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Show EditOllctlS Forum A Word To The Masses: The Point Is. Liz Peterson Forum Editor What Ill Miss Thc quirky professors. Especially the ones who are smart and quirky. 2. Running through campus. You have to run because none of the sidewalks make sense. Apparently whoever made them didnt know the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. 3. The nooks and crannies on campus. 4. Converse Hall. 5. The view from the Forum Office, especially the sunsets. 6. Constant edification. 7. The liberal isolation within a 1.- non-liber- al city. Lori Prawitt Forum Copy Editor People who are hypocritical and strike me as contemptible. That may sound trite, but it is nonetheless true and very much on my mind these days. I owe this to a friendship that dissolved over a very sensitive and sequestered subone which I think no one holds ject absolute claim to, no one is master of, and certainly no one is more blessed that anyone else holding different opinions. The issue at hand here, as if it werent evident, is religion. I cant comprehend the mentality of people who go through their lives lying, cheating, raising hell and generally making people miserable, and then suddenly turn into proselytizing, It seems that all people have find is to do God, and suddenly they are so suffused with light and enriched with goodness they can snub, shun, lecture and discredit anyone who is.itin sync with self-righteo- us Bible-thumpi- ng Religion In School, Utah Style bias so prevalent among many Gentiles in this state. Ive gotten into tiffs with other education students about this subject My basic premise is that every child must feel accepted in his or her classroom, and that by celebrating holidays specific to one religion (or family of religions, e.g. Christianity) and assuming that itsOK to do that, we run the risk of making some children feel second-ratOne Westminster student working as a nanny for a Jewish family told me that her employers were upset because Christian customs were celebrated as a matter of course in their chilcjg public school classroom. The future teacher told those parents that if they didnt want Christianity taught to their children, they should enroll them in the Jewish Community Centers elementary school. HUH? Whats wrong with this picture? Excuse me, but how about if you do want religious customs celebrated, you choose a parochial school, ' and if you don t, you choose public school? I dont think that this is a hard concept, but I have taken a lot of heat over it the extreme The role of religion in the public schools is always a hot topic across the country, especially as graduations loom. Public prayer? Evolution? Creationism? Humanism? You can get a good discussion going almost as fast as if you were discussing abortion rights. Ive been in a few on campus with my fellow education majors. In Utah we dont even get a chance to get into the deeper, meatier issues such as what constitutes teaching religion rather than teaching about religion ... here we havent even gotten beyond assuming that all of our public school students are Christian! As a mother of elementary school students, Ihavein thepastmonth requested suggested that my daughters second grade class party be called a Spring rather than an Easter celebration. The teacher didnt seem angry or embarrassed; her reaction was simply, Oh, thats a good idea! Its her second year of teaching; am I to believe that never before in her experience at Elementary or during her education at the University of Utah has she been exposed to the concept of keeping religious assumptions out of her classroom? Or is she like some of my fellow Westminster students who either just dont get it or , who have strong personal feelings on the issue and are unwilling to compromise? I also have strong personal feelings about this subject, and I also am unwilling to compromise. True, I am not a Christian, and thatprobably does affect my emotional response to the issue. BUT! I cannot bc- -' lieve that my failure to assume that a student of mine is Christian will make any child in my class uncomfortable. On theotherhand, blithely assuming that were all one big happy family in Christ will surely lead to discomfort on the part of any child who happens not to belong to the fold (just ask any product of a Utah public school). What we as teachers must remember is that the child who quietly accepts the tacit message that belonging in the classroom is dependent upon belonging to a particular church may react in one of the following ways: 1) if she is a member of non-Morm- on the dominant culture, a belief that social acceptance or superiority is gained through church membership is bolstered, 2) if she belongs toadifferentreligion (or none at all), she may feel secretive or even ashamed about it, or 3) she may develop i anti-Morm- on e. . I would nod, their enlightenment. To me, that is truly wonderful The Church is. ' smile and say, Thats nice. But when he distasteful. Simply put, I despise the conconvicviction that there is differential treatment couldnt get me to agree with his tions, his eyes would bulge, his face would coming from up above. For the benefit of those people who turn a desperate crimson, and he would are so blinded by their enlightenment relentlessly spew religious platitudes. (I him only by singing my tauntthey cannot bear to cast their eyes upon could stop bewords written against their religion, I ing rhyme about Ezra T. Benson just I should state the nature of my disgruntle-men- t. ing on a big acid trip, and how can prove I am angry with certain idiosyncra.it.) My, impermeable stance on religion sies belonging to some members of The was the ultimate demise of our friendship. The problem lay in the fact that my Church. (In the state of Utah, The friend had no comprehension of how I Church refers exclusively to the Morcould be a happy person without The the rest of us are insignifimon church Bud-- , Church in my life. It was odd, because my cant worshipers of false gods friend could accept the fact that other dhism is idolatry.) Its not as if I were a Mormon basher people werent Mormon, people he and Im not going to start a collection thought perhaps were not up to par, or of severed heads and keep them in steel people who seemed hopelessly unhappy. drums in my basement either. 