Utah, USA: Uproar and apologies when public school teacher forced Catholic student to wipe Ash Wednesday cross off his forehead

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There was no uproar when a teacher in Georgia did a similar thing last year.
 
poche said:
There was no uproar when a teacher in Georgia did a similar thing last year.
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There should have been, because this is not okay.
I guarantee you that if anything like that had happened to a kid in my mother’s family, my mom or aunt or grandma or whoever the parent of the kid was would have raised the roof.
 
In our city, even the schools in the “good neighborhoods” are performing waaaaay below the “competency” standards. Out of the 30 or so public elementary schools, I think only one or two schools had more then 17% of students who achieved minimum reading scores, and I remember that the percentage was still only about 43%.

That means that well-over 50% of our current students will in all likelihood, grow up functionally-illiterate, therefore unable to work in even a trade, and since many of the low-wage service jobs are being replaced with technology (e.g., kiosks at fast-food restaurants), they will end up on public aid. It’s no wonder that over 3000 people moved OUT of our city last year, and many more will probably follow in the years to come. My husband and I are planning to move out as soon as we have our debts paid off. I hope we live that long–we have at least one shooting a day in our city, and it’s not limited to the “bad side” of town. ALL the sides in our city are “bad.”

There is also a good chance that they might turn to crime–the gangs are constantly recruiting people who are willing to live a very dangerous life and probably die an early, violent death, in exchange for a really nice car, fine apparel, all the drugs you want, and a bottomless wallet full of cash.

The schools with the good or outstanding achievement test scores are the private schools (both religious and secular, and we have all religions forming their own private schools) and the home schools. There are a few charter schools in the low-income neighborhoods, but they’ve only been around a few years, and every year, their scores are improving.

Interestingly–our property taxes are the 4th highest in the nation, and the biggest percentage of those taxes goes to funding the public schools. There is no chance of more funding from the taxpayers! No chance in Hades!

I don’t know what the answer is, but I think that educators need to try to find it. There has to be a way to educate kids from abysmal homes and families.
 
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Allegra said:
I have a really hard time believing that the teacher actually said that. In most states, Utah included, student have to pass a civics test on the constitution in order to graduate from high school. There is no way anyone could be licensed as a teacher without having read the first amendment.
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That’s the part that surprised me, too, but I still believe it happened.

You’d think somewhere in teacher training they’d be taught about situations like that and the legal environment, including the First Amendment.
 
These type of situations have been happening for years. I was born in 1952. I was Orthodox Jewish. When we moved to Florida, there weren’t the number of Jews living there as now except maybe Miami. We weren’t in Miami. This is when prayer was still in schools and since the Lords Prayer is a Christian prayer, I was taught to respectfully bow my head but not say it.

I had a teacher that thought otherwise. She noticed I wasn’t saying it and made me recite the prayer in front of the class. Needless to say, my mother went ballistic! The teacher just thought she was doing her Christian duty and was not particularly sympathetic. The solution was to move me into another class and the new teacher had no problem with my silence during prayer.

It was uncomfortable for everyone and due to ignorance more than malice or even evangelizing me. The original teacher just couldn’t understand why we couldn’t say a perfectly fine prayer.
 
If the student is wanting special treatment for religious reasons; it is perfectly reasonable for the teacher to request a report by the student to plead the case.
 
Allegra said:
There is no way anyone could be licensed as a teacher without having read the first amendment.
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Decades ago, when I was in public school, I had a teacher that could not read.

Years later I consider it a life lesson and use that lesson when interviewing prospective employees.
 
I thought this story was an excellent example of school employees I’d like in my schools. The boy had new ashes applied while both the teacher and principle seemed to give a heartfelt apology for their mistake. Mistakes happen so how you respond is what matters.
 
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And trouble for the schools, too. A lot of young gifted students expect authority figures to be smarter than them. If a gifted student gets it into his head that he’s smarter than the teacher, he’s liable to show contempt for her authority.
 
I had a teacher in 7th grade who could not spell. I corrected her spelling and she mocked me in front of the class and told me I was making it up. My mom was so mad she wrote a letter to the principal complete with the dictionary reference for the word.

About 20 years later I noticed that the teacher in question was now the principal at the next school over. I hope she improved her spelling before taking on that post.
 
I don’t watch a lot of the news panel shows, but I’ve seen Andrew Siciliano (ESPN) on Ash Wednesday with the ashes on his forehead, I saw one news host last week with ashes on her forehead. It’s kind of interesting. I know that’s a bit off-topic yet, at the same time, it brings the practice into the view of others who might not normally see that.

And so, it does relate to this topic some, in that, this student had it on and perhaps, the teacher was not that familiar with the practice.
 
If the home and family is the problem, why not publicly-funded boarding schools?
 
Now, I’m planning on watching her nightly show. I had seen her on Fox of course many times and knew who she was. I think she has a nightly show and so now, I’m going to try and watch it regularly.
 
That’s one way to go about it…eventually someone will take the school and teacher to court over it…and the school and teacher would lose…but it’d be interesting.
 
ewohdrol said:
That article was so dramatic.

The teacher apologised, wrote a note to the student and gave him a small gift.
Both the principal and teacher rang his main caregiver to apologise.

My guess is the teacher had NO IDEA about what ash Wednesday was and assumed the kid was being silly. Kids do silly things all the time.

Of course in hindsight she would realise it shouldn’t have happened that way. But not exactly a new worthy story.
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You think this is dramatic? Imagine if a Muslim girl were forced to remove her head scarf! The school would be sued for religious discrimination. Probably everyone at the school would be forced to take sensitivity training.

And this boy’s situation is worse because the ashes, once removed, cannot be put back after the teacher realized that her religious intolerance might be punished. Candy is hardly a substitute for the boy’s sign of penance. In fact, candy is the opposite of penance. (When I was a child, most children gave up candy for Lent.)
 
angel12 said:
From the school’s account:
“The district added that it called its director of educational equity, who is also an ordained Catholic deacon. He reapplied the ash cross to Williams’ forehead that afternoon.”
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👍…
 
Just because someone is forgiven doesn’t mean there are no consequences for their actions.
 
A few points I would like to share on the topic:
  1. Kudos to the young man and his family for bringing attention to the Lenten practice and handling it in a respectful manner that is reflective of the Catholic Faith. I’m glad to see the school took responsibility and apologized.
  2. I liked the previous comment made that brought attention to the fact that the child received candy on a day of fasting. I guess he waited until the next day to eat it.
  3. If it is indeed true that the teacher was not familiar with / never read the First Amendment, that is quite disturbing. If we have ignorance educating our youth, our future is very bleak. (I’m not saying that all teachers are ignorant. Of course they are not. This is more of a general comment.) As a society I think we have lost sight of the importance of a sound education and passing knowledge on to our children. I believe educating ourselves, keeping abreast of the day’s issues, practicing faith and respecting each other and our differences is the foundation for making sound decisions. It’s a big responsibility, and we all can do a better job.
 
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No it isn’t. Not unless the “special treatment” requires a change in curriculum or alternate assignments. The first amendment has already pleaded the student’s case. It’s the teacher’s responsibility to know it.
 
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