There are many things that connect people and people share. Things such as tradition, location, jobs, school etc. One very big thing that connects people would be religion. According to the Pew Research Center’s 2012 global study of 230 countries, there are 16% of people who consider themselves non-religious. That leaves an astounding 84% of people that consider themselves religious. If you would like a number instead of a percentage, that’s about 5.8 billion people worldwide that are religious. So it is safe to say that religion, and to an extent, religious people have a very big scale and hand of influence. This hand of influence affects many things, such as community projects and community events, which includes things such as charities and fundraisers and which can localize down to things such as parties and barbeques. Basically, when there are events that affect the community, it is safe to assume that religion is on the agenda somehow. This influence that religion has on our communities has increased dramatically and is now seeping into our schools and education in general. Many parents that are part of the PTA and parents that are vocal, who communicate with the school board or are in charge of the schools, in the case of charter schools, are religious and want education standards based on what their religion dictates. Simply put, religion does have an effect on our schools and the education that is taught to the students of this country. But what is this effect that religion has on our students and how does it impact their growth into adults and into the working society? There are two correlations that we can look at to perceive what effect religion has regarding our education and students. One fact that has to be established is that religion conflicts teaching certain things to students. One thing that religion makes difficult to teach is sex education and the dos and don’ts of sex. This is where we observe our first correlation and begin to see religion’s effect on American

