Public Prayer Should Not Be Allowed In School

My opponent has brought up that many students are given a study hall, or an academy, which is essentially "free-time" to study, work on homework, or do what you would like with the time allotted. However, this is simply not the case for all students, as many like to get a jump start on their education and replace their free periods with educational periods - not to mention, many students are in extra-curricular classes, which would mean that the study halls referenced here would be replaced with extra-curricular courses. (Ex. Band, Choir, etc) My point is, are we able to reject certain students from prayer if they don't have free time? Is it really appropriate to allow prayer in school when some students are not legitimately applicable for it and some are? Seems a bit like favoritism to me and, I would be willing to bet, many people would switch their educational periods around just so they would be able to join their friends in prayer. Thus causing many difficulties with schedules and times for classes in any individual student. To bring the study hall point up again, I would like to note (and this continues off of my Salat response), that you would have to interrupt the entire study hall classroom to do prayer, prayer chants, and sometimes even prayer activities (such as Rakah, as I stated earlier). This is a distraction to the people trying to work on their studies; my opponent may bring up an argument showing that people who need to pray during study hall can exit to another room, but should we really allow individuals to roam the halls (during class, might I add) in search of a quiet place to do prayer? The average school day is 6.7 hours, if someone truly wants to pray, then can do it before school or after school. My opponent's next point: "Now I do agree that the point of our educational system is for us to learn and to be able to succeed in life after high school, but do you realize what they are teaching us in schools. They teach about religions, and about science. So does that mean if a student doesn't agree with evolution then they should just be able to walk out of the classroom" - this is simply not true. Teachers are most certainly NOT able to teach any certain religion or secularism in school, as that truly is not what public education is about. Teachers can educate their students on the different types of religions, but they cannot teach religion itself. The difference being the former is educational and the latter is specific religious teachings (ex. Bible study). My opponent's final point is about individuals not being able to afford private Christian schools. While my opponent is right that the cost of private Christian schools are a bit pricey, my opponent fails to recognize that there are different forms of religious schools out there. "Religious schools tend to be cheaper because of their additional sources of funding and their sometimes larger class sizes. For example, Catholic schools are far less expensive than most independent private schools. The average Catholic school costs about $3,700 a year for elementary and $8,200 for high school, according to the National Catholic Educational Association. [1]" I would like to put more points up here in regards to why public prayer should not be allowed in schools, as my rebuttal process has been completed. I'll put them as simple points so they do not overtake from my initial rebuttal, as they are the most important points. 1. "Public schools exist to educate, not to proselytize. Children in public schools are a captive audience. Making prayer an official part of the school day is coercive and invasive. What 5, 8, or 10-year-old could view prayers recited as part of class routine as "voluntary"? Religion is private, and schools are public, so it is appropriate that the two should not mix. To introduce religion in our public schools builds walls between children who may not have been aware of religious differences before. [2]" 2. Jesus was against public prayer. "Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. .. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret. " - Matt. 6:5-6" Sources: _____________________ [1] . http://www.ncea.org... [2] . https://ffrf.org...