Blog #2 re: Religion in Schools: The Debate . . . & Library of Congress Artifact

With regard to "Religion in Schools: The Debate Heats Up 2009" and "Library of Congress Artifact," I do not believe that anyone should be made to swear allegiance to the American flag or to any other person or thing at school or at any meeting or event in the United States of America, a republic, a FREE country.

However, I do not see that a moment of silence at the beginning of the school day is teaching religion. Students and adults have the right to do anything that they want to do during this brief moment as long as they are silent. Do I pray? Sometimes, yes. Do my studentsw know whether or not I am praying? No, they do not. One can easily pray with one's eyes wide open, without folding of the hands or other traditional prayer gestures. To pray in front of my students would be for me to teach religion; that is something that, in my opinion, is a parental right/responsibility and one with which neither I nor the government (and school is an extension of the government) have the right to interfere.

Sometimes, during the moment of silence, I am going down my mental "to do" list. At other times, I am thinking about how to clear up some point of confusion for my students regarding the lesson from the day before. My point is that the moment of silence, in my opinion, teaches that people should be reflective; it does not teach religion. And, while it is not the schools' responsibility in a free republic to teach children religion or to teach them exactly what to think, it is the schools' responsibility to teach children to think, and the moment of silence give students and adults time to think about whatever they choose!

With that said, I must address the Texas State Board of Education's debate over whether or not discussing any weaknesses in Darwin's theory of evolution would lead to the teaching of creationism. My opinion is that questioning is one thing we teach in school. Without questioning the agreed upon scientific theories of the day leading to further experimentation, we might not realize today that the world is round instead of flat. Teachers do not need to teach religion, creationism or otherwise in public schools.

However, allowing students to question and experiment is part of what school is all about, or as C. Rogers points out (see link below), experiential learning is about allowing the learner to self-direct, to experience, and to make learning something that brings about "personal growth"; in my mind, the moment of silence and being able to question any theory or exercise one's right to pledge or not to pledge give the learner power over his/her own learning, personal changes, and personal growth.

http://tip.psychology.org/rogers.html