Question: Why are baccalaureates still allowed in public schools?

[Arugula Latte]

I was an atheist teen and I had no clue what a baccalaureate was when I attended mine before high school graduation (I just thought it was some sort of ceremony to mark us moving on in life -- d'oh). I was shocked at how much god-n-prayer bullshit there was in it.

Seems like a clear violation of church and state, and yet they still continue.

If the holy rollers want to have their ceremony, they shouldn't be allowed to involve the high school at all, and they should do their supernatural mumbo jumbo off school grounds.

Seriously, when I think of it ...

[F4lconF16]

1. Weird.

I've never heard of that.

[beam me up scottie]

2. Good question.

All I could find was this in Wikipedia;

Because of United States Supreme Court rulings[specify] regarding the separation of church and state, baccalaureate services are not official, school-sponsored events at American public schools.[1] However, many have student-initiated services at private facilities not paid for with government funds, and as such are fully permitted by law. Until recent years, school-sponsored baccalaureate services were common in American public schools, on school grounds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baccalaureate_service

Are they still common?

[LostOne4Ever]

10. My High School required we all attend.

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]I complained to the school councillour and she said:

Don't worry, it's non-denominational

-.-

I knew better than push it past that, though according to my younger brother they stopped requiring them...supposedly because the state made them.[/font]

[beam me up scottie]

12. "Don't worry, it's non-denominational"

The fact that we exist doesn't even occur to some people, does it?

The first question I was asked by my neighbors after moving to the south was "What church do you go to?"

[Arugula Latte]

15. I love that response.

It's okay -- all are welcome, whether you're Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, or Methodist!

[AtheistCrusader]

3. Graduation is one last shot to try and indoctrinate kids.

We had one of those. Also got a 'dianetics' book from some asshole relative as a graduation present. Military was there trying to sign up kids too.

There's a reason I wore a cow bell around my neck to pick up my diploma. A symbolic reason.

[deucemagnet]

4. I never knew what a baccalaureate ceremony was before reading this post.

I thought you were referring to people holding baccalaureate degrees and I was ? Now I know what I baccalaureate ceremony is and I'm like in a different way.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

5. Holy shit, count me as another that didn't realize what it was

I thought it was just some academic thingy for the super-smarties. Turns out it's another invention of the fucking Catholics - is there anything they don't taint with their horseshit?

[Arugula Latte]

6. The reason I posted this is I learned that one of my nephews is going to attend his soon.

The kid goes to a public school and isn't religious, and neither is the family. I feel like warning him.

I distinctly remember going to mine in the early 80s -- it was in the school auditorium, definitely on school grounds.

I want to find out if my nephew's is off campus or on.

[Arugula Latte]

7. Update on my nephew's ceremony

So as it turns out his is going to be off campus and called "Senior Reflections" and they noted that it was formerly called "Baccalaureate." I will be curious to see how much religion is in it.

Well, at least times have changed a little, that they felt the need to move it and change the name. Interesting.

[onager]

8. I completely approve of this excellent tradition.

Oh. Damn. I thought it said "bacchanalia..."

[Arugula Latte]

14. Now that would be awesome. Here kids, let us initiate you into the pleasures of adulthood...

[progressoid]

9. It was a pretty big deal when I graduated.

I had no idea why the fuck we did it though. I went because my parents expected me to (they still don't know about my atheism). I just remember being bored out of my skull.

Fast forward 30ish years and they still do one where I live now.
Optional, of course. And it's not highly attended from what I understand. My daughters did NOT attend.

[LostOne4Ever]

11. It was required at my High School. Catholic Priest Presided over it. It was a waste of a night(nt)

[Jokerman]

13. It was at the school and mandatory when my sister graduated in 1974.

When I graduated six years later, it was off-site and voluntary.

This was a backward, racist, shit-hole of a small town that I guess was more progressive than others are now, at least in some ways.

[trotsky]

16. Never had them at my school.

The town was pretty evenly split between Catholics and Protestants though, so I think they just wanted to take the easy way out and not piss anybody off.

[AlbertCat]

17. Never did this at my prep school

But we did have to attend chapel, after the coat & tie sit down dinner every Sunday night.

You were to walk directly from the dining room to the chapel... which was just across the parking lot. It became a thing to try to skip chapel. Slipping unseen away from the crowd walking to chapel was a common method, but dangerous. Saying you had to run to the bathroom 1st was a good method...but had to be timed carefully.