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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 8051
[Schools/Ed]
Date Posted:
9/21/2003
8:54:47 am EDT
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Views: 8,443
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Comments: 10
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Cody Wyo. Schools Issue New Religion Policy
Author: AP Source: The Casper Star-Tribune
Title: CODY SCHOOLS ISSUE NEW RELIGION POLICY
The {Cody, Wyoming} school district has developed a new religion policy in response to outcry last winter over a holiday program at Livingston School that included the word ''Christmas.''
Under the new guidelines, prayer is allowed in school if it is not disruptive and is not required by teachers or other employees. Religious leaders may also not lead a prayer at graduation or other ceremonies.
Holiday displays and programs can include religious symbols but must be temporary, require no participation in religious activities and include diverse religious symbols. Religious music and themes cannot dominate holiday programs.
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Community Thoughts: There are 10 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| I Wonder.... | Sep 22nd. at 1:49:25 am EDT |
by OceanicGold (Keansburg, NJ, USA) - wc_xemail
If students in my state of New Jersey had the creation beleifs of every religion in my area taught to them along with evolution how long the school day would actually be.
It's easy for fundies to push an agenda in a state like Wyoming where I am sure religious diversity exists, but where people who are non-christian make up a very small minority. It is clearly an attempt to use schools as a means of re-enforcing their community's majority opinions.
In my state however minorities almost make up the majority. Some complain about it but I know as long as it is this way their will probably always be seperation between church and state though individual teachers may personally decide to disregard this.
Unfortunately public schools were originally founded by a lobby of powerful protestant Christians in the late 1800's to "indoctrinate" the children of Irish immigrants with the protestant work ethics and beleifs. The fact that catholic schools make up the largest and oldest system of private schooling was actually a reaction of this past attempt to use public schooling as a means of changing the religious beleifs of a minority group.
It is distressing to hear the experiances of some practicing or curious pagans being reprimanded or punished in the public school system. Ironically when I was in school I was a bible carrying born again christian at one point and received much the same ridicule and teachers blaming me for it rather than teaching tolerance. For the majority of teachers and certainly for many administrative personel they desire to enforce socialization to majority norms. If most people are fundamentalists, they teach conformity and enforce it. If most people are lapsed catholic agnostics with vague beleifs, or cosmopolitan relativists, or liberals even they teach again conformity to that community's values.
It seems that most school administrators beleive that success or failure (at least materially and professionally) for their students depends more on the degree of conformity to norms than to the academics themselves. This is pretty close to the literal rhetoric of phychologists who write about social adjustment in abstracts for educational psychology. From what I have experienced in the "real" world, it does seem that conformity is rewarded in many cases professionally, so I am sure that most teachers and administrators who enforce conformity and limit self expression truely beleive they are helping to make people "well-adjusted"
Whereas some here see clearly the threat of the fundamentalists, I see this as the deeper threat of any large institutional attempt at educating people to fit the status quo of whatever community children happen to find themselves in. Wording like religious symbols permitted unless "dysruptive" is not nebulous at all, but rather precisely states that one's religious expression or idently is solely dependent on whether or not the community representing the norm feels threatened enough to react in a manner considered to be a "disruption". Thus a teacher wearing a cross might not elicit an irrational response from a small community in Wyoming that could be termed a disruption, but a pentagram might elicit a reaction from the same community that might be termed disruptive.
Thus the rights of minority religions or even ethnic and political ideas might not be the same under this law, for instance I knew one woman from south dakota that was mostly white but distantly related a native american tribe from the area. Her high school was mostly white, she chose to wear a feather in her hair. Hatred of Native Americans in that community caused classes to be disrupted on a regular basis by the unfortunate drama of her being the target of that hatred for wearing that feather. Being a blue eyed blonde, real native american students weren't impressed nor ready to embrace her. The reaction of adults was to discipline her, not to teach tolerance of non-conformity.
With all of the rhetoric teachers and school officials make about peer pressure, unwittingly it seems that if anything they are enforcers for peer pressure.
We do what we can do, we can try to keep majority religions from trying to use the school system to enforce their agendas. But in the end administrators will probably always infringe on the rights of students who are not "fitting in" for any reason. They will blame weaklings who are bullied for being weak. They will blame openly gay students for being bashed more than the bashers. They will blame sexually active and experimental female students for being raped or ostracized with lies about her reputation rather than the rapist or the gossips. They will not teach tolerance normally unless the prevailing values of the community are unusually diverse and tolerant, that school boards were elected that reflected that tolerance who in turn hired administrators and teachers that don't want to stomp out non-conformity and just focus on academics.
Such communities are rare nation-wide. It is a sad irony that in a time of life when most people are trying to find their own identity that so many forces are being brought to bear to narrow that search for identity to probably a few youth oriented subcultures and ostracized people are looked at as potential school shooters because they are treated cruely for being different. This may be the real struggle beyond merely keeping fundamentalists from invading schools, we need to also take a stand in our communities to defend non-conformity even of people who we cannot relate to and might not even personally like.
Perhaps "a wrinkle in time" should be required reading in curriculum, the portrayl of the world of "Camazotz" and discussion on conformity in classrooms might be a beginning in adding some substance to the hollow platitudes about how our country represents freedom when everyone is trying to be so alike.
