mandatory moment of silence in Illinois schools

[redbull]

sorry I couldn't really find a good article on this, it was mostly just all commentary shit...

http://www.lincolncourier.com/story.asp?SID=18177&SEC=8

Schools wait for rules on silent start
New law requires students to begin day in a quiet way
BY ERIN FROST
THE COURIER

Published Monday, October 15, 2007

Logan County schools will soon be silent.

But just for a minute.

An Illinois bill that became law Thursday requires a moment of silence at the beginning of the school day.

Lincoln schools are just waiting for the official order.

"We'll wait to get the edict, the word on how to conduct it from the Illinois State Board," said District 27 Superintendent Kirby Rodgers.

Rodgers explained that that the Illinois School Board Association sends guidelines on how to implement laws. District 27 generally adheres to the suggestions the ISBA offers.

"It's our local choice on how we implement the law," Rodgers said. "We'll follow the guidelines put out by the school board association. We're just waiting to find out the most appropriate way to do that."

Administrators at Lincoln Community High School discussed the issue in a meeting Friday morning. They're also waiting on official word from the ISBA.

"Our intention is to observe a brief moment of silence prior to the Pledge of Allegiance every day," said Superintendent Dean Langdon.

It won't be much of a change.

"From a practical standpoint, that moment of silence really already exists," he said, explaining that it will fit into the daily announcements when student government members ask people to rise for the Pledge.

"It's not really going to be any sort of interruption," he said. "It won't take any additional time away from class instruction."

All schools in Illinois will have to observe that moment of silence in the mornings after legislators tweaked a 2002 law to require it rather than just allow it.

Legislators simply changed the word "may" in the existing law to the word "shall."

The law now reads:

"In each public school classroom the teacher in charge SHALL observe a brief period of silence with the participation of all the pupils therein assembled at the opening of every school day. This period shall not be conducted as a religious exercise but shall be an opportunity for silent prayer or for silent reflection on the anticipated activities of the day."

Gov. Rod Blagojevich vetoed the law this summer, but legislators overrode the veto. A 74 to 37 vote in the House Thursday overcame the final barrier to the law taking effect.

Supporters of the law said it has nothing to do with religion in the classroom. Critics, however, think it has everything to do with religion.

"Let's face it, that's what this is about," said state Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie).

Other critics noted that requiring the moment of silence was futile, considering the law *******s no punishment for non-compliance.

All of the area's legislative representatives - state representatives Bill Mitchell and Rich Brauer and state senators Larry Bomke and Bill Brady, voted to approve the measure.

Rodgers noted that the separation of schools and religion is a heated topic. He also mentioned that people tend to adapt such policies so that everyone is happy. Although he doesn't know of anyone in District 27 who does so, he's heard of people standing for, but not reciting, the pledge.

"Somebody once said "There will always be prayer in school as long as there are tests,'" Rodgers joked.

Nobody in my classes seemed to really know about the law at all today, which was the first day it was implemented (maybe 10% of kids were aware of it existing, even most teachers didn't). Most people thought it was a joke or were wondering who'd died. I'm left confused as to how the lawmakers could possibly think that high school age kids would give a shit about this in any capacity. "As to reflecting on the day's activities", everyone found that to be pointless and/or bullshit. Basically, I find this really fucking dumb and it makes me glad that this is my last year in the Illinois Public Education system.

[redbull]

here is a better article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,6245540.story

[DeviousJ]

Lawesome

[TuralyonW3]

BIG BROTHER

[Nimrod's Son]

WHERE THE FUCK IS RON PAUL AND WHY ISN'T HE WRITING UP A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ABOUT THIS

[spring]

this is quite weird.

[pale_princess]

what a useless law

[theFoulLasagna]

yeah, this is pretty dumb. Way to spend the taxpayer dollars there, illinois!

[ravenguy2000]

you guys just need to realize that this is a Christian country and even if they used this moment to pray over the school intercom it would be ok because this country was founded on Christian principles and the right for them to pray shouldn't be ruined by one or two sticks in the mud

[redbull]

i should mention that we don't really have a cohesive state budget, but we spent time arguing about this

[TicalFSU]

Originally Posted by Nimrod's Son

WHERE THE FUCK IS RON PAUL AND WHY ISN'T HE WRITING UP A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ABOUT THIS

Um yeah. Ron Paul would not write an amedment for it. As this is a state issue and he would say, if Illinois wants it good for them. If it isnt in conflict with a federal law then the federal government should piss off.

I know you are just fucking around Nimrod's Son but some may not understand this

[werideatdusk]

Originally Posted by ravenguy2000

you guys just need to realize that this is a Christian country

[Trotskilicious]

Originally Posted by ravenguy2000

you guys just need to realize that this is a Christian country and even if they used this moment to pray over the school intercom it would be ok because this country was founded on Christian principles and the right for them to pray shouldn't be ruined by one or two sticks in the mud

but a moment of silence is nicely non religious, you can use it for whatever you wish.

mandatory state law though? weak. I wouldn't mind if schools or school districts used it though. it's a fairly decent compromise to placate the religious right.

[Väinämöinen]

what if the muslims use it to praise allah?

i am against this unless they can prevent the time being used for mohammadan worship

this is even more useless than when they made it mandatory to recite the pledge in illinois schools. i had to do it everyday when i went to a catholic grade school and honestly, i never even bothered to think about what i was saying meant. it was just a routine that i had to do every morning and i was going through the motions. then when they made it mandatory in public schools when i was in my junior year of high school, i just didn't bother because it didn't even mean anything to me by then. i imagine that it's gonna be the same kind of thing here with this moment of silence.

[Thaniel Buckner]

this country =

[redbull]

Originally Posted by Eiki

this is even more useless than when they made it mandatory to recite the pledge in illinois schools.

its not mandatory in my school, you just aren't allowed to make noise during it

[talk show host]

I was going to ask, what do they do if you refuse to cite the pledge? Can they do anyting about it?

i wish they had done this when i was in school so i could have disrupted it every day