Full Description
The education provided by Canada’s faith-based schools is a subject of public, political, and scholarly controversy. As the population becomes more religiously diverse, the continued establishment and support of faith-based schools has reignited debates about whether they should be funded publicly and to what extent they threaten social cohesion.
These discussions tend to occur without considering a fundamental question: How do faith-based schools envision and enact their educational missions? Discipline, Devotion, and Dissent offers responses to that question by examining a selection of Canada’s Jewish, Catholic, and Islamic schools. The daily reality of these schools is illuminated through essays that address the aims and practices that characterize these schools, how they prepare their students to become citizens of a multicultural Canada, and how they respond to dissent in the classroom.
The essays in this book reveal that Canada’s faith-based schools sometimes succeed and sometimes struggle in bridging the demands of the faith and the need to create participating citizens of a multicultural society. Discussion surrounding faith-based schools in Canada would be enriched by a better understanding of the aims and practices of these schools, and this book provides a gateway to the subject.
Contents
Discipline, Devotion, and Dissent: Jewish, Catholic, and Islamic Schooling in Canada, edited by Graham P. McDonough, Nadeem A. Memon, and Avi I. Mintz
Introduction Graham P. McDonough, Nadeem A. Memon, and Avi I. Mintz
Part A: Aims and Practices
1. The Jewish Day Schools of Canada Seymour Epstein
2. The Distinctiveness of Catholic Education Mario O. D'Souza, csb
3. Between Immigrating and Integrating: The Challenge of Defining an Islamic Pedagogy in Canadian Islamic Schools Nadeem A. Memon
Part B: Faith and Citizenship
4. Jewish Education, Democracy, and Pluralistic Engagement Greg Beiles
5. Canadian Catholic Schools: Sacred and Secular Tensions in a Free and Democratic Society J. Kent Donlevy
6. London Islamic School: Millstone or Milestone? Asma Ahmed
Part C: Dissent and Critical Thinking
7. The Changed Context for Jewish Day-School Education Alex Pomson and Randal F. Schnoor
8. Teaching Subject Matter That is Controversial among Catholics: Implications for Intellectual Growth in the Church Graham P. McDonough
9. A Canadian Islamic School in Perspective: A Critique of the “Moderate†and “Strong†Categories in Faith-Based Schooling Qaiser Ahmad
Conclusion
10. Diversity and Deliberation in Faith-Based Schools: Implications for Educating Canadian Citizens Avi I. Mintz
Glossary
The Contributors
Index
