Do you think schools should be allowed to force students to participate in political statements?

Well I don’t see an issue with honoring the dead. It’s more all the other issues in schools I have an issue with like teachers buying supplies with their own money, teaching false or incomplete watered down history, not letting kids eat because they have lunch debt, as well as not even letting philanthropists pay off lunch debt because apparently it’s about sending the message to poor people? Who knows…

No. They should not be allowed to do this. No national anthem.

I don’t think a moment of silence for the dead is a political statement. I can’t remember what was done for 9/11 when it happened (I was in 5th grade at the time). Looking back, I find the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to be a bit odd (something that was not done past 5th grade here).

@Demosthenes: “I don’t think a moment of silence for the dead is a political statement.”

I’m not sure what else you could call it. What if the moment of silence was for dead soldiers? Would that change anything? What if it were for tens of thousands of people who die per year in the US due to lack of healthcare?

I agree that it is not a political statement. The kids, and the staff, welcome the respite from the daily schedule.

Not in a free and democratic republic.

The moment of silence is more of a respectful remembrance than a political statement.

@hmmmmmm Those would not bother me, no. We give students Veterans Day and Memorial Day off so that is in a way already acknowledging the importance of soldiers. If there were a Lack of Health Care Death Day and a school wanted to have a moment of silence, I’d be alright with that.

@Demosthenes: “We give students Veterans Day and Memorial Day off so that is in a way already acknowledging the importance of soldiers.”

Correct. They are not in school forced to have a moment of silence, right?

Anyway, you would be ok with it, but is it not a political statement? What about a moment of silence for dead fetuses killed by abortions? Moment of silence for those killed at the hand of US imperialism? Moment of silence for those murdered by cops every year?

I’m not asking you to necessarily evaluate whether you agree with these things or at what point does it conflict with your ideology. Rather, I can’t see how “silence for the dead isn’t a political statement”.

I don’t think a moment of silence for the victims of a terrorist attack is a political statement, no. It does not endorse a particular political view, but plays to a universal regard for the dead. The other examples you give are more tied to political views (opposition to abortion, criticism of imperialism, advocacy of police reform, etc.)

^ I’m not just being difficult here. I’m really attempting to understand your position here, and what is allowed and why.

9/11 is extremely political. And choosing to honor these people over any other is an overtly political act.

I disagree @hmmmmmm. It could be political, but if people chose to take a moment to remember that moment, it’s simply a memorial and not political.
Anybody remember the 60s of silence Yoko Ono asked the world to participate in, in which to honor John? That wasn’t political.

I suppose, in some cases at least, honor is in the eye of the beholder.

I think a school can tell students to go to a particular classroom or to the gym or the auditorium. If there is a moment of silence for someone who has died I would expect the students to respect the silence, but I never will support forcing them to stand or recite something. Also, if the moment is some sort of photo op I am against that too. I guess if a student has a strong objection they should be allowed to go to the admin office to sit it out.

I don’t understand why students need to be assembled for a minute of silence. That’s it? The minute and they go back to their classrooms? Why not just do the minute in their own classrooms?

Schools should be upfront with their requirements on students. That way the students will have a better fit with their schools.
I would have been better off homeschooling.
For example I went to a Catholic school and refused to pray in the morning. I hid it by showing up late.

Private schools can do what they want so long as there is clear communication with students and families and what they ask students to do isn’t illegal. You can always decide not to attend that school.

Public schools are paid for with tax dollars and thus answer to the public, via the school board, town, department of education. If the majority of the tax paying public in your school district are okay with the pledge of allegiance and such, then it happens. Whether these actions are explicitly political is debatable, but I personally don’t find a moment of silence political.

In end, your student can abstain. My daughter goes to a Catholic School, but doesn’t participate in the morning, school-wide prayer. She just stands there with her eyes closed and collects her thoughts for the day.

There are no nuns beating her with rulers in this day and age.

No, they should be focused on regular education. Political stuff, should be by choice.