Educating for Pluralism, or Against It? Lessons from Texas and Québec on Teaching Religion in the Public Schools

This article examines two recent sets of public school curriculum standards—the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), and Québec’s Ethics and Religious Culture program (ERC)—and their implications for religion and education. I argue that the ERC and the TEKS constitute radically different responses to growing religious diversity, as well as radically different answers to two crucial questions: how religion should be taught in public schools, and who should decide. This article compares and evaluates the two sets of curriculum standards and argues that the approach taken in Québec, though imperfect, is far superior to that taken in Texas.