EDU-330 Cultural Identifiers Topic Essay- Faithe PDF

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Cultural Identifiers

Cultural Identifier Topic Essay EDU-330 FAITHE MURRAY

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Part 1- Prayer in School I chose prayer in schools, because I feel as it is a very touchy issue going throughout this pandemic, as well as people should always have the right to pray if they choose to do so. Prayer is a God-given right, that should not be refused to any person. I have formed a deep connection through prayer, as it has carried me through many tough times throughout my life, when I felt like I had no one else to turn to. Throughout this time, I have built a lot of faith praying to God throughout all the trials and tribulations in my life. Social Justice involves every person, having equal political, economic, social responsibilities as well as rights. This also includes students, and their ability to give praise to their creator when they feel the need to, as well as to look to him for comfort in times of need. In this day, there is much commotion, as well as disease, plagues, and others, children must have one steady thing in their lives, and this, if allowed, could be prayer. While researching prayer in school, it was found that there are many historical events, that have significantly effected prayer happening in school. During the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, Catholics students, as well as other religious groups were sometimes whipped, beaten or even worse for not participating in prayers, as well as Bible reading (Ratvitch, 2018). The main event that is still upheld today, happening in 1962 when the Supreme Court banned school-sponsored prayer happening in public schools, due to the fact they said it violated the First Amendment (Ordonez, 2020). This means that the court removed prayer from the public school.

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The Supreme Court is allowing students to meet and pray on school grounds if they do so privately and are not trying to push their personal religions onto other students (Ordonez, 2020). When students do engage in prayer, they are not allowed to disrupt the schools educational mission, as well as their activities (2020). During the 19 th and 20th centuries, school prayer was challenged in court. This big case took place in 1873, and the main topic was prayer in schools. This case was The Board of Education of Cincinnati vs. Minor. This case upheld a school policy regarding Bible reading and prayer in the already remarkably diverse school system of Cincinnati Public Schools (Ravitch, 2018). 2020 has been and continues to be a very eventful year, but to top it off, it is also an election year. President Donald Trump has been on the campaign trail, addressing may issues, one of these being, students who do not feel they can safely pray in school. He recently held a meeting in the Oval Office with an assorted group of children from many different religions. These students, as well as teachers were there to commemorate a holiday, National Religious Freedom Day (Ordonez, 2020). This controversial issue could and will likely affect my future teaching career. My current location is a melting pot of many cultures, and religions. Teaching in the public school, I will be faced with all this as well as their parent’s beliefs. Some future students could be against prayer, and others could be on the other end, and feel they need to pray during the school day, and maybe even many times throughout the day. This issue could cause a lot of negativity in the future classroom, as well as stir up a lot of issues. As a teacher, it is particularly important to meet the needs of all students. In my future classroom, students will have the ability to do as they choose, if they would like to pray, they will be welcome to, if they choose not to, then they 2

will sit quietly, however, students will not be allowed to tease or discriminate either of these groups. As stated earlier, students can pray during non-instructional times, if they are not forceful to others to join them. Students can organize religious groups, organizations, parties, clubs, as well as being allowed to gather before and after school to pray. Students are also allowed to pray during observer “moments of silence”. Student religious activities are accorded to the same access to federally funded public secondary school facilities, as are students’ secular activities, per the Equal Access Act (2020). Part 2 I have found many articles which support the need for prayer in school, as well as why it was taken out, and the continuation of prayer being taken out of schools. If a student wants to pray, they should have the ability to do so during the appropriate times at school, vice versa, if a student does not want to pray, then they should not be required to do that either. While searching on the internet, the first article that popped up was “Trump Defends School Prayer. Critics Say He’s Got It All Wrong”. In this article, Trump states that the government must “never stand between the people and God”, and many times public schools too often stop students from praying and sharing their faith (Ordonez, 2020). Throughout this entire article, President Trump expresses numerous times that he just wants students, faculty, coaches, administration, etc. to be able to pray at school if they choose to. As of right now, students are only allowed to pray at school if they do so privately, and do not force it upon any others.

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Ordoñez, F. (2020, January 16). Trump Defends School Prayer. Critics Say He's Got It All Wrong. Retrieved October 01, 2020, from https://www.npr.org/2020/01/16/796864399/exclusive-trump-to-reinforce-protectionsfor-prayer-in-schools

In the second article, it reiterated what the first article stated about Trump and his plans to promote new guidelines on prayer in schools during an Oval Office event. However, this event will not introduce any new legal requirements, but it does outline existing legal precedents (Blad, 2020). In this article it states that school districts will now be required to annually certify to their local departments of educations that they have “no policy prohibiting participation in constitutionally protected prayer”; as well as having a process in place for fielding any complaints when the right to prayer has been violated (Blad, 2020).

Blad, E. (2020, January 17). What Trump's Action on School Prayer Means (and Doesn't Mean) for Students and Educators. Retrieved October 01, 2020, from https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/01/trump-school-prayer-ordermeans-students-educators.html

My third article titled “Prayer in Public Schools”, is in a question and answer format, and goes through the most common issues and questions regarding education and prayer. Throughout this reading, I learned that prayer in the Public-School sector is ruled unconstitutional most times. An example of this would be at Graduation Ceremonies, most athletic events, school assemblies, as well as teachers not being allowed to pray.

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Prayer in Public Schools. (n.d.). Retrieved October 01, 2020, from https://www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/religion-in-publicschools/prayer

Another article that was found is “History shows why school prayer is so divisive”. This article goes through the history of why this ruling was made, and the many other cases to try to get this ruling overturned. It also pointed out many good points as “today, all taxpayers have to pay for school prayer laws when these laws are challenged in court” (Ravitch, 2018).

Frank S. Ravitch Professor of Law & Walter H. Stowers Chair of Law and Religion. (2020, September 29). History shows why school prayer is so divisive. Retrieved October 01, 2020, from https://theconversation.com/history-shows-why-school-prayer-is-so-divisive94085

The final information that I obtained in my search was “School Prayer in The United States”. This article was able to give an overall outline of court battles, as well as a timeline of when all of this happened. However, what was different about this article, is it allowed for some public opinion on the subject.

School prayer in the United States. (2020, August 16). Retrieved October 01, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_prayer_in_the_United_States

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References

Blad, E. (2020, January 17). What Trump's Action on School Prayer Means (and Doesn't Mean) for Students and Educators. Retrieved October 01, 2020, from https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/01/trump-school-prayer-ordermeans-students-educators.html

Frank S. Ravitch Professor of Law & Walter H. Stowers Chair of Law and Religion. (2020, September 29). History shows why school prayer is so divisive. Retrieved October 01, 2020, from https://theconversation.com/history-shows-why-school-prayer-is-so-divisive94085

Ordoñez, F. (2020, January 16). Trump Defends School Prayer. Critics Say He's Got It All Wrong. Retrieved October 01, 2020, from https://www.npr.org/2020/01/16/796864399/exclusive-trump-to-reinforce-protectionsfor-prayer-in-schools

Prayer in Public Schools. (n.d.). Retrieved October 01, 2020, from https://www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/religion-in-publicschools/prayer

School prayer in the United States. (2020, August 16). Retrieved October 01, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_prayer_in_the_United_States

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