But why shouldn't children be taught yoga?!

[ChiroCatholic]

Hi, I have a follow-up question about the response Ms. Arnold gave to the concern about teaching yoga in gym class.
Michelle Arnold:

Presuming that what is being taught is physical postures and not a non-Christian Eastern spirituality…

…then what’s wrong with it for children, in addition to adults? I don’t even do yoga, but I think it would be a great thing to teach children. Improving flexibility, posture, re-directing their energy into physical poses… why not?

Why should the school tell the parents about the yoga any more than if they tell the parents they’re doing scooters or dodge ball or dancing that day? I just don’t follow this logic at all.

(This is all asuming, of course, no spirituality is being taught along with it, as you specified.)

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

One of the difficulties about yoga is that many practitioners and teachers do include non-Christian or quasi-Christian Eastern spirituality in their practice of and teaching of yoga. An adult Catholic, formed well in his faith, who wishes to use the physical postures for exercise purposes is able to politely ignore any instructions that are at odds with his faith and participate solely in the physical exercise. A child does not have that same level of formation or discernment.

As for the school, it has a responsibility to present curriculums to the parents. It would be best if permission was sought for controversial curriculums like yoga, but at the very least parents should know ahead of time that it will be taught and allowed to opt out their child if it violates their wishes for their child’s education. Since this school apparently demonstrated indifference, at best, to parents of children in the yoga class, it is safe to assume that a similar indifference to religious conviction might be present in the teaching of the course and that more than physical postures will be passed along to six-year-olds.