Or at least, that is what I believe. Many make fun of, or hold incorrect stereotypical views of, people that are different from them. Sometimes, it's more severe that.
In no place is this more evident than when it comes to people faiths, and their beliefs. Especially in a post 9/11 society, in North America, many view people of Islamic faith in a poor light. This is quite simply ridiculous.
Now I do not intend to get on my high horse and say that my education was in any ways better than that of anybody else. But I did have the experience of attending a Provincially funded Catholic school in Ontario.
Every year, we took a class on Religion. It was often viewed as an easier course, but enjoyable, and I learned some things about my faith.
But what I will forever thank the Catholic School system for, is the opportunity that I received in the 11th Grade. A MANDATORY class in World Religions.
Now I won't claim that I am by any means an expert in World Religions, but I would say that the course I took helped me to understand the differences and similarities between the various faiths in the world, and in some cases, I saw things that I thought were more appealing than that of my own faith. It was a higher aged course, so it was fairly in depth, and I came out of the class with a much greater understanding of the world. For that, it will always be looked upon as one of the best courses I ever took in high school.
I want to propose the idea here that this type of course should be mandatory for ALL high school students. It is not an overly difficult course, so it wouldn't hurt averages heading into University, and as a student who needed an obscene amount of prerequisite courses heading into University, it did not in any way interfere with my ability to take those classes.
And I'm a more knowledgeable, and I think better, person for it.
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