POLL: Is there a "moment of silence" at public schools where you live?

[UdoKier]

Poll question: POLL: Is there a "moment of silence" at public schools where you live?

When I was little growing up in Texas, we had to listen to the Star Spangled Banner, then recite the "Pledge of Allegiance" (how many 1st graders actually understand what they are pledging?), but then, in the mid-80s, they started the "moment of silence", since they couldn't force an actual prayer on us. Even then I thought it was a bit much. What does that have to do with school. Doesn't everyone have a home and a church to pray in?

Anyway, what kind of Orwellian/Pavlovian conditioning do they have at the public schools in your area?

Did you have this growing up?

Did you pray to Beelzebub just to spite them?

QUESTION:Is there a "moment of silence" at public schools where you live?

[UdoKier]

1. kick

nt

[ovidsen]

2. What's wrong with a moment of silence?

I have a serious problem with mandated "prayer" in schools. For starters, whose prayer?

But a moment of silence? Why not? I can use it to fantasize about... whatever!

[UdoKier]

3. It's not the "moment" per se.

It's the agenda of the people behind it. The fact that they see it as a "foot in the door".

It bugs me that they think there is a place at all for prayer in the public schools to begin with, when people have churches and homes to pray in already.

It's the unspoken message to kids that they "should be praying" every day.

My kids, like all kids, were born atheist. Why should I tamper with that?

[Freddie Stubbs]

4. How do the atheists know that the time is for praying?

The schools aren't allowed to tell them. Did you tell them? :shrug:

[UdoKier]

11. Children aren't stupid.

And I wouldn't object to a moment of silence, if there were some reason for it (the space shuttle just crashed or something).

But as it is, it's a "prayer time" whether explicit or not.

But seeing the logo behind the former president makes me think we wouldn't agree on much anyway...

[FreedomAngel82]

10. During the moment of silence

it was always just that. The person doing the announcements always said "we will now have a moment of silence." You didn't have to do anything if you didn't want to. Just be silent and you could've prepared for the day or something. :shrug: It's not a big ordeal.

[FreedomAngel82]

8. Yep

I remember in high school when I was in nineth grade at football games they had prayers (it was a simple one) and then in tenth or eleventh grade they began the moment of silence. I liked that better personally.

[FreedomAngel82]

5. I don't remember

doing a moment of silence in elementary or middle school but I do in high school. It was a way to say a prayer or just whatever you wished to do. The pledge came first of course. I didn't mind that because you know what the pledge meant and the moment of silence because there wasn't any prayers and stuff.

[LeftyMom]

6. The rule was we said the pledge daily

the reality was that a couple of my elementary teachers tried to remember it, but it was sporadic. I don't remember ever saying the pledge in middle or high school, most of our classrooms didn't have flags anyhow.

Oddly enough, this was in the same schoool district where the "under god" flap started.

Edited to add: Certainly there was no "moment of silence" except fot the "everybody shut up so I can grade your papers" sort. I'm sure glad I grew up in CA. :)

[Coexist]

7. But they had everyone stand up for a moment of silence at the game

yesterday - then said, "you have just witnessed the calm before the Storm!"

I was at a Tampa Bay Storm arena football game - it rocks!

[itcfish1]

9. 12 Years of Public School

and only once did our teacher say to put our heads down and say a prayer and it was the day JFK got shot. The teacher even said I am not supposed to do this but our President needs all the prayers he can get. My parents send me to religious instruction for my religious education.

[jandrok]

12. My daughter is in the 3rd grade

We get the Pledge and the moment of silence, then the school pledge.

I agree that it's a "foot in the door" tactic, but I still can't get too worked up about it. Most of the kids fidget and whisper through it anyway.

Now I DID have a problem with the guys that came to my school when I was in the 5th grade back in the mid-70's in Texarkana. They passed out little red copies of the New Testament and made a speech about how we needed to pray a lot because the commies could come at any moment and take away our Bibles and make us all atheists. They came to every 5th grade class and did that. They were affiliated with some Baptist church. My Catholic parents just about blew a fuse. The same bunch of guys used to drive around a big church bus on weekends recruiting kids for the church. Creepy stuff, but I just thought that it was normal, having grown up with it.