1 just have But he saw me as happy, successful and to air some bad feelings against some very much his equal. For him, it just didnt off LDSers who have pissed me process. To my friend, adjectives associated with success and contentment are by treating me like refuse for not believoops, I mean synonymous or results of The Church. ing their secret world This friend, who deserted me besacred word. cause of my unyielding non belief was an My paternal grandmother is a good I example of the type of person am angry incorrigible ruffian in his youth. He is now a convert of The Church, yet he is a with. She was what I like to call, drastically, relentlessly Mormon. However, regular Wendover excursionist, buys term fate would have it that I was not raised papers, tells "little white lies," drinks Coke and eats a lot of chocolate (both containwithin The Church. When I was older, and decided not to ing the C substance). He drinks hot tea fall into the grasping, clutching arms of and cocoa, and is the first to snatch up any The Church, this woman, who for all Valium his mother may absentmindedly leave around. But that isnt the issue, he intents and purposes loved me, suddenly became a stranger. My usefulness would say; being a member of The Church as a human being was lost. My potential is. And although I fit the mold of a nice, for talent could never be developed by a happy, good Child of God, my ticket to ward road show. Gadzooks I was nothheaven has not yet been purchased. His, is now and probably on the other hand, has. For this reason , I m ing. She is dead smiling down on me thinking, Yes, Lori, not worthy of his friendship on the earthly level of existence. you were right. I don t think I have all of the answers; The point is that he lost a good friend in fact, I dont feel anyone has a uniquely because of the blinders he refuses to reaccurate answer (especially a certain move. I never judged him until he began to someone whose belief is based around an judge me and at least I admit (and quite Comenormous space ship captained by enjoy, Thank you) all of my vices. So the mander Haton). I just dont want people next person who meets me, decides that I telling me they know answers, they can am good, nice, happy, etc., and has to make me know, and I will be better off qualify it with an Are you a member of The Church? question, please refrain and knowing. I had a friend who would talk until he go about your business. Cant we all just . was blue in the face, telling me how get along? . When I brought up my admittedly theory in our education seminar rate day .some students stopped afterward to thank me. Unfortunately, as I heard from several (Mormon, incidentally) friends later, other students freely expressed the opinion that if I dont want my children practicing Christianity, then Im in the wrong state. Again, HUH? earth-shaki- ng Becoming An Adult, More Or Less Georgia Patience Forum Staff Writer Utah is still in the United States, right? The constitution still applies? Perhaps. What really scares me about the wrong state crowd is that they presumably will be teaching in public schools. Even out in West Jordan where I live there families; are a number of many schools in the state have a widely diverse student population. Will these children be made to feel that they dont quite belong in Utah...in that schooL.in that classroom? Will these teachers be able to let go of their preconceived notions of whats normal and create an accepting environment for all students? Or will they help to create the next generawith plenty of tion of Mormon-basher- s stories about how it was in their school ? Westminster hasa reputation for turning out fine teachers. I believe that it is time we take steps to ensure that those teachers are, if not totally unbiased, then at least sensitive to thereality that even Utah is a multicultural and multireligious state. ed Thestrangestthingaboutgrowingolder is looking back on past experiences and realizing that lam changing. No longer do I act like a girl giggling and using the language that they use. I see a girl like that, and I always think, I probably never acted that way (no,notme).Now six years out of high school and soon out of college, I am constantly looking back in retrospect of the things I have done and the plans I have for the future. Fresh out of high school, my priorities wereslightly skewed. Whatweremyfriends doing? What should I wear ? Do I have a date for the weekend? Well, I still have nothing to wear, but my worries are a bit more significant My responsibilities are greater now, too. Every day, I become more and more an adult . I refuse to believe that on May 4, 1991, my 2 1 birthday, I woke up and was suddenly an adult Im easing into the transition with a little reluctance. The greatest thing about becoming an adult is that I get to decide. If I make a stupid mistake, its OK because I decided to make that stupid mistake (and I decide that it is stupid and is a mistake). high-scho- non-Christi- an well-deserv- Don't Be Blinded By Religion self-righteo- us rs. Martha Vasquez Guest Editorial April 19, 1994 - ol With being able to decide comes more and more decisions to make. Take, for instance, the grocery store. The foods I choose often come with a toy in the package. This tells me that maybe Im not as much of an adult as I would like to believe. Another clue that' I am resisting this adult thing is the television programming I enjoy. While Im home (if Im not studying, of course), I turn on cartoons with the sound down and the stereo on. I am a cartoon junkie. I have cable because there are more cartoons. Cartoons are great because you can turn on a cartoon, and at no matter what point in the program, you know whats going on. In the late afternoon its cartoons, talk shows or soap operas. Are they educational? I hardly think so. Is this adult behavior? Hey, Ill decide. Maybe as I finish up school and get out into the real world, I will become more of a adult I can always reflect on the lessons I learned from cartoons, such as dont purchase explosive equipment from ACME; it always backfires. Dont ever get under a floating boulder, because the second you do, that baby will drop on you. And most importantly, if I ever run off of a cliff, I can actually go about 5 or 6 feet, suspended in air, so-call- ed before I will plummet to the Earth below. |