Social Justice in Education

Religion is one of our country's most valued freedoms, along with the right of free speech, and other rights given to all Americans in our Bill of Rights and Constitution. In our present day, there are so many religions and cultures in our classrooms that a need for guidelines about religion has developed. What are the rights of teachers and students when it comes to religion at school?

Over the past few decades, religion has been removed from the public school curriculums, because not all students share the same religious views. Such changes include removing Bible readings and prayers from school activities, not requiring students to salut the flag or pledge allegiance, and having Holiday Parties instead of Christmas Parties.

Studying different religions in the classroom is considered constitutional. Many historical events have happened in which religion played a large role. The religions are to be studied in historical or literary context, students are not required to practice the religion. Teachers, like everyone else, have the same First Amendment right to religion. However, a teacher may not promote her own religion, and if she wishes to pray, she must do so when students are not present.

Students also have the right to practice religion together. Students are allowed to use public school rooms for extracurricular purposes in any room that is available. They are expected to be respectful and not disrupt other events going on around the school. Students are never required to participate in any religious type event at school such as a moment of silence, or Pledge of Allegiance. Every student is entitled to their own freedom of religion, and has the right to practice, or not practice religion at school.

I think that the way religious guidelines are currently set up is a good way to keep students and teachers content, and are set up in such a way so that no one feels forced into practicing or not practicing his/her religion.


Sources:

http://www.aclu-tn.org/pdfs/briefer_religion_in_public_schools.pdf
http://www.freedomforum.org/publications/first/findingcommonground/B10.USDeptGuidelines.pdf
http://www.freedomforum.org/publications/first/teachersguide/teachersguide.pdf
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