By Kyle McCaskey

Renewed interest in a Bible as Literature class will bring two sections of the course to Derby High School for the 2011 school year.

The course had previously been approved by the Board of Education, and has been taught at the high school before. It will be a semester-long, elective class through the English department. Ed Belsan will teach the course.

Pat Knott, instructional coordinator for language arts/reading, said she does not foresee any conflicts of using a religious text in a classroom setting.

"I do not," she said. "It is totally from a literature perspective."

Knott said the Bible is "great literature" for teaching, and can demonstrate several genres to students, such as poetry and essay forms.

A donation of $1,500 by John Cooper will update materials for the course. A four-person committee reviewed textbooks for the class, including Belsan.

Thirty-six copies of the English standard version of the Holy Bible will be purchased for the course, totaling $287. The same number of copies of A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible will also be purchased, totaling $773.

Along with shipping and handling costs, the total material bill will come in at $1,151, leaving about $350 in donated funds remaining.

While there are no immediate plans to use hardware or software for the class outside of what is readily available at DHS, there is interest in using devices such as eReaders or iPads should funding or grants become available.

User Comments

• good lord

  "This nonsense isn't about teaching. It's just another way for the true believers to preach to our children at the expense of other educational needs. How about a few more real LITERATURE courses? How about theatre? How about music? How about restoring some of the things we've lost to these insane budget cuts rather than creating another venue for evangelicals to try to convert our children? Fortunately, I'm not in that district. If my kids were, I'd have them out of there in a heartbeat before they start requiring circumcisions."

  Posted by Don Elwell on May. 9, 2012

• what happened to seperation of church and state?

  "the bible should not be brought into schools. that money should be put towards classes that are being cut. "

  Posted by sara on Jul. 25, 2011