Prayer Time or Meditation Time in Schools

[John Kilduff]

When I was in high school, I remember having a school-wide "moment of silence" each morning. The bell would ring, then a minute or two later it would ring again, signalling the end of the moment of silence.

The quiet time could be used to meditate, close your eyes and relax, pray, or for whatever purposes the individual chose. It was a nice and special time that didn't last long but it did last long enough to clear some of the rush and clutter out of your mind and to feel a bit refreshed. If a student wished to pray silently they could do so without disturbing or influencing anyone else.

I think this was a good practice, and the cost in study time was negligible. I think it had a beneficial effect for nearly everyone.

I am sure many would object to a specific "prayer time" school-wide, but would any here object to a school-wide moment of silence on a daily basis?

Perhaps in a post to come later I will discuss prayer and its historical significance in pioneer schools, and my views on the subject, but for now I would just like to sound out this forum on the idea of a moment of silence.

Thanks for any responses and further thoughts.

[ShakeZula06]

Centrally planned education systems FTL

[John Kilduff]

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Centrally planned education systems FTL

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Well, the moment of silence can be utilized by both public and private schools. I've attended both and I will say that overall I liked the private school much better. The private school had actual spoken prayer at mealtimes, and some of the public schools, during certain years, had a moment of silence at the start of the second class period.

[ShakeZula06]

Your idea seems like a good one. The point of my comment was really just that a free market of education would be much better at mirroring the preference of it's consumers then a centrally planned one. This probably would be a norm in schools today if schools were not centrally planned by the government, but today you would have to go through thousands of pages of bureaucratic paperwork to make sure it doesn't violate any laws or the constitution.

[clowntable]

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Your idea seems like a good one. The point of my comment was really just that a free market of education would be much better at mirroring the preference of it's consumers then a centrally planned one. This probably would be a norm in schools today if schools were not centrally planned by the government, but today you would have to go through thousands of pages of bureaucratic paperwork to make sure it doesn't violate any laws or the constitution.

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Since this is the standard "the free market will solve it" phrase I'd like to hear exacly how.

How do you define the product to be had or not (two minutes of silence). Does the silence only exist if all people on the given area of land are silent (A) or is it sufficient to be silent yourself and introspect ignoring the rest (B)?

If B:
I will not argue but this is somewhat besides the point since the original situation discussed was of type A.

If A:
All is fine and the market will in deed regulate the problem. People who are not silent can be expelled by the owner of the property due to his right to discriminate on his property. This will likely lead to schools where all people prefer the "2 minutes of silence" and other, competing schools where people prefer for example to read aloud parts from "The Ethics of Liberty" for the first two minutes of school.

What now if two schools with those opposing ideologies are located next to each other and the "anti two minute school" decides to play recordings of given book loud enough so that the silence of the other school is disturbed in the two minutes?

Is the owner of the "anti two minute school" required to limit sound from flowing over to the other man's property or does he have the right to do whatever he pleases on his own property?

[samsonite2100]

I'm with BobMan on this. It is the educational system's responsibility to teach kids things, not to provide them with moments of spiritual contemplation. And it's not like students don't have plenty of chances to quietly reflect, should they so choose.

The other thing is that however non-denominational they try to make it, you know that the motivation behind it a desire to institute Christian school prayer. Not making a slippery-slope argument, just that knowing that turns me off to the idea even more.

[ShakeZula06]

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Since this is the standard "the free market will solve it" phrase I'd like to hear exacly how.


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The propietors make calculations over what option makes the most money both long term and short term.
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How do you define the product to be had or not (two minutes of silence). Does the silence only exist if all people on the given area of land are silent (A) or is it sufficient to be silent yourself and introspect ignoring the rest (B)?

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I have no idea what you're asking here.
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If A:
All is fine and the market will in deed regulate the problem. People who are not silent can be expelled by the owner of the property due to his right to discriminate on his property. This will likely lead to schools where all people prefer the "2 minutes of silence" and other, competing schools where people prefer for example to read aloud parts from "The Ethics of Liberty" for the first two minutes of school.

What now if two schools with those opposing ideologies are located next to each other and the "anti two minute school" decides to play recordings of given book loud enough so that the silence of the other school is disturbed in the two minutes?

Is the owner of the "anti two minute school" required to limit sound from flowing over to the other man's property or does he have the right to do whatever he pleases on his own property?

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You're describing an externalities problem, which can be dealt with by social norms, coase theorum, and arbitration.

[bobman0330]

My HS had this and I thought it was a complete waste of time. Why do I need to go to school to sit around not doing anything? Teach me something or let me talk to my friends.

[AlexM]

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My HS ... was a complete waste of time.

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FYP

[Kaj]

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Teach me something or let me talk to my friends.

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Taking a moment of silence to clear your thoughts or reflect or visualize or whatever WAS teaching you something. You just had a poor teacher or weren't taking note.