You know what's an easy thing to do in the political world? Promise to allow Bible-related classes in public schools. Harder to do in the real world of education and local government? Actually crafting and implementing an acceptable curriculum that teaches about religion without indoctrinating students by promoting religious views.
That's the challenge the Tennessee Education Board recently tackled, laying down guidelines for schools after the legislature required the state to create just such a course that counties will be allowed to offer as an elective.
State officials said they tried to develop principles that are safe from court challenges…
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The guidelines do not recommend a textbook and require that teachers make literature from other religions available to students. The course covers biblical readings, how historical figures such as President Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. used the Bible, and the timeline of biblical events, among other topics.
Principles and guidelines are a start (you can read the recommendations here), but students' religious liberties are violated not in board meetings but in actual classrooms, when school officials or teachers overstep boundaries of neutrality and secular purpose, regardless of the curriculum guidelines.Whether school districts are "safe" or not from court challenges will depend entirely on what happens in individual classrooms around Tennessee, as teachers – who deserve some training at least – try to implement state policy.
