BIBLE BOOM: A COMPARISON OF DISCIPLINARY REFERRALS IN ALABAMA PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS THAT OFFER THE BIBLE AND ITS INFLUENCE AND SCHOOLS THAT DO NOT TEACH

BIBLE BOOM: A COMPARISON OF DISCIPLINARY REFERRALS IN ALABAMA PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS THAT OFFER THE BIBLE AND ITS INFLUENCE AND SCHOOLS THAT DO NOT TEACH THE BIBLE

A proposal

Presented to the

Graduate Faculty of

Troy University

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for

EDU 6691

By
Anthony May








Chapter I
Introduction
Problem Statement
The first American school was established in 1643 nearly 150 years before the establishment of the United States. For nearly 320 years this establishment was built upon and cornered around teaching of the Holy Bible. In 1963 a Supreme Court ruling (School District of Abington Township v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203,225) decided it was “unconstitutional” to continue the practice of teaching the Bible in public schools. The book that has been circulating longer than any book in history and gives a narrative on the creation of earth and the human race was asked to be removed from public schools. The book that teaches to be generous and kind while treating others better than yourself was asked to be removed from public schools. The book that teaches to be consumed with a spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22) was asked to be removed from public schools. Thou shall not commit murder, steal, commit adultery, thou shall honor thy father and mother, etc; get it out! That makes sense doesn’t it?
This study will evaluate the number of disciplinary referrals of students who are enrolled in schools that offer the approved course The Bible in History and Literature in the state of Alabama and students who are not enrolled in those schools.
Purpose of the Study
This study is to determine whether there is a significant difference in disciplinary referrals for Alabama high school students who attend schools that offer the state approved curriculum on teaching the Bible and Alabama high school students who attend schools that don’t offer the state approved curriculum on teaching the Bible.
This study will investigate the amount of any type of disciplinary referral to all students in a school whether they attend a school that offers Bible curriculum or a school that does not offer Bible curriculum. Percentages and mean scores will be calculated on students that actually attend the Bible class to give contrast to the direct correlation of the affect of the subject area and the indirect affect of the subject area.
Significance of the Study
A few years ago an FCA group at Opelika High School in Alabama decided they wanted their school to be a better place. Every athlete would make sure that no one sat alone at lunch or break. If they saw someone sitting alone they would go sit with them and engage in conversation. What seemed like an innocent act that was motivated by the teachings in the Bible turned out to affect the entire school. Fights decreased by 75% and disciplinary referrals dropped over 50%.
Whether society is influenced negatively or positively by the extraction of God and the Bible is a study that would be difficult at best to determine. There are many variables that would affect social behaviors and morals. This study will enlighten us to whether students’ behaviors are affected or influenced by Biblical teachings.
Definition of Terms
Bible – the Christian Bible inspired as the Word of God; 66 books: 39 from the Old Testament, 27 from the New Testament.
God – the one God. God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.
Curriculum – a set of courses, and their content, offered at a school.
Direct Influence – students’ behavioral outcome that is actively involved in the class The Bible: In History and Literature.
Indirect Influence – students’ behavioral outcome that is enrolled in a school that offers the state approved curriculum for The Bible: In History and Literature but not actively involved with the class.
Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) - the largest Christian sports organization in America. FCA focuses on serving local communities by equipping, empowering and encouraging people to make a difference for Christ.
Limitations and Delimitations
This study will be limited to Alabama schools that offer The Bible: In History and Literature and schools of the same size that do not offer the course. The Alabama Board of Education has allowed any of the over 500 high schools to offer the course. At this time less than 10% of schools are offering this approved curriculum.
This study does not intend to investigate practices of religion or prayer in schools but to simply see if the influence of the Bible affects students behavior overall.
This study will not be limited to any student in the schools that offer the approved state curriculum. All students’ disciplinary referrals will be accounted for. The data will be disaggregated however to show to direct impact to students and the indirect impact.
Hypothesis
Students’ behavior is positively affected by offering the elective The Bible: In History and Literature whether directly or indirectly. Students, whether they take the class or not, have fewer behavior problems in the form of disciplinary referrals than students who are in a school that does not offer the course.


