ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, February 15, 1997            TAG: 9702170074
SECTION: EDITORIAL                PAGE: A-7  EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: BRIEFLY PUT ...

THE QUALITY OF PRAYERS AND SCHOOLS

* A LAST-MINUTE replacement, the Rev. Vinton Williams of Warrenton had not seen a copy of the ground rules saying House of Delegates prayers are to be "inclusive." So he felt free in his invocation at the start of Tuesday's floor session in Richmond to ask for God's help in passing bans on partial-birth abortions and same-sex marriages, and a parental-notification requirement for teen abortions.

Joked House Clerk Bruce Jamerson: "We looked it up, and the last time we had an uncomfortable prayer was January 18, 1977. I don't see this as a trend."

We don't necessarily agree either with Williams' theology or with his legislative agenda, but we can respect his commitment to both and to a connection between them. And we can wonder, too, about the quality of daily prayers that, under the guidelines, are to make nobody uncomfortable.

Agreed, legislative agendas don't belong in official legislative prayers. Isn't that a good reason to keep prayers out of official legislative proceedings?

* WELL, IT'S unanimous. Parents, teachers and politicians all fret about lack of excellence in education, though there is little agreement on what the problems are and how to fix them. Now students have added their voices.

A poll of 1,000 public high-school students by the Public Agenda Foundation, based in New York, found that while 96 percent said they wanted to excel, half thought their classes did not challenge them to do their best. Most said cheating, tardiness and doing the minimum required to get by are major problems at their school, and 71 percent said they would learn "a lot more" if disruptive students were kicked out of class.

Their take on the solution: skilled teachers willing to go over homework, enforce rules and insist on ethical values such as honesty and hard work. Assuming that only hard working, polite students filled out the questionnaire, the question nonetheless remains: Why is the solution missing in many classrooms?

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