Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Teaching at Pagan High

FORT WORTH - APRIL 30:  Arlington Heights High...Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Let's say there was a pagan high school, sort of a real live Hogwart's; not an online thing, but a physical place, complete with campus.

1) What would you like to teach there?

and/or

2) What do you think should be taught there?

For me, I would teach biology. Not only is it my primary area of scientific interest, but in many ways it's the window on the world that has led me to paganism. For a nature-based pagan like myself, I think it's must-have knowledge, with insights between pagan spirituality and biological understanding running both ways. (Interestingly, my dad was a biology teacher until he retired, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.)

As for what should be taught, I think the following courses could be generally useful, almost regardless of one's pagan path:

--Meditation
--Divination
--Herbalism
--Phys Ed (sorely neglected by way too many pagans)
--Comparative Religion (a required course)
--Critical Thinking (another required course, equipping students to evaluate claims and seek out primary sources...the kind of thing we prize so greatly here at TC)

...and maybe a required Ethics class, although ethical values should be incorporated into every class, IMHO, so maybe a separate class wouldn't be necessary. Similarly, I think teaching tolerance would be part of the very fiber of the place--with so many different pagans running around, it would have to be.

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