Chapter 15

The final chapter mentions a lot about getting rid of prayers in the public school system. I think it that schools and religion should be completely separate and secular. It is not fair for people of different cultural backgrounds to be taught a specific religion or practice. Just because the bible is not practiced in schools, it does not mean that it is not practiced in the country. It is pretty evident that the most practiced religion in the U.S is Christianity, and even the constitution favors Christians. We would use to have to pledge allegiance to the flag and in that pledge, “under God” is used. When I was in elementary school I remember practicing this every morning despite that English was not my first language. I did not know what the words mean nor did I know what I was saying, I just mumbled along with my classmates and soon enough I was pronouncing every single word perfectly even though I had no clue what I was saying. Even now I would be able to recite the pledge of allegiance and still question what the true meaning is. There is an extreme bias for Christians which is extremely unfair to other people who make up the country and the school systems. In the chapter, it said that Reagan was trying to gain popularity by promoting prayers in school. If prayers were still allowed in schools, I think we would have a very big problem. I don’t think it is safe to mix religion with education just because people come from so many backgrounds and have so many different beliefs that just introducing and teaching one religion can lead to uprisings. This is similar to how the class felt about schools only teaching U.S history and not focusing on other parts of the world.

The No Child Left Behind Act is supposed to help create equal opportunities for students. However, it is pretty evident that that is not true. Children may be put into schools and it may be mandated that they do, but how do we know each child is getting the same opportunities as someone who has more money and more funding for their schools. Just placing children into schools is not enough. There may be bad teachers and there may be good teachers, bad neighborhoods and good neighborhoods, so how can we ensure that each and every child is getting what they need to succeed? As mentioned in the previous chapter, rich neighborhoods have better academic statistics compared to developing neighborhoods and communities. Nationalizing a set curriculum sounds to be a great idea to get the entire country on the same level, but with different teachers, we cannot monitor the ways students are being taught and how well or fast they take in the information. It is really hard to implement any kind of system where we know for sure each and every child is learning at the same speed and getting the same resources. There is no such thing as “equal” in a capitalist country. The people with more  money will always have better opportunities because they will always have leverage over the poorer community. They will always have better facilities, better equipment, better programs, and a better curriculum. So how effective are these new acts in helping children, parents, and the community to achieve better standards? and where do you feel the government is lacking?