They're still not listening

Today, I received a letter from my MP that stated the following:
 

"It is often the case, at a time of change, that we can become very concerned that favoured subjects might be squeezed out. It is also a good idea to lobby for those things that matter to us, although we have to be careful that we do not resist change so much that we merely end up arguing for the status quo."

I find two things wrong with this statement. i) It's not just that my 'favoured subject' (RE) is being squeezed out, it's that it's a humanity but isn't being stated as one, and ii) my letter in no way argued merely for the status quo. 

I'm pretty sure that all of the RE teachers, students, heads and parents who are fighting for RE to be included in the English Baccalaureate aren't merely doing so for "status quo". I can't really speak on behalf of all other people fighting, but I know that myself and the RE teachers I'm involved with are doing so because we ourselves can see the real problem: RE is being excluded from its own sector. RE is a humanities subject, that's simple. But, of course, I don't want this to be a dictatorship, so I'll explain some other things to do with the letter that have done well to spark anger inside of me. 

Something more that was stated in the letter was:

 

"I accept that Religious Education, where it is taught well, can be extremely advantageous in making students think about some of the moral dilemmas that can confront us all and some of the issues which help shape conflicts and historic and geographic enmities." 

Now, I don't want to put words in the mouth of my MP, however, to state that RE can help to think about issues in Geography and History is a little irritating to me, as religion and the morals we learn about in RE shape the world today. History would be more than a little different if religion was different, you can't so much say this for physical Geography, but certainly the human aspect of it (which, I'll tell you for insight, is 75% of my GCSE Geography course). My MP's comment "where it is taught well" seems to me quite ironic. If RE isn't in the EBacc, there will be a significant drop in the uptake of GCSE RE, thus a lot less RE teachers needed, possibly a rise in redudancy of RE teachers and thus not as much 'good' RE there used to be. Maybe it's me (a future RE teacher) being paranoid, but I can see that happening pretty soon if RE's value continues to be ignored.

My MP goes on to say:

 

"I have to say that you are a very persuasive advocate for the subject and I was struck by the passion of your argument." 

 This passion, however, was unforunately not enough for my MP to agree to sign the EDM. He states: 

"I do not know if a petition is necessarily the best way forward, although I do understand that desire to feel that I have at least done something." 

He seems to 'understand' my desire to do something, but still won't agree to help me out in the way I asked. Yes, he said he will write to Gove for me, however Gove won't hear our opinions that the EDM should be signed by MPs or the passion we have for RE. He'll - or rather, his secretary'll - read about a year 11 student who wrote to their MP about RE and the EBacc, and he'll carry on to ignore the protest being put up by those who care.

 

They're still not listening.