What rights do children have to freedom of thought and expression and to freedom of religion or belief? Are they the property of their parents, who should be free to mould them as they wish? Does the state have any duty to protect children from what it - and the majority of the population - see as warped views? If so, where do the powers of the state end - what protects us from totalitarianism? Is education part of the economic system, ensuring a supply of trained workers? Or is it a subversive process of training children in critical thinking, wherever that leads? Can any education about ideas and beliefs be objective - and if not, does it matter? Should children be brought up to respect and obey authority - or to mock and question it? When schools are being ‘contracted out’ to sponsors with religious and commercial interests, do we need safeguards to protect children from subtle or not so subtle indoctrination? What is the law - in the UK and elsewhere and internationally - on children’s rights and parents’ rights and the duties and powers of the school and the state? What should it be?
Philosopher Stephen Law and legal scholar Malcolm Evans debate this tricky topic, chaired by BHA Director of Public Affairs and Campaigns Pavan Dhaliwal.
