Religion in schools

I find it strange that 61% of survey takers strongly agree that speakers should be allowed to offer public prayer in schools. Yet 48% strongly agree that there should be a separation of the church and state because the first amendment states it so. I'm going to have to go with the first amendment here and say there should be a separation of the church and state. How can speakers praying in public schools abide by the first amendment? There are many people at schools with different religions and they all cant be doing their religious practices in school, otherwise its not so much school anymore. If someone must practice their religion, go to a church or masque or something that's not school. I am christian and still I would find it very irritating for speakers to praying or offering prayer because school is no time place for those practices. I don't want to be distracted while I'm learning. However, I do feel it is completely necessary to learn about religions in school through educational means and practices. This means schools can not favor one religion over another, or try to force it or its practices upon the students. School should simply teach about the religion mainly because "much of history, art, music, literature and contemporary life is unintelligible without an understanding of the major religious ideas and influences that have shaped history and culture throughout the world."Religion encompasses all these valuable aspects of history that every student should learn about. Then students will understand that there are different types of religions all over the world that effect culture and lifestyle. However, when teaching history, it is not right to change it for political benefits. Texas is still trying to change its history textbooks so that they may promote Christianity and promote "bible-based foundations of America." Others want to leave out Christianity altogether. This would be wrong because its effects were present in the history making of America. I say, leave it how it is, history should be told only by fact with no influential text or teachers. Just teach history how it actually happened and we'll learn from it.

Sept 11 video

Before this video, I didn't know too much about sept 11th. When it happened, I was young and didn't think too much of it because I never witnessed some of the things I saw on the video. First of all, I never really knew how big the twin towers were, until I saw the plane flying below the towers because they were so tall. So in the next clip, when the building was on fire I thought of how huge the building was and all the people it held inside. One of the most compelling things I saw was the man jumping out of the building. He must of had no other choice. It made me think of all the other people trapped with nowhere to go. I couldn't imagine being in that position. Also, I've never seen the second plane hit before. It was unbelievable to see a large plane look so small flying full-force into a huge building. To me it seemed fake, or impossible. I cant imagine what the New Yorkers felt. After these two seemingly invincible buildings collapsed, it seemed like all hope was lost. It made everyone afraid and part of the city look like a ghost town. However, the next day people came together and were inspired by the firefighters and other helpers' diligence, that they began to feel the need to help. I feel like this represents America as a whole; we all come from so many places and cultures, but we all live in the same place and will come together to fight any evil.

Speech codes restricting?

Doing my hw for Issues on speech codes, I found that most speech codes are necessary. FIRE makes it seem like a simple rule "directly restricts the first amendment," however I believe most of the codes are not restrictions, but guidelines to ensure a safe and peaceful environment that a school should have. For example, I looked at NIU and FIRE rated them a "red light" school. Looking over the speech codes described as a "red light," I found they are there for the purpose of protecting the students and their right to learn in peace. The only thing the speech code "restricts" is the behaviors and speeches of people that will directly disturb, harass, or threaten another student.