youths. One problem that America has not addressed very seriously are the rate of teen pregnancies and students dropping out of school because they need to raise a family. Basically, we had a huge problem entering the 2000s regarding the rate of teen pregnancies. According to the article written by Stephen J. Caldas, in 1995 “…533,484 American girls under age 20 gave birth” (Caldas, Paragraph 1). That is an exceptional amount of students that had todrop out to go ahead and raise a family. And this isn’t considering if the father also dropped out in order to provide income for his new family. Obviously, times have changed and this number has gone down somewhat from 1995, however that fact should not stop us from decreasing the number farther. Dropping out early without even a high school diploma is basically a death sentence if you want to have a respectable career or job in this modern economy. In the article written by Jones Lamont Jr., he states that manufacturers are now upskilling so workers without at least a high school diploma will be left out of the market. He states that “As the industry is “upskilling,” it is continuing to downsize from its heyday of the 1970s, when workers with a high school diplomaor less held 79 percent of manufacturing jobs…” (Lamont, Paragraph 2). He follows this statement up by saying that “Within manufacturing, workers with bachelor’s degrees went from holding 29 percent of non-production jobs in 1991 to 44 percent in2016” (Lamont, Paragraph 5). The data that he is using comes from a comprehensive study done by the CEW. Basically the point I am trying to make here is that a high school diploma is necessary to even begin to think about a career and that not having one basically guts your chances of maintaining a stable job or income. People that do not have a high school diploma may be forced to work low wage jobs with no benefits or unions and even then these low wage jobs are being automated and modernized so there isa risk there as well. So you need a high school diploma at the very least and getting pregnant in the middle of getting your diploma is very detrimental. There may be some cases where the parents of the teen will take care of the baby while the teen goes to school, but even then there is a societal stigma around teen mothers and that will make it very difficult for the mom for the rest of her life. As you can see, teen pregnancies cause a lot of problems and for the most part prevent students from developing into their full potential and becoming something in this economy. That is why it is essential to address this problem. One clear and effective method would be to teach students about sex and the prevention of pregnancies. But many religions forbid this and as a result, many religious parents are opposed to sex education. One argument these religious parents use would be the cost of sex education, stating that it would be too much and the school would have to allocate too many resources. This however is not an issue for the most part. In this article by Barbara Whitehead, she talks about a new form of education called comprehensive sex education, which started in New Jersey. The details of comprehensive sex education pan out as this:”It begins in kindergarten and continues into high school. It sweeps across disciplines, taking up the biology of reproduction, the psychology of relationships, the sociology of the family, and the sexology of masturbation and massage. It seeks not simply to reduce health risksto teenagers but also to build self-esteem, prevent sexual abuse, promote respect for all kinds of families, and make little boys more nurturing and little girls more assertive.” (Whitehead, Paragraph 6).With this type of education when students enter stages such as puberty, it will be a bit easier for them to understand what is going on and help them develop proper habits and mindsets. Not only does this lessen the risk of premature pregnancies and premature families, but it also lessens the risk of STDsand other issues. Again, the religious agenda argues that the cost will be too high for schools to manage. On this point, Whitehead later mentions that ” Principals have to do little more than buy a sex-education curriculum and enroll the coach or home-economics teacher in a training workshop, and their school has a sex-education program.”(Whitehead, Paragraph 3). Because this is inexpensive, many public schools can adopt this and the vast majority of students can receive its benefits. Other than the education itself, the program offers contraceptives and the likes to students, which greatly lowers the risks mentioned before. But again, the religious agenda only advocates for abstinence only education. Abstinence only education has been proven not to work while the comprehensive sex education has been adopted by many state legislatures and official government health departments (Whitehead, Paragraph 5). The effect that religion has here has to be considered negative. It is trying to stop a program that can literally change people’s lives for the better. Avoiding an STD or pregnancy is a life altering event and the religious agenda’s way of combating this is one that will adhere to its doctrine instead of one that will help protect the students of this country. Now this problem is even more amplified when looking at charter schools. Because they have a different system than public schools, things such as state legislature can’t affect it as much. The only way they will adopt a competent sex education is if the school board makes it so or if the donors of the school ask for it. But because charter schools are religious, this idea is looks to be slim. In this case, religion is stopping people that may need this type of education and access to contraceptives, whichcan stop students from becoming competent and working adults. The only thing that religion accomplishes with abstinence only education is that it stays true to its doctrine and makes some girls have families at the age of 15.Another correlation that we can observe is that religion difficulties the teaching of the theory of evolution and human history before civilizations. Now the debate of creationism vs. evolution isn’t really a global problem. This debate that we see happens to be an American problem. According to the NPR website, “The other “developed” nations do not have this problem. The other nations whom we must collaborate with and compete against are not wasting endless hours rehashing arguments over the foundations of biological science. In terms of political, legal and, most importantly, educational influence, the Creationism vs. Evolution debate is an American phenomenon.”(NPR, Paragraph 4). This paints an interesting picture with this context provided. It seems that only in America does the religious agenda have as much impact and power as they do, and nowhere else. This is interesting because with this fact, it is hard to argue as America having a greater status than its rivals and competitors if it is the only one with this dilemma. Now there is an issue with creationism as a whole. According to the CounterBalance Organization, creationism if founded on the idea that”…God intends for each kind to remain within its own particular structure. One species should not transform itself into another species. Many different varieties can emerge within the basic framework of each kind or species, but at the same time such variations can never extend beyond that framework. The creationist conclusion is that God permits no descent with modification, no overlap between species.”(CounterBalance, Paragraph 2)Creationism involves no scientific theory or evidence. It is just an assertion of a belief that is founded from one’s religious book. Throughout history, we have seen species vary from each other and recorded the variations as they occur in order to test the theory. The problem with teaching creationism in schools is that it is misinformation. It is wrong and the students that learn it can suffer later on in their lives. Now the United States Supreme Court has already banned the teaching of creationism in public schools, so the problem really focuses on charter schools. Teaching creationism for the sake of adhering to the teachings of one’s own religion can be very harmful to its students. According to a study done by Randy Moore, a biology professor at the University of Minnesota, “inclusion of creationism in high school biology classes significantly increases the probability that students accept creationism and reject evolution when they arrive at college…”(Paragraph 20). Teaching creationism has a lasting effect and not recognizing this could be harmful to some students. Let’s say that a student wishes to major in biology firmly believes in creationism when they enter college, well they now need to learn something that they firmly disbelieve in. This will make it harder for them to learn and apply themselves in the subject. Which will effectively kill any further progress in that subject or course. This is the harm religion can do in this case. A student’s growth into a fantastic scientist or even into a general working adult is severely stunted because they are going around with misinformation about how the world around them works. On a less important note, in the higher tiers of society, there is a stigma with creationism and believing in it can cause embarrassing moments or, in extreme cases, social out casting.We’ve just observed two correlations that religion has regarding education. And it seems to be that religion has a negative effect on both matters. But there are points where religion can provide a bright and positive light onto our students and their growth. Religious teachings involve a strict moral code. People direct themselves based on this strict moral code. According to a seminar I witnessed done by spokesperson Nicky Cruz, religion had saved his life and let him forge a new path. Cruz gave this seminar to hopefully influence people to take faith in God to help themselves and lead them on a righteous path. Cruz began the seminar with a short biography of his life. Cruz’s young life was rough because he was born in one of the worst cities in Puerto Rico and his parents were not good to him at all. He told us of times where there were periods where there was no food in the house or when his parents would verbally abuse him. His parents sent him to live with his brother in New York City but things didn’t get better from there. After moving away, he ran away and joined a street gang. After joining the street gang, he participated in their activities to move up in the gang. After almost dying, Cruz understood the meaning of having one life and became immensely remorseful. After that, he found God and began to redeem himself, such as starting an organization that helps young troubled teens such as him. In this case, we see that religion has brought the brightest out of someone and took them out of the dark. This shows that religion can teach someone to be a good human being and redeem any previous mistakes that they’ve done. “If young and troubled teens such as me find religion, it may help them to strive for better.” as put by Cruz himself. So religion in this aspect can help a student’s moral guidance into something great while they grow into adults.

