Michael Hand’s pithy and challenging essay (Hand, 2003) offers a neat, clear and powerful argument against ‘faith schools’. I am in considerable sympathy with Hand’s position. However, I think his argument can be strengthened, and weaknesses in it remedied or avoided. In this brief note, I offer some modest suggestions, which are intended as ‘friendly amendments’ to Hand’s argument.
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References
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Adler, J.A. (2002) Belief’s Own Ethics. Cambridge: MIT Press.
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Hand, M. (2003) ‘A philosophical objection to faith schools’, Theory and Research in Education1(1): 89– 99.
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Russell, B. (1957) Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays. London: George Allen & Unwin.
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Siegel, H. (1988a) Educating Reason: Rationality, Critical Thinking, and Education. London: Routledge.
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Siegel, H. (1988b) ‘Rationality and Epistemic Dependence’. Educational Philosophy and Theory20(1): 1– 6.
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Siegel, H. (1997) Rationality Redeemed?: Further Dialogues on an Educational Ideal. New York: Routledge.
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Siegel, H. (1998) ‘Knowledge, Truth and Education’, in D. Carr (ed.) Education, Knowledge and Truth: Beyond the Postmodern Impasse, pp. 19– 36, London: Rout-ledge.
