Should public schools start the day with silent prayer?

Amalia Azra M // 11 J

Every human in our society has an obligation to go to an

educational institution such as school or college. But why do we go
to school? We cant just answer it by saying we need to go to
school because our parents said so! because its not a valid answer.
Some of the main reason as to why we need to go to school is
because, one, it helps each and every one of the students to learn
about basics (and even complicated) things that they need to know
to get through life and by learning about many types of subject,
they began to build their interest and match them to their perfect
set of careers that they are interested in, thus helping them to have
a successful life in the future. With that many things to learn about,
students will spend a lot of their time in school. Based on a data by
helpmeinvestigate.com, in primary school, Indonesias student
spend most of their time in their classroom with the total of 1,252
hours of learning per year but In the US, primary school students
spend 1,096 learning per year. With this much time spent, it means
that these students spend their time at school just as much as them
being at home and with all of this time, it leads up to some
questions, including students belief and how are they applying it in
their daily lives, and also simple things such as prayers.
First off all, lets talk about how the question includes the word should and
understand what it means. The dictionary defines the word as indicating a desirable
or expected state and this means that this does not mean that we are forcing them
(the students) to do so. With that being said, I believe that students in public
school (who wants to) should start the day with silent prayer
because of a couple of reasons. First of all, countries such as the US,
they have a principle called freedom of religion. School prayers
are also allowing the students to observe their religious beliefs
during their time in school, which will develop them as an individual
and as a person. In some countries, religion is viewed as something
necessary, and even became a part of the culture and one of the
countries that does this is Indonesia. Religion in this particular
country influences on how people think and even affects how the
government works; it is known that although Islam is not the base of
the state, it does influence on political decisions that the
government makes. In Indonesia, the citizens are also required to
believe in a certain religion and atheism is socially unacceptable
(even though there is no law in banning that ideology). People who
do admit that theyre an atheist by publicizing it through social
networks have been reported to be threatened by their local
community and arrested by the police on charges of blasphemy;
charges that can lead to imprisonment. But, it doesnt mean that
this kind of things happens to every country or place in the world.
But it is something worth considering when we are questioning the
topic about silent prayers in public schools.
Back then, religion is not something people really debated
about when compared to whats happening right now. Nowadays,
people will fight each other (verbally nor physically) just because
they have different believes or have different views on something, in
this case, religion. With all the ruckus going on, it safe to say that
this type of conflict is happening around the world and to share the
story around, news and media are there to help. But, we all know
that they will exaggerate things beyond belief. With that being said,
this leads us to the first con, which is, there are some students who
are not religious or doesnt even believe in god or a higher power.
Now, we are living in such a diverse world where people have
different skin colors, lifestyle, nationality, and beliefs. And by living
with that condition for the longest time, I think that we should be
able to accept peoples differences in whatever way it is, which
includes religion.
With that all being said, I believe that silent prayers shouldnt
be a mandatory activity because not everyone has a belief (or
believes) that there is god nor higher power. I think that by putting a
student in a school, it teaches them not only academic subjects, but
also their religious views. But the school should give a time for those
who do have their own believe to pray.