Public Prayer Should Not Be Allowed In School

Religious Head Wear and Religious Prayer are not the same. My opponent makes the parallel between religious head-wear and religious prayer, but there are not many similarities between the two. Head-wear is non-disruptive, whereas religious prayer can be tedious, elongated, and rather disruptive for the people that are either in the class with the religious individual praying, or even the classes beside. I would like to show how disruptive a prayer can be by posting a video of someone doing their afternoon Salat Al-Asr. Please take not of how loud, how long, and how distracting this can be in a school educational facility. (http://www.youtube.com...) - Head-wear does not have this type of distraction. Private Religious Schools - Subsidized Student Aid and Funding My opponent's second point is showing that some people may not have access to the school's they would necessarily want, more referencing the fact that some people simply cannot afford a religious school. I do not think my opponent understands that some schools (yes, even private), have student aid for low-income families. Some private schools, I'd say a good majority, can either allow subsidized funding for low-income families or full-funding, based on if the city is funding the school in question. Finding a school like that may take longer than finding a public school, but it is doable and most certainly a better way to go for religiously-inclined individuals. Let's also note that there is another alternative that's cheap and safe - homeschooling, which allows the individual to stay at home, do their work online. This would allow them education and religious freedom. Taking away prayer, takes away learning? Next, my opponent mentions that, and I'm quoting, "...that if you are stopping kids from praying in schools you are in a way taking away from their learning, because by allowing them to pray in school you give the opportunity of diversity, and the ability for a students to be the person they are and not conform to the world in fear of judgement." If we stop kids from praying in school it would be because they are disrupting education. If the kids do it at lunch, when they're not disrupting anyone, then it's truly a different story, but if they are taking time out of the educator's hours, then it's disruptive and should not be done. If anything, we're not taking away the religious individual's ability to learn, we're taking away everyone else's. Even so, if that child is not learning because he's not able to pray, that is that person's fault and that person's fault only. My opponent also touches on diversity, which is a really good point that I would like to touch on as well. There is a very, very large difference between wanting to be diverse from everyone else and wanting to have your religion thrust into school. You can be diverse without having to propagate your religion in such away that it takes away from other peoples' diversity. Giving a religious person the ability to skip class, even Study Hall, just so that they are able to pray is not only disruptive, but a slap-in-the-face to other religions. Other kids would see this, wondering why he gets out of class, "Wow, if I become Islam, I get to skip parts of school". You can see where I am going with this and I hope that you understand the detriment this could cause. Favoritism, bullying, fake religious individuals, et cetera. It's certainly dangerous ground you're treading. Religion, drugs, and alcoholic beliefs. If you're going to accept all religions, prayer, head-wear - then we might as well accept everything dangerous too... right? Among Hinduism, it's not completely uncommon that the use of cannabis. "Cannabis is connected with the god Shiva who is said to have rested in the shade of the Cannabis plant on a particularly hot day. In gratitude Shiva gave the plant to mankind. Often the drink Bhang is drunk in Shiva's honor, it is a tea typically cooked with milk, spices, cannabis leaves and flowers. The leaves of the Kratom tree have also been used traditionally as an ingredient in a tea with mild stimulant and opioid properties.[1]" Among Rastafarianism, "Many Rastafarians believe cannabis, which they call "ganja", "the herb," or "Kaya" is a sacred gift of Jah and may be used for spiritual purposes to commune with God but should not be used profanely.[1]" Among Zen Buddhism, "...known for stressing the precepts. In Japan, however, where Zen flourished historically, there are a number of examples of misconduct on the part of monks and laypeople alike. This often involved the use of alcohol, as sake drinking has and continues to be a well known aspect of Japanese culture.[1]" - let us allow kids to misinterpret this religion and find ways to intoxicate themselves. They are teenagers and you know they will do this. Among Judaism, "Wine plays a prominent role in many Jewish rituals, most notably the kiddush. Hasidic Jews often engage in a free ceremony called "Tisch" in which drinks such as Vodka are drunk in a group. Drinking is accompanied by singing and the study of the Torah.[1]" Among Christianity, "In the Eucharist wine represents (or among Christians who believe in some form of Real Presence, like the Catholic and Orthodox churches, actually is) the blood of Christ.[1]" Is it worth it, though? Is it worth all this hassle? To maintain religious freedom while subsequently having to put borders around the same religious freedom you are trying to make for schools? If we have the alternatives: homeschooling, private religious schools, churches, religious prayers at home or before school - is it worth it that we begin to bleed such religion into schools without thinking of the consequences. ...and are you going to be subjective about which religions you choose to bring in? What about Pastafarianism, that requires you to wear a pasta strainer on your head every Friday. What about Satanism, with it's rituals akin to selling your soul to the devil. Are you going to nit-pick? If you choose one, you must choose all. This is why religion must stay out of schools. In the simplest of forms for this argument, there are 180 days (on average) in a school year, with each day measuring about 6 hours (on average) for every day in an educational facility. Is it really that big of a deal that we allow people to pray, attend rituals, skip classes, and do dangerous prayers outside of the actually school time? You come to school to be educated, not to skip over things because of your religious beliefs. You're causing too much trouble where trouble doesn't have to be due. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org...