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7.7 Educational ObligationsVersion 1.1 January 2019                             (Previous Version) These are the questions we ask in the introduction (Section 0.1.6 – paragraph 41): Is education a personal, a family or a political issue? What should we teach our children, and who should do it? Do we have a right or a duty to impart our values onto our children? Should we indoctrinate them or provide prescriptive moral education? What teaching methods are most effective? How effective are our current education systems? Should we focus education on job skills? Or on the glorious nation they are growing up in? Should we teach religion in schools or only in the home? Should we just teach the facts and let the children decide? What do we expect all adults to know? How much should we expect people in general to understand philosophy, science and history? How can we cater for people of different abilities? This chapter covers how society should promote and provide better education. It focuses on the general education of children and the public, rather than tertiary or specialist education for jobs. Most countries now have a working primary school system; many have only a partially functioning secondary school system. Many countries charge school fees; in others schooling is nominally free, compulsory and secular, which are admirable standards that frequently are not fully met. The problem is that most education, even in affluent democracies, as good as it is, is limited. Most school systems properly focus on the core skills of literacy and numeracy, adding basic science and some usually parochial history, topped up with cultural and sporting activities. Instruction in moral standards or values is either completely absent, missing much content, specifically religious or overly nationalistic. A few progressive schools teach ethics in primary, school but very few teach much philosophy. None show how science provides a comprehensive narrative of our origins, how we got to be as we are, and where the universe is apparently heading. Few provide an overview of long term global history that embellishes this global narrative. Some schools provide professional introductions to religion in general, but many push a specific religion. What we propose is not a radical restructuring of the school curriculum: we still need literacy and numeracy, cultural and sporting participation, and science and history. But we need a better understanding of a justifiable evidence based global narrative, and the realization that we base value choices on the realistic options available to us, then people are more likely to find meaning and purpose, and to choose fulfilling personal and political lives. We plan to look at how democracy can bring the best outcomes under the following headings:
After going through these topics, our current conclusions, as stated in the overview, are as follows: We need to foster increased understanding of these global beliefs: how we reach them through reason and evidence, clarifying the choices that reflect our values, exploring our universal narrative; by teaching children in and out of school, and promotion to adults, especially leaders, via further education and media.  more                                                            Statement 41 The following pages explain how we justify these conclusions.
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We acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of Country, throughout all colonised lands, and their connections to land, waters and community. We pay respect by giving voice to truth, values and social justice, acknowledging our shared history, and valuing the cultures of first nations peoples.
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