Prayer In Public Schools Case Study

forward to their friends. The goal of the petition was to urge President Bush to try to get prayer reinstated in the public schools across America. Rather than respond to the email, I started thinking. That's always a bad sign, "he asks himself why, and how could something as innocuous as reinstating prayer in public school possibly be a bad thing?" Here was his thought which was equal to the Internet, "First, exactly whose prayers are we going to reinstate? Here in Alabama, they'd likely want some unholy Southern Baptist view. In New York or Mass, you might get something quite different. Overall, I doubt that we're smart enough to be able to bring prayer back into public schools without also denigrating the religious sensibilities of someone such as the 20% of Catholics in the South. Since the public schools are for everyone, we have an obligation to provide an environment that supports all children not just those of the majority. So, if you can't include everyone, then school prayer should remain private. Second, he stated, the mission of the public schools is to provide education. It's the mission of one's family to …show more content…
For example, here in Alabama, children must bring their own pens, pencils, soap, and toilet paper to school because the school budget cannot meet the demands. Ok, he said, let's have all the kids say a couple "Hail Mary's" at the beginning of each day. Guess what the kids would still need pens and paper, and the classes would still be overcrowded. Ultimately, what is the tangible effect of prayer in public school? I would guess that it would make some kids feel better, some would feel worse, and some wouldn't care one way or the other. In total, it would be much like the effect of the Pledge of Allegiance kids would muddle through it each day, parroting the words, while never getting the point of what all the fuss was