Abidemi Sanusi : Common sense column of the week

Common sense column of the week

It may be "discriminatory" for a Jewish/Catholic/Muslim school to prefer to employ Jewish/Catholic/Muslim teachers, but isn't it also reasonable? Isn't it fair and natural that a religious school should be free to prefer to admit children from the relevant faith, in order to maintain the ethos which is so important to its success as a school? By what morality are such things wrong?

I couldn't help it. For all the hullabaloo about faith schools and their supposed discrimination, I cannot help but wonder why no one had the guts to say what Charles Moore of the Telegraph wrote that is so bleedin' obvious. If the best school in my local area was a faith school, and they had a place for my child, yes, I would send my child there. And if the 'price' to pay is that he learns about other religions and is equipped with skills to live in a multifaith society, then so be it.

There is a reason they're called faith schools. Hint: they follow a particular ethos. If they are the best school in your local area and the faith thing irks you, there are worse things that could happen to your little darling. I should know; I was sent to boarding school at the age of nine.