It couldn't be put off any longer. I have started the next RE assignment. There are three 'tasks' to be done for the course. The first was an easy form-filling and research exercise, and I could choose from a variety of options for the second. Most of those options entailed planning a series of RE lessons, either on paper or as a 25 slide-long power point (I don't know any child who would be awake at the end of that sort of lesson). As our RE-centred half term has been and gone, I went for the essay option. So I have to write 2500 words on 'Where do people look for guidance on how to live their lives?' Not too bad a focus, but it has to relate to Hinduism and Humanism. I know that the Open University has a '10% either way' policy on word-counts, but don't know the policy for the RE course. I have a feeling that 183 words won't cut it, though.
I have plundered my bookshelves and found a surprising amount of relevant material. (I'd forgotten that I was given a copy of the Bhagavad Gita by a random guy in town - he obviously knew which path I would follow better than I did...) I have read chunks of The God Delusion and managed not to hurl it across the room. I have been mightily side-tracked on the internet and got caught up in a discussion on 'Do people only do good things because of religion?' on a Humanist website. 'You don't have to be religious to be a good person,' said someone. 'In the absence of a god to please, would you become a thief or murderer?' I know one boy who probably would be. Actually, he manages to believe in God and still pilfer anything lying around in the classroom, so I'm not sure how he's going to square that with Him Upstairs.
Anyway, I have made a start. The first paragraph's been written, and I always find that the most difficult. I am surrounded by piles of books with post-it notes sticking out of them. I have various bits of paper with pink highlighting. So, really, I should be working. I have a counselling assignment due on June 16th, which is about relating two newspaper articles on depression to our text books. (As one article is from The Mirror, I've kind of written that off as deeply suspect already.)
Tomorrow (which never comes, I know) I will carry on. They say that if you get stuck, you should just write anything and it'll get you in the right frame of mind for working. I will start by typing 'I will never volunteer for anything, ever again.'
I have plundered my bookshelves and found a surprising amount of relevant material. (I'd forgotten that I was given a copy of the Bhagavad Gita by a random guy in town - he obviously knew which path I would follow better than I did...) I have read chunks of The God Delusion and managed not to hurl it across the room. I have been mightily side-tracked on the internet and got caught up in a discussion on 'Do people only do good things because of religion?' on a Humanist website. 'You don't have to be religious to be a good person,' said someone. 'In the absence of a god to please, would you become a thief or murderer?' I know one boy who probably would be. Actually, he manages to believe in God and still pilfer anything lying around in the classroom, so I'm not sure how he's going to square that with Him Upstairs.
Tomorrow (which never comes, I know) I will carry on. They say that if you get stuck, you should just write anything and it'll get you in the right frame of mind for working. I will start by typing 'I will never volunteer for anything, ever again.'
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