God and the Public Schools
A thoughtful lady from Ridgeway, South Carolina, published a letter in my morning paper informing me that "when we told God we didn't need Him in school, we invited Satan right on in." To prove how bad Satan can be when let loose in schools she mentioned the senseless killings in an Amish school in Pennsylvania.
I thought the evil was done by a man who had lost his mental moorings. None of the gossip surrounding the Amish incident indicated he was a Satan worshipper, but many people believe if religious exercises are not permitted in schools God can't even slip into a classroom to comfort a child who is anxious about a difficult exam or calm a youngster who came close to a brush-up in the schoolyard at recess. It's hard to imagine He would be powerless to respond to a child's distress.
It's one thing to hold religious exercises in, say, a Methodist Church where it's almost certain the worshippers are in agreement with the tenets of Methodism. It's quite another to hold such exercises in a school that is supported by people of several faiths, or none at all. The church is not supported by public money, except by way of certain tax exemptions, while the government school relies almost entirely on tax money. If a churchgoer has a falling out he can take his person and his money to another church. The same freedom does not apply to school children.
Public schools require the attendance of most children - who come from a wide variety of households. Some are intensely religious. Others are ambivalent about it. A few are agnostic or atheist. A great many taxpayers are not willing to see their tax dollars used to underwrite religious training of any kind in this distinctly secular setting. Educators agreed it opened a can of worms to arrange for formal prayers and other exercises so they decided the public schools would stick to secular training of young people and leave the sectarian training to parents and church schools. Well-meaning people call this "kicking God out of schools." They added, "When He left, violence erupted."
It was not a paucity of religion that caused the violent eruption at the public school at Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18th, 1927. No public school violence since has matched its toll; 45 killed, 58 injured. The perpetrator was an irate school board member who opposed a property tax which put him in a financial bind causing him to lose his farm through foreclosure. Andrew Kehoe snapped and reaped his vengeance with explosives.
In those days, and until recent decades, pupil violence was constrained by strict discipline. Fear of punishment and/or embarrassment kept most of the young people in line. Relaxation of discipline in schools (and far too many households) is certainly a contributor to modern behavioral problems Also, allowing costumes so casual that pupils often dress as if going to the beach hardly contributes anything toward a serious educational atmosphere. Add the heavy influence of television and other entertainment media and the behavior cues overwhelm any mere teacher's attempt to make the classroom curriculum more appealing than, say, MTV.
"Ah, but if religion is excluded from the public schools how can we teach the children morals?" asks the concerned citizen, overlooking the fact that the various religious sects do not have exclusive management rights of moral principles. Under present educational guidelines moral principles can be taught without fear of serious legal action by ACLU or anyone else. Some years ago in a radio interview Mr. Harry S. Dent, Sr., a former White House Counsel, made that point very clear to me. "There is no reason morals can't be taught in school," he said. At the time there was a considerable stir about religious instruction being barred from government schools and Mr. Dent's opinion on the matter was highly regarded. Unfortunately, the message didn't sink in with the general public.
We're way overdue on this, but how about a strong effort to beef up the public school curriculum with some spellbinding lessons on moral truths? Just making the point against thievery of any kind can be effectively done without once mentioning the Decalogue. Lessons on property rights, human relations, and much more could be added to the lesson plan - especially in the lower grades - and the level of pupil discipline could be brought up several notches without seriously wounding any young person's self-consciousness.
If anyone can offer a sound argument against strengthening discipline and teaching morals in public schools I would certainly like to hear it!
John Wrisley, October 19th, 2006