[ti:Letting Religion Into the Classroom, but Setting Limits] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:Education Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:02.93]Education Report. [00:05.04]Public schools in the United States [00:07.60]have to be neutral about religion, [00:10.36]even though they close [00:11.84]for holidays like Christmas. [00:13.93]The Constitution separates religion [00:17.04]from government. [00:18.37]Researcher Charles Haynes [00:20.40]explains what it says. [00:22.07]"'Congress shall make [00:23.66]no law respecting [00:25.51]an establishment of religion, [00:27.03]or prohibiting the free [00:29.00]exercise thereof ... ' [00:30.51]Those sixteen words [00:32.30]provide the framework [00:33.95]for how we deal with religion [00:36.18]in our public schools." [00:37.59]Those words are part [00:39.23]of the First Amendment, [00:40.90]which guarantees freedom [00:42.68]of expression and other rights. [00:45.22]Charles Haynes is a senior scholar [00:47.98]at the First Amendment Center, [00:50.18]a group that studies free [00:52.46]expression issues. [00:53.99]In the last generation or so, [00:56.60]different groups have encouraged [00:59.12]public schools to celebrate [01:01.38]diversity and cultural differences. [01:04.16]At the same time, [01:06.15]courts have ruled against [01:08.47]any publicly supported celebrations [01:11.36]of one religion over another. [01:14.49]Charles Haynes thinks the schools [01:16.88]are generally doing a good job. [01:19.30]"So public schools now [01:21.39]I think understand that [01:23.33]their role is to expose students [01:26.51]to learning about different religions [01:28.41]in a fair way, an objective way. [01:32.26]Their role is to protect [01:34.83]the religious liberty rights of students; [01:37.41]if they want to express their faith, [01:39.51]they may do so. [01:41.00]But school officials [01:43.09]under the First Amendment [01:44.77]may not take sides in religion." [01:46.72]Hollie Jones teaches six year olds [01:49.92]at a public school [01:51.21]in Loudon County,Virginia. [01:53.66]Each December, she has her students [01:56.62]make posters about their [01:58.92]own celebrations at home [02:00.90]and present them to the class. [02:03.36]The posters are discussed [02:05.77]and then shown on the walls [02:08.26]at the school. [02:09.36]And what celebrations [02:11.13]have been represented? [02:12.49]"Four years looking back, [02:13.94]we've had some students [02:16.19]will do Hanukkah, some Kwanzaa, [02:19.17]some Christmas. [02:20.76]Some we've had in the past [02:23.14]do the Chinese New Year. [02:24.30]This year I had a student [02:28.08]whose father was from Iceland, [02:29.50]and he did the Icelandic Elf School, [02:32.22]and talked about [02:33.24]all the different elves [02:34.36]that are represented [02:35.68]and their names [02:36.96]and their meanings." [02:38.85]Some children come [02:40.42]from families with [02:41.70]more than one religion. [02:42.74]" I have had many students [02:45.85]who come from a blended culture family [02:48.53]who perhaps the mother [02:50.81]celebrated Hanukkah [02:51.90]and the father celebrated [02:53.22]a different holiday, [02:54.28]and so they really do both [02:56.55]within their home." [02:57.81]Hollie Jones says the children [02:59.70]always ask lots of questions [03:02.17]about the traditions of other families. [03:05.24]"And it's really interesting [03:06.90]because for many children, [03:07.87]especially in first grade, [03:09.01]they are very unaware that [03:10.14]these different things go on [03:11.46]in other homes. [03:12.86]So it's not necessarily imposing [03:16.36]other religions on them, [03:18.13]but just kind of creating a sense [03:19.88]of awareness in celebration [03:21.05]of how different and diverse [03:22.43]just within our classroom we are." [03:24.31]And Charles Haynes says [03:25.92]that is one of the purposes [03:27.89]of public education in America. [03:30.63]And that's the VOA Special English [03:34.26]Education Report, [03:35.57]written by Nancy Steinbach. [03:37.73]You can find transcripts [03:39.99]and podcasts of our reports, [03:42.31]and you can post comments, [03:44.15]at 51voa.com. And you can find us [03:49.83]on Twitter and YouTube [03:52.07]at VOA Learning English. [03:54.88]I'm Steve Ember.