Chapter 3: Families and Communities

An important issue involving the school community is the presence of religion in schools. The First amendment clearly states that as US citizens we have separation of church and state. Public schools are funded by the government (mostly through taxes) this means that as a student you are free from religious influences. In this largely Judo-Christian society it is hard to see what really comes from religion or not. For example in almost every classroom each morning the pledge of allegiance is read which states us as "one nation under God" to call this religious may be a stretch, but some find it offending. As future educators we must ask ourselves how we will teach our children with out influencing our own personal beliefs on them. The key is not to make all religion taboo but to rather educate, this is where most controversies occur. It is not wise to practice religious holidays or ceremonies, there are two reasons for this the first the most obvious you are practicing a religion in a school. The second is the overlooked one, if you want to show your class how Jewish people celebrate Yom Kippur and have a mock Yom Kippur you can seem like you are belittling the religion, and this has potential to be very offensive. The goal of teachers is to educate students, as a teacher you must not let your personal beliefs impede this, so no you can't celebrate Christmas in school no matter how you do it. It would simply be pushing beliefs on others, and we all know that is not an effective way to teach. The effective way is a way in which you look at all religions equally and teach accordingly