No educated person believes the Adam and Eve myth nowadays, but it's surprising how many parents think that it's somehow fun to pass on this falsehood to their children...I would want to argue that the truth of evolution is more interesting and more poetic
Many people want to send their children to faith schools because they get good exam results, but they're not foolish enough to believe that it's because of faith that they get good exam results.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Parents may choose faith schools for their academic results, but they recognize that faith itself isn't the reason for those results.
In this quote, Richard Dawkins addresses the trend among parents to choose faith-based education for their children primarily due to the perceived academic superiority of these institutions. He suggests that while the success of these schools is often associated with their religious affiliation, parents understand that the underlying causes of academic performance are likely more complex and connected to various educational practices rather than the faith aspect itself.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about choosing schools, one might refer to this quote to highlight the motivations behind selecting faith schools.
More from Richard Dawkins
All quotes →If the history-deniers who doubt the fact of evolution are ignorant of biology, those who think the world began less than ten thousand years ago are worst than ignorant, they are the deluded to the point of perversity.
The population of the U.S. is nearly 300 million, including many of the best educated, most talented, most resourceful, humane people on earth. By almost any measure of civilised attainment, from Nobel prize-counts on down, the U.S. leads the world by miles.
When you make machines that are capable of obeying instructions slavishly, and among those instructions are 'duplicate me' instructions, then of course the system is wide open to exploitation by parasites.
Even if not a single fossil has ever been found, the evidence from surviving animals would still overwhelmingly force the conclusion that Darwin was right.
The bitter hatreds that now poison Middle Eastern politics are rooted in the real or perceived wrong of the setting up of a Jewish State in an Islamic region. In view of all that the Jews had been through, it must have seemed a fair and humane solution. Probably deep familiarity with the Old Testament had given the European and American decision-makers some sort of idea that this really was the historic homeland of the Jews.
Similar quotes
You should never read just for "enjoyment." Read to make yourself smarter! Less judgmental. More apt to understand your friends' insane behavior, or better yet, your own. Pick "hard books." Ones you have to concentrate on while reading. And for god's sake, don't let me ever hear you say, "I can't read fiction. I only have time for the truth." Fiction is the truth, fool! Ever hear of "literature"? That means fiction, too, stupid.
Continued adherence to a policy of compulsory education is utterly incompatible with efforts to establish lasting peace.
In nine months, a group of children left alone with a computer in any language will reach the same standard as an office secretary in the West.
We will ask two central questions throughout this course: 1. What difference does gender make? 2. For which women does it make a difference? Which women?
I now understand what Nelle Morton meant when she said that one of the great tasks in our time is to "hear people to speech." Behind their fearful silence, our students want to find their voices, speak their voices, have their voices heard. A good teacher is one who can listen to those voices even before they are spoken-so that someday they can speak with truth and confidence.
Education is all a matter of building bridges.