Religious education

20th September 2002, 1:00am
This material might be used in Religious Studies GCSE options on prejudice, where the poem in particular might contribute to work on “Outsiders”. In the classroom it will need extra sensitivity, precisely because those pupils who might be imbued with the sorts of attitudes Reva Klein challenges may also view any attempt by teachers to challenge their views as a sort of school establishment PC exercise. To overcome this, some work on facts and feelings might help to elucidate how we handle both. But the effervescence of the topic will still spill over and will need handling with care. Smart kids will continue to challenge how the vast programme of house and road building which is being trumpeted by Government as inevitable can be harmonised with any but the smallest figures for immigration. When the diminishing island resource versus desperate human need is brought into focus, an informed debate might begin, or we might just have an exchange of prejudice.