Alyssa N. Bullerman Ken Brown Ethical Decision Making 5 May 2005 Education and Prayer in Public School In the field of education, morality and work go hand in hand. A teacher faces issues daily that might question his or her morality. For example, ethical decisions can arise when grading students papers, disciplining misbehaving students, interacting with fellow educators and parents, and being involved in the students daily lives. A teacher does not have the pleasure, though, of acting strictly on his or her own personal moral beliefs. A teacher has to follow certain rules and standards or else be faced with legal issues and law suits. Every state has a certain list of standards that teachers must comply with when accepting a job. If a teacher fails to meet these standards, he or she is held accountable and could lose his or her job. These standards are decided upon by the Indiana Professional Standards Board. The board can change the standards yearly and teachers need to make sure that the they are following the current and up to date standards. The standards cover certain areas such as equal access for all (including handicapped) students, reflect on beliefs and practices, have a philosophy and rationale for decisions, and evaluate the effects of choices and actions on others (IPSB 7). The standards are easy to gain access to. Anyone can access the standards set by the board online or order a copy to view. Schools also have a personal set of rules and regulations which apply to that specific school and district. These rules can vary
Bullerman 2 depending upon the type of school at which a teacher is employed. A teacher who works at a parochial school will have a very different perspective on issues than a public school teacher. Discussions about the issues teachers face can occur in a number of places. These issues might be brought to attention at a parent teacher conference, PTA meeting, or even in the teachers lounge. Many times if there is a problem concerning a specific issue, the school board and administration are able to cooperate in order to reach a decision. Legal action is only taken in extreme cases and disagreements in order to decide the outcome. Rules and standards concerning moral issues are a necessity in the field of education. If a teacher does not have certain rules to follow, decisions that he or she makes might appear to be biased or prejudiced. Without rules, a teacher would have the freedom to run a classroom however he or she wanted. For example, a student happened to upset a teacher, that student might suffer discrimination and unfair actions from the teacher for the rest of the school year. Since they do not want to be seen as biased, teachers take ethical principles very seriously. When teaching and supervising another person s child for most of the day, a teacher has to have very high principles. A parent wants to know that his or her child is safe and is being treated fairly. If a parent feels that his or her child is being treated differently or unfairly then he or she can take action against the teacher by appealing to the school board or the court, if the situation is severe enough. A teacher might lose his or her job very quickly if he or she has acted in a way that is unethical. An issue that has gained a lot of public interest concerning schools and teachers in the past few years has been the presence of prayer in public schools. A surprising fact
Bullerman 3 about this issue is that educators and the public are torn between allowing prayer or forbidding it. The First Amendment Center conducted a survey in July 2000 which has a surprising result: approximately sixty five percent of the public feel that school officials should be allowed to lead prayer in public schools while a mere thirty eight percent of educators feel the same way. When it came to the issue of students leading prayer, the groups were also divided. Sixty four percent of the public felt that students should be allowed to do with while only forty three percent of educators agreed with them. Other surveys that were conducted also showed a strong majority of the public feeling that prayer should be present in schools today while many educators were apprehensive about the subject. (Report 1). The arguments against prayer in public school are listed very clearly by a number of court cases and rulings. Many of these cases involve the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. This clause was summarized by Supreme Court Justice Black, The establishment of religion clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. No person can be punished for entertaining or professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church attendance or nonattendance. No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach to practice religion. Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect a wall of separation between church and State. (Farber 279).
Bullerman 4 There are three specific court cases that deal with prayer and the Establishment Clause. These cases include Lee v. Weisman, Jones v. Clear Creek Independent School District, and Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe. In 1992, a high school principal invited a rabbi to speak at the graduation ceremony. The rabbi was given guidelines on how to write an inoffensive prayer. The prayer given was inoffensive but still led to a court case, Lee v. Weisman. The Supreme Court ruled that since a graduation ceremony was an important and somewhat mandatory event in a students life, the students would feel the need to stand during the prayer and be silent as a sign of respect. In turn, this would lead them to participate in the prayer without it being a completely voluntary action (Farber 288). A year later in 1993, Jones v. Clear Creek Independent School District was brought to court. In this particular case, the senior class at the high school took a vote on whether or not to have a student led prayer at graduation. The majority vote was in favor of this action. The court felt that the majority vote still forced the decision on some non willing students, violating their rights (Chandler 2). The Supreme Court stated, The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections. (Chandler 6).
