Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Is this censorship, pray tell?


This is the last entry you can comment on for the first half of February.

What do you think of the policies toward prayer in American (public) schools?  What should the role of religion be in an educational setting?  What limits should freedom of speech have on school grounds?

2 comments:

  1. The following is Margarita's comment:

    I personally agree with the policies toward prayers in American public schools. As the author already stated in the article “a student generally has, or should have, the right to pray or disdain praying -- whether or not her profession of faith or skepticism offends other students, parents, or school officials. Speaking for school and state, officials have no rights; “everybody has the right to choose what they want to believe in. However, if school officials, teachers or any other adults working in the school force the students pray, they will directly take this right from them. Moreover, over 80 percent of Americans are Christians, but there are also the other 20 percent, which are made of atheists, agnostic,Islam and other religions. According to the article, the High School in Cranston had an 8-foot-high prayer mural on the wall in the school auditorium until Jessica Ahlquist sued them and made them remove it. Most likely, the High School officials forgot about the other 20 percent or they simply didn’t care about their religion, because there are the minority.
    On school grounds, the limits of freedom of speech should be less strict as they are in American public schools right now. As written in the article "not right to prevent somebody from saying something," is in my opinion a true statement. A.M. from the article just wants to share her belief with her classmates and there is nothing wrong with that because the students have still left the option to choose what they believe in.

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  2. This comment on comment is a response to Margarita’s comment.

    I remember when I lived in the U.S. we recited the Pledge of Allegiance every morning after listening to the anthem and facing the flag of the United States, each with their right hand over their heart. Although most of my classmates were not Americans (I lived in a neighborhood inhabited mostly by families that had come for work-related reasons that lasted only a few years), each student took part in this routine and no one protested. Now that I look back on it, it seems pretty odd that even individuals which were not from the U.S. were expected to take part, and even more peculiar that everyone took part anyway, even though this custom is not mandatory. If I went back now, even though I would stand for the anthem, as it is common courtesy to do so, I would probably not recite the pledge.

    I completely agree with Margarita in her opinion on the freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Students should not be restricted in their beliefs or their opinions as long as they use this power responsibly and do not offend and confine others’ in the process. I believe that it is in school, the small version of society in which we grow up, that we are supposed to be prepared for ‘what is out there’, not only in our knowledge but also in our actions and approaches to the beliefs and opinions of others. If in school we experience that some should comply with practices involving religion or nationality that they are not part of, then we will see no problem in it in later life. Because of this, I do not believe it to be fair to incorporate mandatory religious, patriotic, political and other habits based on personal beliefs into the educational system.

    I also want to point out that what the school officials did to A.M. in Craryville was, in my opinion, extremely inconsiderate and not to mention restricting towards her beliefs. This case, unlike the one in Rhode Island, shocks me a lot more. Unlike the case at Rhode Island where the students were not forced to believe anything, the authorities explicitly censored the belief of A.M. (as it was also mentioned had been done in the school newspaper at Hazelwood). This, to me and evidently Margarita as well, seems unfair, because she was not forcing her beliefs on anyone but was just expressing them.

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