PUBLIC PRAYER...IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL!
Prayer at the beginning of the day is becoming routine--no, not at home, but at school. Norkem Park High School is a public school where prayer is practised daily.
Daily staff meetings at 7:30am are also becoming a routine (albeit required by administration). On the walk to the second floor staff lounge, where the regulated meetings are held, one passes by a staging area of the school where the Interim Disciplinary Committee assembles. The IDC are senior school leaders, chosen the year before on the basis of their leadership abilities, overall grades, and attitude. To compare them to American schools, they might be considered similar to a student council, but these young leaders have certain responsibilities in helping maintain order and discipline in the school.
There are approximately 32 members--each wears a distinctive green, blazer-like coat that features badges and patches signifying their accomplishments at NPHS. A black blazer is given to the two top achievers in the class; it is highlighted by black/white piping.
Mr. Thomas Tervit, one of the assistant principals, leads the IDC youngsters each morning with brief announcements, directions on their duties that day, some words of advice/encouragement--and a focused prayer. The gathering always takes place in a tight circle, which grows tighter as the participants drape their arms around each other in a loving, prayerful manner. Heads are bowed as the gravelly-voiced Tervit offers a prayer...or sometimes a volunteer from the group will pray.
Following the prayer, the group disbands and joins the entire school body in an outdoor, bricked assembly area located between two three-story, yellow/brown, brick campus buildings (there are approximately 1,400 learners in the grade 8-12 school). IDC members fan out and help maintain order in the neat, disciplined rows , assembled by grade. Mr. Tervit climbs three concrete steps to a podium that reminds one of a solid concrete bunker on the beaches of Normandy.
The aforementioned gravelly voice suddenly becomes a lion-like roar, amplifyed by a speaker system that gives meaning to the term "boom box." He admonishes the gathered crowd of learners for indiscretions of talking while he has the microphone; sometimes he bellows at them for too much litter on the school grounds. Mr. T., as he is affectionally called, can give way to praise too. He knows how to "work the crowd."
Even here, there are times when his voice softens and he requests the huge throng to bow their heads for a prayer. He has been known to improvise a prayer for academic success that particular day. There is total silence on the grounds when a prayer is being said--there are no protests.
Recently, an internet news account related how the Georgia Senate (USA), approved a Bible class bill--the vote was 50 to 1 in favor of a bill that would allow the state board of education to offer elective high school classes in Biblical history, as long as instruction was done in an "objective and nondevotional manner." According to the news story, the measure now heads to the state house.
I'm convinced if the curriculum here had Biblical history, there would be no controversy. The vast majority of families sending their youngsters to Norkem Park High School are Christian. Even so, there is evident sensitivity to religious matters pertaining to the small minority of non-Christians at this public school. There is no evidence of acquiescence to those who would question the majority religious belief.
Biblical readings are heard at any school meeting; administrators read scripture and quote from the Bible readily. There was an honors assembly the past week with a standing-room only auditorium--full of proud, beaming parents and their children. A fellow teacher read a verse from the Bible and led the crowd in prayer.
The routine of prayer is an important component of learning at NPHS. Being a participant in the IDC meeting in the morning has become a pleasure for me. It's truly a delight to add it to the smiles, greetings, and gestures of friendliness toward those young learners I encounter daily. Prayer, it seems, has become ordinary, in this, my extraordinary life here as a Fulbright exchange teacher in South Africa.
Daily staff meetings at 7:30am are also becoming a routine (albeit required by administration). On the walk to the second floor staff lounge, where the regulated meetings are held, one passes by a staging area of the school where the Interim Disciplinary Committee assembles. The IDC are senior school leaders, chosen the year before on the basis of their leadership abilities, overall grades, and attitude. To compare them to American schools, they might be considered similar to a student council, but these young leaders have certain responsibilities in helping maintain order and discipline in the school.
There are approximately 32 members--each wears a distinctive green, blazer-like coat that features badges and patches signifying their accomplishments at NPHS. A black blazer is given to the two top achievers in the class; it is highlighted by black/white piping.
Mr. Thomas Tervit, one of the assistant principals, leads the IDC youngsters each morning with brief announcements, directions on their duties that day, some words of advice/encouragement--and a focused prayer. The gathering always takes place in a tight circle, which grows tighter as the participants drape their arms around each other in a loving, prayerful manner. Heads are bowed as the gravelly-voiced Tervit offers a prayer...or sometimes a volunteer from the group will pray.
Following the prayer, the group disbands and joins the entire school body in an outdoor, bricked assembly area located between two three-story, yellow/brown, brick campus buildings (there are approximately 1,400 learners in the grade 8-12 school). IDC members fan out and help maintain order in the neat, disciplined rows , assembled by grade. Mr. Tervit climbs three concrete steps to a podium that reminds one of a solid concrete bunker on the beaches of Normandy.
The aforementioned gravelly voice suddenly becomes a lion-like roar, amplifyed by a speaker system that gives meaning to the term "boom box." He admonishes the gathered crowd of learners for indiscretions of talking while he has the microphone; sometimes he bellows at them for too much litter on the school grounds. Mr. T., as he is affectionally called, can give way to praise too. He knows how to "work the crowd."
Even here, there are times when his voice softens and he requests the huge throng to bow their heads for a prayer. He has been known to improvise a prayer for academic success that particular day. There is total silence on the grounds when a prayer is being said--there are no protests.
Recently, an internet news account related how the Georgia Senate (USA), approved a Bible class bill--the vote was 50 to 1 in favor of a bill that would allow the state board of education to offer elective high school classes in Biblical history, as long as instruction was done in an "objective and nondevotional manner." According to the news story, the measure now heads to the state house.
I'm convinced if the curriculum here had Biblical history, there would be no controversy. The vast majority of families sending their youngsters to Norkem Park High School are Christian. Even so, there is evident sensitivity to religious matters pertaining to the small minority of non-Christians at this public school. There is no evidence of acquiescence to those who would question the majority religious belief.
Biblical readings are heard at any school meeting; administrators read scripture and quote from the Bible readily. There was an honors assembly the past week with a standing-room only auditorium--full of proud, beaming parents and their children. A fellow teacher read a verse from the Bible and led the crowd in prayer.
The routine of prayer is an important component of learning at NPHS. Being a participant in the IDC meeting in the morning has become a pleasure for me. It's truly a delight to add it to the smiles, greetings, and gestures of friendliness toward those young learners I encounter daily. Prayer, it seems, has become ordinary, in this, my extraordinary life here as a Fulbright exchange teacher in South Africa.
posted by JOBURG JOURNAL at 12:10 AM
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