wolfhnd » January 25th, 2018, 7:32 pm wrote:When people speak of the need for a well educated population in a democracy I get the feeling they think they are in the majority. The U.S. constitution was carefully crafted to avoid the tyranny of the majority. Included in that concept is the freedom of religious observance. I doubt very much that the issue of the rights of children were seriously entertained.
Not necessarily well educated; just informed as to the makeup of their own society - the one they're responsible for electing representatives to govern.
No, children had no rights in the 18th century. Nor did indentured servants, slaves, natives, women or men without property.
The US constitution was carefully crafted to preserve the privilege of the privileged. Over time, it had to be amended because the majority demanded changed; eventually, it was amended so much that the framers probably wouldn't recognize it. So what? They're dead and you're not - you're affected by what your fellow citizens decide, and the forefathers are not. Besides, they made the amending formula, knowing that things must change.
The problem with Dennett's suggestion is that it does not deal with the complexity of rights and their conflicts.
I didn't think it was his job to do that. It's yours. It's every citizen's.
As I have tried to point out it is impossible to teach most children religious diversity and tolerance without at least to some degree leading them towards atheism.
For my part, I came to atheism directly through reading the bible.
I also went to school during the ecumenical mid-20th century, when there was quite a lot higher degree of religious tolerance and lower level of fear and loathing than there is now. And we were okay with that; commerce, transport, education and energy generations all worked, even while people went to different churches and celebrated their holy days in different ways.
Do you sincerely believe it's better to have bigotry and strife than to lead children
some way toward atheism - with the option to reject it?
Which is of course Dennett's religion of choice.
You know better than this.
Teaching children is to some degree always indoctrination because for most of them evidence and reason are skill sets they have not attained.
Have you met any children? The single most annoying trait they all have in common (besides singing in septum-cracking voices) is the tendency to ask awkward questions. Adults generally respond with some well-reasoned argument like: "Because I said so!" In fact, all humans come with the native ability to reason, and it takes five to ten years to brow-beat it out of them. That's why the owners so desperately want to control their sources of information.
Most likely it is not until people reach their mid to late 20s that they have the experience to contemplate such complex topics as rights and obligations.
If that were so, you shouldn't let them vote, drink, drive or bear arms until age 30.
But it
isn't so. It takes ten years of independence to divest oneself of the mental shackles imposed by early indoctrination, so as to regain the power of reason.