereas, I think that part of the future will be built much more around "just be it." (Sep 96)

Facebook before face-to-face

Today I became friends with a new minister here in Colchester via Facebook before meeting up in person thus creating the perfect opportunity to arrange to, well... meet up in person.

In a slightly creepy way Facebook has become almost invisible - part of the social water within which many of us swim.

Cohabitation in the 21st Century

New research from The Jubilee Centre shows that cohabitation is a less stable form of relationship than it was 15 years ago. By contrast, marriage is becoming more stable. By the time children are 16 their parents will still be together in 75% of married couples, but just 7% of cohabiting couples.

The stability of marriage must be due in part to the lower numbers of people marrying. But the research also shows that couples who cohabit as a try-out before marriage are then 60% more likely to split up than those who didn't live together before marriage.

Reports like this make it easy to confuse symptoms and causes. Those who chose not to live together before marrying are likely to do so because of their commitment to the idea of, well... commitment. That they didn't live together first is generally a symptom of their commitment, not the cause of it.

There is encouragement from our work in schools, where our own surveys show that 88% of Year 10 students consider marriage to be a very special relationship. Lessons we've done confirm that the vast majority of young people aspire to an exclusive long term relationship. It seems to be the ideal that people want, even if the world around them, particularly family, is populated by people who live differently.

This survey may not change many minds, but it might encourage some to believe that marriage is the very best way of living out a relationship.

What Matters Now

Seth Godin asked over 70 writers and thinkers to share an idea and then published it as an ebook which you can download for free here.
I downloaded it a couple of days ago. Very inspiring indeed.

Girls and body image

Half of secondary school girls considering cosmetic surgery, Guides study finds.

This new study for Girl Guides found that 46 per cent of girls aged 11 to 16, and 50 per cent of girls aged 16 to 21 would consider cosmetic surgery to make themselves thinner or prettier. And 42 per cent of girls aged 11 to 16 were controlling to excess what they eat to stay slim.

What was particularly concerning was that the impact of negative body image seemed to be happening even before puberty. While 60 per cent of 7 to 9-year-old girls said that they were very happy with their appearance, the figure dropped to 27 per cent for 10 and 11-year-old girls. Which suggests that by the time we first meet them in secondary school at Year 7, about three quarters of girls are already uncomfortable about the way they look.

Just to explain the apparent mild fixation with body image on this blog, we're working on a new project for schools that addresses this area. More news soon.