Hacker News Reader

Comment by moocowduckquack | Hacker News Reader

In schools, some countries tell the kids to do morning prayer, and some tell them to sing the national anthem. Some countries tell them to do both. I can't think of that many countries where they are not normally prompted to do either one or the other.

View on HN

> I can't think of that many countries where they are not normally prompted to do either one or the other.

Most countries I lived in don't prompt either. (And in Germany, people would be out on the streets if a school did that kind of prompting.)

In Canada we don't do either in public schools. Singing the national anthem is pretty much reserved just for Remembrance Day, maybe with a little bit of practice for a few days beforehand to avoid embarrassment at not knowing the lyrics. Certainly no prayers are ever said at school.

I'm Canadian and not that old (30's), and I was required to both sing the national anthem and recite The Lord's Prayer daily in grade school. Granted it might have been an exception as it was a small town.

I'd be surprised if that was an exception; I'm only a decade younger (and Canadian) and only missed out on The Lord's Prayer. But sung the anthem every morning. And I'm not in a small town... If that's changed, it changed recently.

Education in Canada varies heavily by province (and intra-province which education system you're in) which could explain some differences in your experiences.

Australian (30's). We recited The Lord's Prayer daily in public primary school (the Government run one) and regularly sang the national anthem.

I'm Canadian (26) and I was required to sing the national anthem every morning while attending school in Ontario (Toronto). This was not the case when I attended school in Quebec (Montreal). I think daily anthem singing is determined by the local school board.

There are many countries which prompt for neither prayer nor patriotism. Ireland certainly does not and I don't think the UK does either (certain very religious schools of course may differ).

Bizarrely, in the UK there is a law which mandates daily religious worship in all state-maintained schools:

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151655/htt...

"Since the 1944 Education Act, re-enacted in all subsequent Education Acts, there has been a statutory requirement that all maintained schools must provide a daily act of collective worship for all registered pupils, unless they have been withdrawn by their parents. The Education Act 1988 removed the requirement for this to take place at the start of the school day. Collective Worship can now take place any time of the school day."

In practice, the law is widely ignored.

Confirming that the UK does not do either, although there are some schools that are co-funded with the Church of England.

NB: I went to CoE schools for 7 years of my K12 education, and came out an atheist. I think part of it is to do with the teaching - even at a church school, we were encouraged to question everything, and had at least an hour a week where we learned about other religions in a very objective light.

I believe that on many levels, education comes down to that learning to question - and when you're told to believe things unquestioningly, you're intentionally breeding ignorance. My take is that it's not so much about schools having prayer etc, but the way they encourage thought. Kids are smart; if they're allowed to think for themselves, they will.

We had to say the lords prayer at school in the morning and regularly take part in christian services that you couldn't opt out of unless your parents insisted and that was in a UK state high school about 15 years ago.

Portugal here, we have none of that. What was exactly the point you were trying to make?

Netherlands here, no such thing in public schools, friends of mine who went to Catholic schools do mention morning prayers, I'm still thankful my parents sent me to a public school!

Hmm. I went to a local school here in the UK and remember sitting in a hall singing hymns and then having to say prayers. Although, judging by what my younger sister told me, that's out the window now.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com