A state-funded class on Biblical literature and history
CONYERS — A state-funded class on Biblical literature and history may be coming to two Rockdale County high schools in the 2007-08 school year.
Heritage High School and Rockdale County High School have asked Rockdale County Public Schools for permission to offer Literature and History of the Old Testament Era and Literature and History of the New Testament Era together as a yearlong English/Language Arts elective, RCPS Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Dr. Craig Dowling said.
According to state Department of Education documents detailing the curriculum of the course, the focus will be on “the literary style and structure of the Old (and New) Testament; the customs and cultures of the peoples and societies recorded in (the books); and the influence of (the books) upon law, history, government, literature, art, music, customs, morals, values and culture.”
Dowling said the two courses are designed to be taught as yearlong half-credit courses with Old Testament content being taught in the first semester and New Testament content being taught in the second semester.
Teachers certified in English or history will be eligible to teach the course, he said.
The school system is already in the process of reviewing the requests and evaluating existing teaching materials for the course, as the school system would with any other proposed course. However, the review process for this course will be a bit different, Dowling said, because there are no existing competing materials for what will be the main textbook for the course.
“This is the Bible, so students bring their own textbook to class,” he said. “What we will be looking at are what books or resources are available for public schools to teach Bible courses.
“What we’re reviewing here is the alignment of the standards to the material available, and we have to be very careful that we follow Constitutional law in what we teach and how we teach it,” he added.
Another important part of the review process, he said, is assessing each school’s goals as far as the course is concerned.
“We’ll ask why (the schools) want to teach this, where do (they) want to go with it and how does this fit our broader objectives?” Dowling said.
RCHS Principal Cynthia Hudson said she chose to request the course along with other courses based on a desire to offer RCHS students a variety of courses from which to choose their electives.
“RCHS plans on adding the Bible literature course along with additional courses such as kinesiology and journalism,” she said. “Teachers were asked if there were any additional courses they would be interested in teaching and (these courses) are only a few in which teachers expressed interest in providing instruction.”
Heritage Principal Greg Fowler was not available for comment.
Dowling said once the review process is complete, those participating in the review will make a recommendation to him, which he will then bring to RCPS Superintendent Dr. Samuel King. King will inform the board of education of any decisions made, although the addition of the course will not require board approval.
“Our board made the decision a couple of years ago that if the state approves a course it doesn’t have to come to them for approval (to be taught at the local level),” Dowling said.
Information regarding the course will be presented to the Rockdale County Board of Education at its work session Thursday.
The state Legislature approved the course in Biblical literature and history last year. The state Board of Education approved the course at its March 8 meeting.
The approval of the course makes Georgia the first state to offer and fund Bible-based classes for public schools statewide.
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Originally Posted by Nienna
It already said it WOULD be an elective.
