“Especially in an era when religious affiliations and beliefs seem to drive some of humanity’s most violent conflicts, the requirement that public schools remain free of religious indoctrination is paramount.” (Toshalis, 2008, 189)

This quote early on in the chapter sums up what we must always remember as teachers. While we should be tolerant and accepting of all backgrounds and religions our students bring, the public school classroom must remain free of religion or religious bias. As an Italian teacher, I often discuss different religious celebrations in the Italian household but solely the facts. I feel it important to the understanding of the Italian culture for students to know about the religion and celebration of the country, but I am in no way am I telling students this is the “right” religion or the “right way to do things. However, there are other events that happen in the public school classroom relating to religion that we have to be aware of. I will always remember how seriously my high school teachers took the Pledge of Allegiance in school. Students would be somewhat punished if they refused to stand and recite the pledge with the morning announcement. But then there was my friend Kristin…she was a Jehovah’s Witness and it was against her religion to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance due to the statement “under God” (I think. I’m still not totally clear on it to this day). Things like this and her not being able to celebrate birthdays were normal to me, knowing her since kindergarten. But I can remember a high school teacher almost berating her in the first few days of high school for not standing during the Pledge of Allegiance. She was humiliated and this was definitely not a great start to high school for her. She spoke to her guidance counselor and I think her parents called the school and it was never an issue with this teacher again. But I can still feel her embarrassment from that day and my anger towards that teacher for treating my friend her like that. We can’t assume that things important to us are as important to others.  We must be mindful of others’ beliefs.