Friday, January 28, 2011

I brought God, Jesus, and Heaven into a Public School

I work IN a few public schools, but I don't work FOR the public schools. Public schools as a whole have been anti-God lately. I brought an early reader to share with the young students. It was a book from my student days, and there were two chapters about God and Jesus in there. I haven't read the book since I was in second grade myself, so I forgot about the God and Jesus parts. Neither did I look carefully at the book cover where it said Faith and Freedom series.

A first grader read the chapters about God and Jesus. Oops! I could have lost my job because I showed her a book that told about God and Jesus. Well, so far no child has reported me to the authorities or the administration. And if I lost this job over that mistake, I would not care.

You know what happened when she read about God and Jesus??? Nothing. The roof didn't collapse, no one complained.

This week I was reading a book of poems to little students and seven rhymed with heaven. I didn't see that coming. Oopsy daisy!

"What's heaven?" Girl #1 asked.
Now I felt the restriction of my right to free speech.
Uh . . .
"I know what that means," said Girl #2, "it means they're dead, right?"
I nodded my head yes even though there were NO dead characters (animals) in the poem.
"That's what my grandma said. That when people die they go to heaven.," said Girl #3.
"My grandpa died, and he went to heaven my grandma said," stated Boy #1, "I cried when he died. We really miss him."
The children talked about deceased relatives before I drew their attention back to the book of poems.

It's silly to feel like I did a wrong thing about reading a poem with the word heaven in it. Heaven is a good thing. God is good. Heaven is the best thing. I'm glad their parents or grandparents talked to them about heaven.

1 comment:

M Hastings said...

I can't imagine working somewhere that made me feel like if the subject came up, my freedom of speech would be restricted. :(

It sounds like for the most part you handled it as well as could be expected. I don't really know what more you could do...maybe distract the kids but that just doesn't seem right.

And if I lost this job over that mistake, I would not care.

I particularly like this line. Good for you!