Senate File 2136 was introduced this week by Senators Dennis Guth, Jeff Taylor, Jesse Green and Craig Johnson. The bill directs the Iowa Board of Education to adopt rules establishing course standards for elective Social Studies courses on the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old or New Testament of the Bible.
School districts will be authorized to offer and teach such a course to high school students if the district’s school improvement advisory committee recommends and the board of directors of the district approves the course.
The purpose of the course, according to the bill, must be to provide students with knowledge of biblical content, characters, poetry and narratives that are prerequisites to understanding contemporary society and culture, as well as to familiarize students with the contents, history, literacy style and structure and influence of the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old or New Testament of the Bible.
The state board’s rules also must include practitioner preparation and professional development requirements for practitioners employed by a school district to teach a course.
Yay
Thus is an excellent idea.
This brings to mind a question: could other religions ask for equal time? I am all for teaching the Judeo-Christian ideas that our government is founded upon.
I think it was a mistake to take the Bible out of school in the first place. However, I do not want an atheist teacher teaching the Bible.