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Filed under: Lifestyle, High school, Public school, Teenager, 15-19 years, Books, Newspapers, SpiritualityRemember the case of the high school history teacher and part-time Baptist youth pastor who used his classtime to preach to his students? Remember the high schooler who taped him doing so and ended up getting a death threat for his trouble? Well, Matthew LaClair is in the news again, this time with an article in the Los Angeles Times.After the run-in with his bible-thumping history teacher, Matthew began to notice that his American Government textbook wasn't being very non-partisan either. "The text contains a statement, repeated three times, that students may not pray in public schools." A picture of students praying outside a school bears the caption "The Supreme Court will not let this happen inside a public school."This, of course, is patently untrue -- students are perfectly welcome to pray in school if they so desire. In fact, as the old joke goes, so long as there are tests, there will be school prayer. What is not allowed is school-led prayer where students are encouraged or required to pray. LaClair's interpretation is that "the purpose of the discussion in the textbook was to indoctrinate, not to educate."LaClair's point is that textbooks should present facts, not opinions. Hopefully, schools are teaching students to think so that they can form their own conclusions based on the facts given them. After all, I would think we want future generations to think for themselves, not to blindly follow whatever spin is handed to them on the nightly news.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments



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