Check this out. Who says there’s no prayer in school?
BROOKSVILLE - It had been a hard Friday at Brooksville Elementary School, with lots of misbehavior that didn’t bode well for the start of state testing the following week.
So the principal and a few staff members appealed to a higher power.
They prayed and blessed their students’ desks with prayer oil.
While the Christian prayers and anointing took place after school hours on the night of Friday, Feb. 2, the oil was still on desks the following Monday when teachers opened their classrooms.
Now, I’ve been thinking if this would bother me if I were a parent of one of the anointed children. Firstly, the anointing was after hours. And no one would have known about it if they would have just anointed the underside of the desks with an tiny bit of oil (leaving no evidence, you see). But these idiots must have had the entire bottle of holy oil for the teachers to be able to see it the next day. Right? C’mon, now, didn’t they think of the mess?
The interesting part of the article, to me, is that the ACLU thinks the administrators crossed the line.
But an official with the American Civil Liberties Union said the religious group crossed a constitutional line, effectively imposing their beliefs by leaving prayer oil on the desks for children and staff members to see.
“If the principal and teachers want to have some kind of prayer after hours, that’s not a constitutional problem,” said Rebecca Steele, director of the ACLU office in Tampa. “But they did leave tangible evidence of their religious activity, and that was troubling to people.”
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m an ACLU supporter, but exactly what line did they cross? There would be crossing if the teachers were forced to participate in the anointing. And there’d be crossing if the students were forced to pray prior to the test. But none of that is true. No one was forced to participate in this crazy little ritual and it wasn’t done in front of anyone that might feel the least bit uncomfortable with it. But they did leave that mess and that’s a huge problem.
As a non-Christian, I don’t think I would have a problem with what they did. Only because my kid wasn’t singled out as a non-Christian during this ritual. And from what I can tell, no children were harmed in any way. Sure, the staff that participated made a gawd-awful mess on the desks, but they were desperate. Afterall, if those kids didn’t do well on those tests then the school would lose money and the principal could very well be fired. Yes, they could do a better job of preparing the kids by actually doing their jobs- hence making oil-on-the-desk unnecessary. But it’s hard to actually teach kids anything when there’s federal mandates pretty much stifling the school systems (and, from what I’ve heard other places, unions that prevent the firing of incompetent teachers, but that’s for another post). It’d be a whole other story if they mandated participation in religious ritual by the kids and/or staff, I’d just like to make that clear.
As for the title of this post…all I can say is NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND SUCKS DONKEY BALLS. The law decides how much money each public school district receives based on standardized testing. They also determine if administrators are going to have jobs based on the student’s performance. So, all flippin’ year long these kids prepare for these damned government mandated tests and these administrators pray, pray, pray that the kids pass. It’s especially bad because the good teachers can’t do their jobs effectively. Everything is taught toward the standardizedtest. Thanks, government asses. You did a heckuva job with that one, dickheads.*
Of course, I have to ask if you’d be upset were teachers to anoint the desk of your child. This only applies if the kids aren’t in the building and if they aren’t forced to bow their heads. Well?
* I had to actually cut off my tangent. I was getting way out of hand. Sorry ’bout that.
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11 Comments
This would not bother me. But what would bother me is if the principal or teacher said to my child, “You can’t take this test until you pray first”.
I am one for freedom of religion. Knowing that so many ‘true’ facts about certain religions have been lost in ‘time’, I am not one to condemn anyone for his/her beliefs. I give that respect, and expect the same in return.
But seriously, I bet those test papers looked like they’d been in the kitchen while mama was frying chicken.
I don’t care what they do on the desks after hours - pray, fuck, decorate cakes, whatever - but they should have to clean it up. Who the hell wants to take an oily test? Ew. And I like the standardized tests. The teachers are focused on academics instead of crap, and the kids are learning. This wasn’t happening in the 80’s in SoCal. My nieces went to the public schools here and learned NOTHING.
Exactly. They should be smacked upside the head for not cleaning up their mess. I mean, fer cryin’ out loud…
And don’t get me started about the standardized testing, etc…
At least they stopped spreading their “holy oil” on children…
Dude, I’m a Christian, and the whole praying for them to do well doesn’t bother me….but the oil is just creepy to me. Why do they need oil? Like the kids who sit at the greasy desks are going to do better than the kids who don’t.
This is some old testament stuff. “Anoint thineself with oil.”…not, “Anoint thy children …or their desks before they take a test that could get you fired.”
A simple bowing of heads and asking the Big Cheese to bless the school and the children in it would have been sufficient.
Freaks
i agree with everyone. i’m a christian and i don’t care what they were doing on the desks, with the desks, or when they did anything with the desks. all i ask is that you return my child to me in the same condition as when i left my child with you.
now, i come from a school that still has prayer assembly, but it isn’t mandated and students run it. if you don’t want to attend, don’t. it isn’t that common since i live in a small rural community, but it has occurred before. one of the teachers was a jehovah’s witness.
as a famous quote goes - there will always be prayer in schools as long as their are tests in school. you can add athletics to that quote too, b/c what mom doesn’t pray that her child isn’t hurt playing athletics?
No students’ rights were violated, certainly. Other than the oily mess, which is just dumb, the only other area where they may be on shaky ground would be with the teachers & faculty at the school. If any of them were made to feel that they should participate in the “ritual,” then there could be a problem. But not with the kids.
And regarding stardized testing, I think it sucks ass. Perhaps there’s something in the concept I could rally around, but the way it’s set up and administered (here in Colorado at least) is a major clusterfuck.
The ACLU said: “But they did leave tangible evidence of their religious activity, and that was troubling to people.”
Troubling to people and violating the constitution are as different from each other as apples and stuffed elephants. I often wonder what planet the ACLU is from, and whether they have any clue, any clue at all, what separation of church and state actually means.
So according to the ACLU, if no oil had been left behind, the ritual technically never happened. But because evidence was left behind, it’s wrong. Hmmm, not quite sure I like where that line of reasoning leads…
Where ya at chica!?
I’m right here! Howdy!
I can’t stand standardized testing. I call it “teaching to the test” which leaves a whole hell of a lot of ground uncovered. Not only that but it leaves teachers who would (or could) otherwise be inventive in their lessons trapped with the same ol’ same ol’. Lil’ Miss was in the first grade studying to take the test in the fourth grade. Ridiculous. Not to mention the fact that not everyone learns and takes tests the same way. That leaves students with interesting ways of absorbing information on the short list for LD classes. I don’t see anything redeeming in that at all.
I don’t know what the hell is up with the ACLU either. I certainly don’t like the idea that something was “troubling” to some people and therefore worth fighting for. If it was “troubling” to everyone and if someone was forced to participate I’d have a different viewpoint. But it wasn’t so I don’t. I’d have to object if this case went to court for any reason.
I hope, at least, that the oil smelled good. And the kids weren’t given poor grades because of greasy papers.