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ORIGINAL: Level

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ORIGINAL: Owner59

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ORIGINAL: Level

'At quiet time we try to be as calm as we can," says Reko, a seventh-grader at Ideal Academy, a Washington, D.C., charter school that incorporates a 20-minute transcendental meditation program into each school day. "We close our eyes and think of our mantra so we can be relaxed." On the other side of the country, students at Emerson Elementary School in Oakland practice techniques called "mindfulness" that have been adapted from Buddhism. The children learn to follow their breath, watch their thoughts and focus their attention by listening to the tone of a Tibetan singing bowl until the sound is too faint to hear.

"Mindfulness makes me feel marvelous," says Curtis, a fifth-grader at Emerson.

As the movement to bring mantras and Tibetan singing bowls to public schools gathers steam, some activists who keep an eye on church-state issues are crying foul.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-street25jul25,0,7528677.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

Ah, Level,.... the pot stirrer.

Spirituality, is not religion .Meditation is not praying.People conflate the two,but they`re different issues(though related).

The"activists" who are crying foul. are the people trying to insert  Jesus ,into public school.Of course they`ll make a fuss,but that dog won`t hunt.


Peace

Now, some would agree with the "pot stirring" comment.......
 
However, according to the article, the ones crying foul are, in fair amount, atheists.
 
Personally, I neither mind quiet prayer, nor meditation, in schools, but I don't want school and religion to mix, if that makes sense.
 
And some would disagree with meditation not being a form of prayer.

Cool! Then that doesn`t count.Cuz  atheists are devil worshipers anyway

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ORIGINAL: JackM1

thats the same thing we have where i am; i personally dont say the pledge, but i did have to stand up. i have to say though, most of the students in my school didnt say the pledge, but unlike me most of them were just not doing it out of pure laziness. i have my own personal reasons for not saying the pledge, none of which have anything to do with religion.

i think its a great idea that they do meditation in school. most of you are waayyy out of school by now, but being fresh out of hs my self and just starting my higher education journey, i can safely say that at the end of the day, i dont know how the hell i do it. its stressful trying to balance school, work, a social life and then MORE school in the form of exams(which used to give me panic attacks, to be honest with you) and homework. i wish way back when, that i had some way to simply RELAX during the day(i made a sugestion for my school to create a "scream room" during exam time, because there were times that my friends and i felt like we were going to POP from stress....they didnt seem to think it was a good idea, so we got together at someones house, turned up the music and screamed into pillows instead). its not religion, because meditation is not a form of prayer, even if it was created/started/used by a certain group that happens to believe in a certain god. the alternative is to simply impose upon the students a "quiet time" during the day, where they are able to do any activity they want, as long as they are not talking(sounds a lot like study hall to me, though, only i think you can quietly talk during study). of course, knowing the students they will have screaming contests just to be little jerks, but i think the majority(especially the older students) would really appreciate that time to themselves. i think the younget students would still benefit from having guided relaxation time, just so they are able to learn how to do it for themselves in the future, but it doesnt have to be.

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ORIGINAL: Owner59

Cool! Then that doesn`t count.Cuz  atheists are devil worshipers anyway
(tongue in check)

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ORIGINAL: BlueCollar

Back in my day we had this crazy thing called "recess".  That was the time we were given to either wind down or get some good stretching in.  Call me crazy, but schools should be used exclusively for teaching and preparing our kids for adult life.

If people want to pray in school before classes, I don't see how that infringes on anyone else's rights.  The same can go for meditation or any other form of ritual.  If you're not causing any disruptions, why should anyone really care?

Incidentally, here in Ontario the high schools have Theology and World Religions as an optional course in the provincial curiculum. The programs deal on the fundementals of human faith and worship for pretty much all the larger religious beliefs.  While I strongly disapprove of religiously-segregated schooling (we have seperate Catholic schools here), I really appreciate the concept of programs that focus on the study of theology itself.

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ORIGINAL: velvetears
We still have it here, but you cannot force the kid to say the pledge but they do have to stand up, that's mandatory.

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ORIGINAL: cuddleheart50

I agree with meditation AND prayer in schools.

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ORIGINAL: SugarMyChurro

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ORIGINAL: velvetears
We still have it here, but you cannot force the kid to say the pledge but they do have to stand up, that's mandatory.

I refused to say the pledge back in the 70s. No one cared. It was a non issue.

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ORIGINAL: NavyDDG54

We can disagree and debate all we want, but at the end of the day WE ARE ALL AMERICANS.We need to be able to set aside personal political agendas for the good of the country. The ability to do that starts with being taught to love your country. And that needs to be taught in school and in the home. 

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ORIGINAL: NavyDDG54

As for Separation of church and state....when did that become separation of religion and state?   They are NOT the same thing. The separation of church and state was designed to prevent an official Church of America from forming...not to ban all public displays of religion. We need to regain focus on this issue.