03 January 2012

Lessons for London (from Bosnia)

a unique field experiment involving Muslim and Catholic students in Bosnia-Herzegovina suggests one avenue for building emerging states: The existence of integrated civic institutions such as schools, the study finds, helps foster greater collaboration across ethno-religious lines ... 
In the study, students from an integrated school were willing to make financial contributions to the public good that were as much as three times larger than the contributions made by students from segregated schools, among other effects. The results appear in a paper published this week in the journal Science, co-authored by MIT political scientist Fotini Christia. (MIT News)
My take on the London riots came down to schools. If religions and social classes don't mix when they are kids then they probably never will. Need any more evidence that faith schools are a terrible terrible idea?

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