School Prayer

Every so often a controversy erupts about prayer in school. Unfortunately what some people want is a return to indoctrination of religious values. The problem with this in a pluralistic society is, which religion? Which church? Which dogma? If it had been allowed, I think I would have led them. How many folks would care for that? Prayer, like sex education, is best taught at home.

I assure you that prayer has never left schools. As long as there are tests, it never will. Children do pray before tests. I know. I have seen it.

Test-taking is a skill, just like swinging a baseball bat. It can be taught, learned, practiced, and be readily applied. You can help your children to like tests for what they really are: contests of skill. We learn to fear tests when we have experienced failure on tests. We experiences failure because we did not study and prepare for the test. We learn to fear tests when our personal worth is determined by the result of a test. The test result is only a determination, a measurement of personal effort.

These are different kinds of measurements. If you cannot tell and know the difference it would be best if you never discuss grades with your child. If you cannot tell and know the difference it would be best if you never act upon that knowledge. It would be best if you never discuss performance reports about anything your child has done at school.

Many students don’t even do the simplest of study plans. They often not taught the simplest of study plans. That simple plan is to read the material once.

The rest of a well-organized study plan is to read the material a second time. Then think about the material for longer then two minutes. Take organized notes on the material. Make an outline of the material. Write down five questions about the material you would ask if you were the teacher. Write answers to these questions the next day without looking at the material, or your notes. Ask a fellow student to look at your questions and answers and discuss the answers. Want to practice using my study plan?

Encourage your child to close his, or her eyes, and silently offer a prayer as a method of calming and concentrating their mental focus before starting the test.

Sometime, one time, in either 4th or 5th grade, I found myself too overconfident. I was too “busy” to put in the usual time spent studying my weekly spelling list. I tried to bluff my way through. It didn’t work. I failed the test.

I was smart enough to take my speller home for the weekend. I expected my teacher to rat on me to my father about my little problem. I was right about that.

After dinner that night, my Dad told me to go get my speller and meet him in the living room. A few questions later, he and I came to the same conclusion. That I’d not put sufficient time into studying my spelling list for that week. Dad very quietly went on to say that he thought it was time that he helped me. He was going to help me learn how to learn. He was also going to help me learn how properly prioritize my efforts. He was also going to help me learn how properly pay attention to this task. He never raised his voice, not once.

Somehow that made it even worse.

He had me begin by standing in front of him. First I learned how to recite, spell aloud, correctly each word of that week’s list from top to bottom. Plus the “extra” words at the end. Every time, I made an error, we started again at the top. Then I learned how to recite, spell aloud, correctly each word of that whole list from bottom to top. Every time, I made an error, we started again at the bottom. Then I learned how to recite, spell aloud, correctly each word of that whole list randomly. We continued this until I’d correctly spelled each word at least twice. Then we went through each variation one more time: top to bottom, bottom to top, and randomly. Then I learned to spell, recite aloud, correctly the spelling of each word in the list, randomly, in reverse. “Cow” became “woc.”

“How do I do that?” I asked.

“Visualize the word before you say the first letter,” Dad said.

Then I learned the list for the next week, in the same way. There was a follow-up lesson on Sunday night.

I remember agreeing that it probably wouldn’t be necessary to repeat this kind of lesson again. And it wasn’t necessary. That two hours of a very quiet spelling lesson was enough for me. I learned that if I spent enough time at it, I could learn. I knew I didn’t want or need much assistance or encouragement again to put in the necessary time.

Does your child need a similar helpful lesson in how to learn?

(c) Copyright 2006: George Wallace recently published a book on religion which lashes out at nearly all of the comfortable ideas about God, the trappings of organized religion, and the priesthood. His pithy comments and suggestions for a return to a God-centered personal religion will interest everyone. This article may be freely reprinted so long as all copyright attributions, and the full content of this resource box are included. www.OhGodIsThatYou.com

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