'For all the differences shown up in UK school league tables, I honestly think that the UK has a more equitable system of state education.'

Helen Angove wonders whether she wants her daughter educated at home or abroad

When my friend was an idealistic and arguably somewhat militant teenager growing up in a conservative small town in the States, she happened to notice that her high school library did not have a copy of the Bible.

This seemed odd, as it was well stocked with religious texts such as the Qu'ran and the Upanishads. So my friend bought a copy of the Bible, and presented it to the library as a leaving gift to the school before she graduated.

The gift was refused - and when my friend persisted, the matter was taken up with the Vice-Principal, who threatened to make it "very difficult for her to graduate" if she insisted on trying to make the gift.

It took another friend, (who majored in psychology) to help us unravel the mystery of the school's inconsistent attitude.

In the mind-set of those in charge in this school, texts such as the Upanishads and the Qu'ran would have been considered (and let us be charitable and assume that this is a subconscious classification) to be "mythology", whereas the Bible would have been mentally classified as "religious truth."

The First Amendment protects the separation of religion and state - hence, no Bibles in the school library.

We have come across extremely little of this kind of conservative small-minded Christianity among the people we've come to know well since we've been in the States. But there is no doubt it exists.

Survey

According to a 1999 survey, 50% of Americans believe the Biblical account of creation is the most likely explanation of how we came to be, to the exclusion of belief in evolution.

It seems that religion has quite a strong effect on education in the US. In 1999 the Kansas Board of Education made the teaching of evolutionary theory "optional" in Kansas schools. The whole evolution v. creation debate remains a live and controversial issue in US education.

I almost wonder whether, paradoxically, religion has more effect on schools in the US (despite its "separation of church and state" mindset) than it does in the UK (where daily worship is a compulsory part of the curriculum).

This kind of thing does lead me to wonder whether I want my daughter to be educated in this country. At least children in the UK will almost certainly be taught both the creation story and evolution.

Of course, they may not be given the intellectual tools to help them reconcile the two world views. I think many people in the UK give up on Christianity because they are led to think that faith in God necessarily involves a literal belief in the Genesis story - which, inevitably, they can't reconcile with evolution.

I don't hear good things about schools in the US. The consensus of opinion among my circle of friends is that there are perhaps one or two good local public (i.e. state) schools in this area, but that the rest are fairly dreadful.

Value

This is despite the fact that this is largely an affluent, middle class area. The reason, of course, is that many of the parents who place a high value on education send their children to private schools (of which there are many). The public schools, therefore, are deprived of all-important parental support.

Not that things are necessarily better in less well off areas. Schools are largely funded by Property Tax and therefore, in areas where there is less tax income (i.e., lower income areas) the schools suffer. Funding per student in a more affluent area can be almost double the amount in a less well off area. For all the differences shown up in UK school league tables, I honestly think that the UK has a more equitable system of state education.

But its not all bad news. One friend, who does have the financial option of private school, has deliberately chosen a public school for her child, because she went to look at it and decided it was a good school.

And another friend has recently removed her daughter from private school and started sending her to public school, because of her conviction that it is important to support the state education system. So maybe there's hope.

Helen Angove is an Anglican priest from the UK, who moved to California in July 2003.

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