So all in all, what we’ve seenletting religion influence our education is a bad idea. In the worst scenario, because of religion’s conflict with sex education, students may need to drop out or other problems, while in the best case, they get embarrassed at social gatherings for not believingin evolution. Religion can cause a lot of harm to students and parents should be aware of that. It seems as though we should value our students’ growth into respectable working adults rather than the beliefs we want to instill in them.

Sources

Caldas, Stephen J. “Teen Pregnancy: Why It Remains a Serious Social, Economic, and Education Problem in the U.S.” Phi Delta Kappan, 1 Jan. 1994, https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=12&docId=GALE|A14889357&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZGPP-MOD1&prodId=ITOF&contentSet=GALE|A14889357&searchId=R2&userGroupName=nysl_ca_dmvacces&inPS=true. Accessed 20 October, 2019

Cruz, Nicky. BT Worship Service and Prayer, 27 October 2019, The Brooklyn Tabernacle, Brooklyn, NY. Seminar

Frank, Adam. “Creationism Vs. Evolution: An American Problem, An American Opportunity.” NPR, NPR, 12 Feb. 2010, https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2010/02/science_and_religion_as_creati.html. Accessed 21 October 2019Hewlett, Martinez, and Ted Peters. “What Is the Problem with Creationism?” Evolution Topic: What Is the Problem with Creationism?, https://counterbalance.org/evo-brf/isthe1-body.html. Accessed 21 October 2019

Lamont, Jones. “Georgetown CEW Report: Manufacturing Labor Force Upskilling and Downsizing.” Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 11 July 2019. Accessed 20 October 2019

Moore, Randy, and Sehoya Cotner. “Educational Malpractice: The Impact of Including Creationism in High School Biology Courses.” SpringerLink, Springer US, 25 Oct. 2008, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12052-008-0097-9. Accessed 21 October 2019

Scardilli, Brandi. “Pew Research Center Updates.” Information Today, 1 Nov. 2018. Accessed 20 October 2019Whitehead, Barbara Dafoe. “The Failure of Sex Education.” The Atlantic, 1 Oct. 1994. Accessed 20 October 2019