Bullerman 5 The court decided that since schools tended to control what students say at graduation, a student led prayer will be somewhat controlled by the administration and therefore was violating the Establishment Clause (Chandler 2). In April 1995, a group of students and parents challenged the Board of Trustees of the Santa Fe Independent School District. The board had adopted a policy which allowed student volunteers to deliver prayers before football games (Russo 1). The parents and students were seeking damages claiming the prayer violated the Establishment Clause. Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe appeared before the Supreme Court. The Court decided in a split vote of six to three that the prayer policy was unconstitutional. It stated that prayer at a school sponsored event, whether graduation or football game, violated the Establishment Clause (Russo 2). All of these cases very clearly state that the Establishment Clause is what has been broken and has deemed prayer in public school unconstitutional. This clause, however, might be overruled or redefined by the Supreme Court, because the arguments and support for prayer in public schools is becoming stronger. Not only does a large majority of the public support it, but past and present leaders in Washington D.C. also feel the need for a change. In May of 1982, President Reagan proposed a new amendment that stated, Nothing in the Constitution shall be construed or prohibit individual or group prayer in public schools or other public institutions. No person shall be required by the United States or by any state to participate in prayer (Provenzo 78). Although this amendment was rejected by congress, the same feeling is starting to appear in Washington D.C. again. President Bush s nominations to the Supreme Court will change the definition of
Bullerman 6 the Establishment Clause. Bush has expressed that he wants the Court to allow prayer in public school (Chemerinsky 2). If just one of his nominees makes it onto the bench, then there could be drastic changes. Another argument is the need for some kind of spiritual teaching in the form of organized prayer in public schools. In light of recent school shootings such as Columbine High School, other schools have fueled this argument (Balk 1). Many argue that students today need to be able to express themselves in the form of prayer if they feel the need to do so. Not allowing students the right to pray is denying their First Amendment rights (1). The First Amendment allows for free speech, which, by not allowing prayer in public school, is censoring this right. This issue has a strong argument on both sides. Consider applying the Golden Rule to the issue: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If one were to do this then it would be clear that prayer should be allowed in school on the basis of respecting each other s beliefs. Being quiet while someone else is praying would not be a form of coercion to get someone to listen, but would merely be a symbol of respect. This is an action that people generally like to have reciprocated. According to Supreme Court decisions and the Establishment Clause the issue of what type of prayer is allowed in public schools sounds clear but there is still a large gray area. A student can read his or her Bible, pray before meals or tests, and discuss his or her religion as long as he or she is not disruptive. This does not include the right, though, to have an audience listen, or to have other students participate (Religion 1). The major conflict here is for the teachers and administration. They are the ones held responsible if a problem occurs, even in this issue. Their job entails that they make sure that no student
Bullerman 7 is coerced into participating in any sort of religious activity. The rules sound clear but, when applied in a normal school setting, there are a lot of gray areas. The final decision, left mainly to the Supreme Court, will rule that either religion and prayer will have a significant role in public schools or be altogether absent.
Works Cited Alley, Robert S. School Prayer: The Court, the Congress, and the First Amendment. New York: Prometheus Books, 1994. Balk, Howard M. Chandler v. James: A Student s Right of Prayer in Public Schools. BYU Journal of Public Law. 2001. Vol. 15 Issue 2, p243, 19p. http://web23.epnet.com Chemerinsky, Erwin. The Future of the Establishment Clause. Human Rights: Journal of the Section of Individual Rights & Responsibilities. Spring 2001. Vol. 28 Issue 2, p16, 4p. http://web23.epnet.com Farber, Daniel A. The First Amendment. New York: The Foundation Press, 1998. IPSB: Indiana Professional Standards Board. IPSB Future Licensing 20 April 2005. http://www.in.gov/psb/standards/earlychilddevstds.html Provenso, Jr. Eugene F. Religious Fundamentalism and American Education. New York: State University of New York Press, 1990. Religion and Public Schools: Federal Policy on Prayer in and Around the Classroom. Supreme Court Debates, May 2000. Report: Educators Support First Amendment In Theory. School Law News. 13 April 2001 Russo, Charles J. An Update on the Conflicting First Amendment Jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court. Education and the Law. Vol. 12, No. 3, 2000