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I'm 59, and grew up in the rural South. When I was in grade school (public school, BTW) in the 1960's, we started every school day with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer. Obviously, school prayer was ruled unconstitutional in time. This was the Bible Belt of course, and everyone participated. It was just a part of life at that time.
Interestingly, I've found that some people (mainly 20- and 30-somethings, it seems) refuse to believe that such as school prayer ever happened outside of a religious school. It seems to be something that today's youngsters have trouble wrapping their minds around (which puzzles me, too).
Any of you 50-somethings (or older) ever have prayer in public school? I can't be the Lone Ranger here.
No prayer in my school but after the Pledge of Allegiance the teacher always stated that we could, "bow our head in a moment of silence or prayer". I'm a Boomer and attended school in Massachusetts.
Last edited by MrsBrady11; 08-15-2019 at 06:53 PM..
I am a boomer and there was no prayer in my school. But that was godless California.
Another boomer here. Went to Catholic school thru 7 th grade. We were required to attend mass 7 days a week and every funeral mass. Some days all we did was sit in church all day. Holy Week was the worst. We had to attend Stations of the Cross in addition to mass and funerals. Never did understand what was good about Good Friday.
We traded holy cards like some kids traded baseball cards. To this day I can still do tricks with a rosary. Anyway, no prayers in the classroom.
Transferred to public school in 8th grade. No prayer in Chicago Public Schools.
I'm in my late 20s and the school I went to in the US only had the pledge once a week, and no one really bothered to actually stand and recite it. And no prayer, as I went to a secular private school.
That said, I know some eras/areas tend to be a lot more conservative, so I don't find what you describe difficult to believe.
I'm a Gen Xer (born 1970) and raised in the MidWest. We did not have prayer in school but in elementry school we were expected to say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. By the time I hit middle school, no - not sure if that was because we were older or the times had changed. My husband is closer to your age - born 1962. He grew up in New England and remembers a similar thing - Pledge of Allegiance but not prayer.
My dad (75 years) did, but he went to Catholic school in St. Louis, so I think that's a given.
My mom (73 years) didn't. She went to a public school in Southern Illinois.
Definitely no school prayer in my day when I was growing up (born 1970.) But we did do the Pledge in elementary school. I don't remember doing it in junior high or high school, though.
My first years of school, we did the original pledge.
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