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| Schools And New Religion Policy | Sep 21st. at 10:25:14 pm EDT |
by Alli Rawson (Las Vegas, Nevada) - wc_xemail
This is so unfair! I got yelled at by our hall moniter when i was reading my witch calender.He said "young girls shouldn't be reading about that crap!"...I also brought some Tarot cards to school one day and someone called me a bitch so we both got called down to the office....he ended up not getting dicsiplined but i did, for the tarot cards!!!most schools are christian dominated so we don't stand a chance against our rights as a people..I'm not trying to be negititve but that's how i see it.....
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| I Hope The Rules Change Here... | Sep 21st. at 8:25:32 pm EDT |
by Jaci (Lincoln, Nebraska) - wc_xemail
I got yelled at and downgraded in Social Studies last year at school. My teacher was reading over my shoulder as I was reading a book on wicca and he took me out of the classroom and yelled at he let the rest of the class go to lunch and i got yelled at more. I ran to lunch balling.... My friend is studing wicca with me and we decided not to let him get away with it so we went to the conslure.
He didnt stop. Even now he bugs me about it...
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| Yeah, What They Said. | Sep 21st. at 7:48:54 pm EDT |
by KarEEna (Perth, Australia) - wc_xemail
I'd like to add my voice to those complaining about the Creation "science" being taught in science class. Creationism doesnt even have enough evidence to be called a THEORY! It's a hypothesis still .. . . and a really really really lame and unfounded one at that. Redneck idiots.
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| Religion In Schools | Sep 21st. at 5:22:22 pm EDT |
by Peter (San Diego, CA USA) - wc_xemail - Web
When I was in elementary school (early 1960's in a very much traditional neighborhood) the public school that I went to had a May-pole celebration in spring time. We thought it was a really fun activity. They quit doing it, I think because someone complained about it being a pagan religious celebration. My Christian parents were very much disappointed because they saw no harm in doing something fun from an ancient culture.
More recently, my kids have gone through high school in the same neighborhood. At "Christmas" time, the music department does a program that includes some classical Christmas music (I mean like the Bach & Mozart kind) and maybe some things from Jewish or Aftrican or Oriental traditions.
There is a growing number of kids at the high school who are openly Wiccan. I think there is occasionally a joke or comment from people who either don't understand or don't like the idea, but for the most part they are accepted as kids who are just part of the crowd.
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| It A Good Start Though... | Sep 21st. at 4:59:25 pm EDT |
by Yael Sanchez (New Orleans, LA) - wc_xemail
At least we see a school attempting to separate Church from State. Although, I agree that SCIENCE should be science. Creationism is based purely on the Christian belief of how the world was created. I am pretty sure that if Creationism is taught that they would have to employ all forms of Creationism from other religious view points! If it's faith-based...leave it in your church. I would like to feel that when my child goes to school that he/she is receiving an impartial education, free from ANY religious biases! Let religion be taught at home by the parents and the churches in their community...not by our schools or the teachers teaching them.
It's a nice start...and I'm glad that they are striving towards separating Church from State.
Bright Blessings to all!
Yael
May God and Goddess Bless America! Proud to be an American Pagan!
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| I've Seen This | Sep 21st. at 2:14:31 pm EDT |
by zero (illinois) - wc_xemail
wait...
i have seen this before... on the christmas special of Southpark....
blessings
zero
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| Two Thoughts | Sep 21st. at 12:29:43 pm EDT |
by Kim (Orange County, CA) - wc_xemail
First, as a scientist by education (microbiology) if not profession, I'm appalled at the thought of creationism, a religious belief with absolutely no evidence for or against it, being taught in science classes. A scientific theory is an hypothesis with a mountain or two of evidence supporting is; the theory of evolution happens to have several Everest-sized mountains of evidence in support, and creationism doesn't even have an anthill of evidence for it. It's purely based on faith. There are those who would say "but evolution is *only* a theory", not realizing that "theory" as defined by science means it has been accepted by the scientific community.
Secondly, it's a violation of a student's First Amendment rights to deny them time off for religious holidays, so any school that has denied that needs to be reminded of it. Spelling it out in an official policy is a good reminder, but this is something that the First Amendment protects.
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| Creationism? | Sep 21st. at 12:17:47 pm EDT |
by Obsidian (Scotland) - wc_xemail
"Creationism can be taught in science classes"
I thought that science classes taught things proven by the scientific method. Creationism can't be proven by that. So why is it being taught in science class?
Oh, I'm glad I live in Scotland, where *science* is taught in the science wing.
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| As For Clothing | Sep 21st. at 10:53:52 am EDT |
by Phoenix Vørsága (Iowa City, IA) - wc_xemail
"...and clothing with religious references or images is regulated by the same rules as other student apparel. Teachers can wear religious clothing if it is not disruptive."
One, I wish we knew what the rules for students was - but in comparison... sounds like this leaves quite a nice loop hole for a pagan-minded Teacher, not to mention anyone else with head-wraps or the like. I do wonder what constitutes "disruptive" however (but that is eternally the question) . Also, I wonder what things a Christian would wear that wrould be "religious clothing"...
Anyway.. what was set out sounds fair. Now someone just needs to put it to the test.
* Phoenix
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