BROOKSVILLE – It had been a hard Friday at Brooksville Elementary School, with lots of misbehavior that didn’t bode well for the start of state testing the following week.
So the principal and a few staff members appealed to a higher power.
They prayed and blessed their students’ desks with prayer oil.
While the Christian prayers and anointing took place after school hours on the night of Friday, Feb. 2, the oil was still on desks the following Monday when teachers opened their classrooms.
Now, I’ve been thinking if this would bother me if I were a parent of one of the anointed children. Firstly, the anointing was after hours. And no one would have known about it if they would have just anointed the underside of the desks with an tiny bit of oil (leaving no evidence, you see). But these idiots must have had the entire bottle of holy oil for the teachers to be able to see it the next day. Right? C’mon, now, didn’t they think of the mess?
The interesting part of the article, to me, is that the ACLU thinks the administrators crossed the line.
But an official with the American Civil Liberties Union said the religious group crossed a constitutional line, effectively imposing their beliefs by leaving prayer oil on the desks for children and staff members to see.
“If the principal and teachers want to have some kind of prayer after hours, that’s not a constitutional problem,” said Rebecca Steele, director of the ACLU office in Tampa. “But they did leave tangible evidence of their religious activity, and that was troubling to people.”
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m an ACLU supporter, but exactly what line did they cross? There would be crossing if the teachers were forced to participate in the anointing. And there’d be crossing if the students were forced to pray prior to the test. But none of that is true. No one was forced to participate in this crazy little ritual and it wasn’t done in front of anyone that might feel the least bit uncomfortable with it. But they did leave that mess and that’s a huge problem.
As a non-Christian, I don’t think I would have a problem with what they did. Only because my kid wasn’t singled out as a non-Christian during this ritual. And from what I can tell, no children were harmed in any way. Sure, the staff that participated made a gawd-awful mess on the desks, but they were desperate. Afterall, if those kids didn’t do well on those tests then the school would lose money and the principal could very well be fired. Yes, they could do a better job of preparing the kids by actually doing their jobs- hence making oil-on-the-desk unnecessary. But it’s hard to actually teach kids anything when there’s federal mandates pretty much stifling the school systems (and, from what I’ve heard other places, unions that prevent the firing of incompetent teachers, but that’s for another post). It’d be a whole other story if they mandated participation in religious ritual by the kids and/or staff, I’d just like to make that clear.
As for the title of this post…all I can say is NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND SUCKS DONKEY BALLS. The law decides how much money each public school district receives based on standardized testing. They also determine if administrators are going to have jobs based on the student’s performance. So, all flippin’ year long these kids prepare for these damned government mandated tests and these administrators pray, pray, pray that the kids pass. It’s especially bad because the good teachers can’t do their jobs effectively. Everything is taught toward the standardizedtest. Thanks, government asses. You did a heckuva job with that one, dickheads.*
Of course, I have to ask if you’d be upset were teachers to anoint the desk of your child. This only applies if the kids aren’t in the building and if they aren’t forced to bow their heads. Well?
* I had to actually cut off my tangent. I was getting way out of hand. Sorry ’bout that.
I Pray for an A so we get more Mon-ay…
Check this out. Who says there’s no prayer in school?
Now, I’ve been thinking if this would bother me if I were a parent of one of the anointed children. Firstly, the anointing was after hours. And no one would have known about it if they would have just anointed the underside of the desks with an tiny bit of oil (leaving no evidence, you see). But these idiots must have had the entire bottle of holy oil for the teachers to be able to see it the next day. Right? C’mon, now, didn’t they think of the mess?
The interesting part of the article, to me, is that the ACLU thinks the administrators crossed the line.
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m an ACLU supporter, but exactly what line did they cross? There would be crossing if the teachers were forced to participate in the anointing. And there’d be crossing if the students were forced to pray prior to the test. But none of that is true. No one was forced to participate in this crazy little ritual and it wasn’t done in front of anyone that might feel the least bit uncomfortable with it. But they did leave that mess and that’s a huge problem.
As a non-Christian, I don’t think I would have a problem with what they did. Only because my kid wasn’t singled out as a non-Christian during this ritual. And from what I can tell, no children were harmed in any way. Sure, the staff that participated made a gawd-awful mess on the desks, but they were desperate. Afterall, if those kids didn’t do well on those tests then the school would lose money and the principal could very well be fired. Yes, they could do a better job of preparing the kids by actually doing their jobs- hence making oil-on-the-desk unnecessary. But it’s hard to actually teach kids anything when there’s federal mandates pretty much stifling the school systems (and, from what I’ve heard other places, unions that prevent the firing of incompetent teachers, but that’s for another post). It’d be a whole other story if they mandated participation in religious ritual by the kids and/or staff, I’d just like to make that clear.
As for the title of this post…all I can say is NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND SUCKS DONKEY BALLS. The law decides how much money each public school district receives based on standardized testing. They also determine if administrators are going to have jobs based on the student’s performance. So, all flippin’ year long these kids prepare for these damned government mandated tests and these administrators pray, pray, pray that the kids pass. It’s especially bad because the good teachers can’t do their jobs effectively. Everything is taught toward the standardizedtest. Thanks, government asses. You did a heckuva job with that one, dickheads.*
Of course, I have to ask if you’d be upset were teachers to anoint the desk of your child. This only applies if the kids aren’t in the building and if they aren’t forced to bow their heads. Well?
* I had to actually cut off my tangent. I was getting way out of hand. Sorry ’bout that.
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