Bill!,
Thanks, interesting story, and issue.
I've delayed commenting in the space for comments beneath the YAHOO! story. I
don't have anything well-formed to say.
But HERE I don't mind saying that only in the US would anyone think Yoga is not
a part of a spiritual and religious tradition.
If the Jois-trained teachers really teach it spiritually, then parents have
reason to be concerned, and I think school administrators have been too lax.
But let's consider: if the class were a class in comparative religion, then
religion would not be the subject taught, but a study or appreciation of
religions in world cultures, and maybe the histories of the religions and
cultures.
This would not step on the Establishment-Clause of the US Constitution, but
School Boards answerable to parents and taxpayers would still have jurisdiction
in deciding the appropriateness of that or any other subject.
I would not teach Yoga outside of a spiritual context, but I know it can be
done. Maybe this is what the schools thought they were getting from those
teachers.
The only way to settle the issue is to look critically at how the teachers
teach, and at what the students learn. Are students really being taught
Religion?, and practicing Religion during their Phys. Ed. time?
Maybe better to teach them T'ai Chi. ;-)
Can't teach Economics, because that is about the Almighty Dollar. ;-)
--Joe
> "Bill!" <BillSmart@...> wrote:
>
> The attached URL is to a story about a group of California parents suing
> their kid's school over a yoga class. The yoga is Ashtanga Yoga and I
> don't know anything about it. [snip]
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