More Reasons Why

When I was 10 years old I was entering sixth grade in a new school in a new state. I had visited Texas before since my father's family lived there, but this was my first experience living there. It was a complete shock and most of the shock came from my stubborn nature butting up against my teachers. Although there certainly were other Roman Catholics in my school, they had grown up in Texas and understood the culture better than I did. They also were far more retiring about political issues. So I was sent to the principal's office for the first time in my school career for any number of different offenses not least of which was pointing out that the teacher was incorrect on many matters including her use of English and her pronunciation of certain words. The dictionary always bore me out but the teacher still sent me to the office for insubordination. But I also refused to say school prayers. I knew for sure that they could not be required but they were still a part of the daily routine in this public school in south Texas in 1961 and they were very obviously Protestant prayers from the King James bible.   The teacher was reprimanded by the principal for that one but that only compounded my problems. Back then students in public schools were required to memorize a certain number of lines of poetry and then declaim them. Ordinarily each child was allowed to pick the poetry but because my teacher wanted to teach me a lesson, she assigned mine from that same King James bible.

I should have been relieved when I moved up to junior high school but I knew from my sister and brother who preceded me that the algebra teacher was going to be a problem. Every Monday morning during roll call students were asked if they had attended church the day before, and if they had, where they had attended. Certain faiths were given extra credit with Baptists getting the most. Some faiths were neutral neither gaining points nor losing points. But Roman Catholics lost points every single Monday whether they went to church or slept in. Besides the fact that I wouldn't have lied to satisfy this ridiculous woman, it wouldn't have done me any good since I was notoriously and infamously Roman Catholic even though my family was far from staunch. So every Monday I endured the ritual. More than fifty years later I still remember both of these women.

This kind of bullying still goes on. Where I live now a different faith is in charge but the problem persists because far too many people think that freedom of religion only means freedom of their religion.