The attitudes of British Buddhist teens towards school and Religious Education

Abstract

To ascertain the relative contributions towards affinity for education made by being Asian and being Buddhist, a quantitative study explored, for teen Buddhists growing up in Britain, attitudes to their school learning environment with particular reference to Religious Education (RE). A variety of attitude statements concerning school and RE were rated for levels of agreement using postal and online surveys for 417 self-identifying Buddhists aged between 13 and 20. Asian ethnicity was more important than being Buddhist for happiness in school, liking fellow pupils, feeling school was a preparation for life and thinking teachers did a good job. Being Buddhist was more important than Asian ethnicity for respecting teachers, perceiving the emancipatory role of education and ability to handle study stress. Attitudes towards RE were positively related to being Buddhist generally, and specifically to the practices of bowing to parents, meditating and reading scripture, but inversely related to temple attendance.

Keywords:

• Buddhism
• education
• teenagers
• religious education
• attitudes

Notes

1. The keywords included the words: arhat (Buddhism), Buddhism, Buddhism Theravada, Buddhist, Buddhist meditation, Burmese Buddhist temple, Dhammakaya meditation, Dhammakaya movement, Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, FWBO, Gautama Buddha, interbeing, Karma Kagyu, Mahayana, merit (Buddhism), New Kadampa Tradition, Order of Interbeing, Samatha, Soka Gakkai International SGI, Theravada, Theravada Buddhism, Theravada Buddhist, Tibetan Buddhism, Triratna Buddhist Community, Vietnamese Family of Buddhism, Vipassana, Vipassana meditation, Zen, Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhism in Bangladesh, Buddhahood, Diamond Way Buddhism, Buddha’s Dharma, Pure Land Buddhism, Buddha’s Light International Association.

2. Buddhist teens were significantly less likely (χ² = 14.9, p < .001; χ² = 44.5, p < .001) to agree that ‘adults do not respect young people’ (31%) and ‘adults to do not listen to young people’ (40%) than religiously undifferentiated teens (47, 65%).

3. Heritage Buddhists were significantly less likely (χ² = 11.1, p < .001) to agree that ‘adults do not respect young people’ (23%) than convert Buddhists (40%).

4. Heritage Buddhists were significantly more likely (χ² = 43.7, p < .001) to agree that they ‘have respect for those in authority’ (69%) than convert Buddhists (34%). Early teen Buddhists were significantly more likely (χ² = 10.6, p < .01) to agree that they ‘have respect for those in authority’ (62%) than Buddhists in their late teens (46%).