Chapter II
Review of Literature
Violent Crime Data
FBI Unified Crime Reports (2008) suggest violent crimes since 1963 have increased from 168.2 per 100,000 inhabitants to 466.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. A study by Presser and Stinson (2001) suggest that the percentage of adults who actually attended religious services during the previous weekend dropped from 42% in 1965 to 26% in 1994.
Our schools and our society have dismissed and excused God and the Bible from our lives. Our culture has thrived and prospered on the laws and teaching of scripture. God is stamped on our money, embedded in our pledge of allegiance, and is the essence of our constitution. We have thrown out the cornerstone to our success and prosperity while, ironically, the Bible teaches the history of God’s people and what happens to their livelihood when they become arrogant and dismiss God from their culture. Our public schools are being abandoned for private schools (schools that teach Christianity), our government leaders are corrupt, and our economy is failing. History repeats itself. The Bible also shows the trend of how God’s people (the Israelites) continued on a vicious cycle of returning to captivity. After coming out of Egypt the Israelites were taken into captivity hundreds of years later into Babylon and Syria. The Israelites constant rebelliousness from God leads them into a history of slavery. Maybe my high school history teacher wasn’t just giving me empty reasons to stay awake. (Bible, 2001)
Religious Tolerance
“Americans misreport how often they vote, how much they give to charity, and how frequently they use illegal drugs. People are not entirely accurate in their self-reports about other areas as well. Males exaggerate their number of sexual partners; university workers are not very honest about reporting how many photocopies they make. Actual attendance at museums, symphonies and operas does not match survey results. We should not expect religious behavior to be immune to such misreporting." Kirk Hadaway (1993), a sociologist at the United Church of Christ.
Ask any teacher what would influence their classroom success and students’ behavior will be in the top three, number one in my school. About 40% of Americans lie about going to church. Why? Guilt? Needing to fit in? Wanting to be a part? There isn’t a concrete answer but being able to manage a students’ behavior by simply adding an elective that teaches this subject that almost half of Americans want to be a part of subconsciously sounds appealing to teachers who want successful classrooms. If this study’s outcome is valid we could have a foothold to getting our classrooms in order. Next would be the students’ outlook on their potential thus influencing their motivation and drive. Ultimately our schools could produce citizens that give back and contribute to the good of our state, nation, and world. (Boles, 1965)
Biblical History
The Holy Bible (2001) is the longest circulating book in recorded history. The Old Testament was written from approximately 1500 BC to 400 BC then was followed by 400 years of silence until Jesus Christ, who was prophesied to come throughout the Old Testament, returned and began the movement of Christianity. The New Testament was written from 40 AD to about 90 AD where the cannon of scriptures were closed with the book of Revelation. (Bible, 2001)
Scribes would methodically copy word for word and count every word sentence and paragraph to ensure accuracy and wholeness so the books would be preserved and passed down without flaw. If one error were made the scroll would be destroyed completely.
The Case for Teaching the Bible
Where the argument of “Separation of Church and State” and whether Biblical teaching in public schools is constitutional rages on one argument for teaching the Bible is Americans attitude towards the Bible and the ignorance about it that ensues.
A Religious Literacy poll shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the Bible answers “all or most of life’s basic questions” while on the same token only about half of U.S. adults can name one of the books of the Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) while most cannot even identify that Genesis is the first book of the Bible. (Van Biema, 1996)
This book is not only the longest publish book in history but it is also the best seller each and every year. I don’t recall seeing that fancy “New York Times Best Seller” sticker on the cover. The Bible is deemed as the most influential book in history. Forget learning the religion, this book has the depth to increase students’ understanding of history, Greek and Hebrew translation, and comprehension of advanced subject matter. Students of many varying backgrounds are enrolled in the Bible classes in a Texas High School. One student, Rachel Williams, who is an atheist, takes the class to broaden her horizon and “If somebody is going to carry on a sophisticated conversation with me, I would rather know what they're talking about than look like a moron or fight my way through it," she says.(Van Biema, 1996)
The Bible, Religion, and the Public Schools
Both sides of the case of the Bible in schools have been argued well before the Supreme Court ruled against the school systems and removed prayer and scripture readings. Our country was founded on the basis of religious persecution (Fenwick, 1989). People fled towards this country to worship God without fear of government thus deciding that government cannot establish a religion. The side against Biblical reading has a valid point that one shouldn’t be forced to read the Bible in school however this was what the founders of this country established. That being said, Biblical principles do not force one upon a relationship with God but only implies our necessity to His grace and mercy. Religion should not be forced down someone’s throat but a person’s discomfort of the material should not render it void from everywhere they want to go and be a part of.
The history of this country and the basis of our beliefs must be examined to fully understand the motive and methods behind required reading of scriptures. Simply tossing out the cornerstones of the principles of our country can and will cause the ruin of our schools, economics, and our social structure.
Should the Children Pray
“Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country.” This is the prayer that was written by the New York State Board of Regents (Fenwick, 1989) that got all of the dust stirred up and cause ten students to file a lawsuit that ultimately lead to the Supreme Court. Even though the prayer was carefully considered so all faiths would be included, few did not appreciate the sentiment. Dr. Franklin Clark Fry (Fenwick, 1989), President of the Lutheran Church in America, was quoted “When the positive content of faith has been bleached out of a prayer, I am not too concerned about retaining what is left.” There are so many people that find hope, comfort, and peace in a religion and when faced with Christianity find meaning, purpose, and love as well, however when a few do not see the beauty in any of religion there is some overwhelming need to please the minority no matter the outcome of the majority.
Summary
A war wages on about restoring Biblical teaching to public schools vs. removing even more signs of Christianity. Both sides seem soft to the others point whether they admit it or not. People against the Bible in schools cannot ignore the number of violent crime and decay of society and wonder if there really is something to all this “religious stuff”. On the other hand Christians want their religion in all aspects of their lives but are apologetic about it and doesn’t want to make anyone mad. The overwhelming consensus is the Bible in and of itself is powerfully influential and teaches good morals and actions.
So where do we go from here? Is the Bible bad enough until things actually get bad and is the Bible good enough but can be sacrificed for the ease of a minorities self health? There is a long history of trying to remove God from our society but does that out-weigh the even longer history of the teachings of the Bible?











CHAPTER III
Methodology
A quantitative approach will be used to analyze whether schools that implement the curriculum that teaches about the Bible using The Bible and Its Influence affects, either directly or indirectly, the disciplinary actions of students.
Research Questions
1. What is the ratio of disciplinary referrals to student numbers for the entire student body for schools that do not utilize The Bible and Its Influence as a curriculum?
2. What is the ratio of disciplinary referrals to student numbers for the entire student body for a schools that utilize The Bible and Its Influence as a curriculum?
3. What is the ratio of disciplinary referrals for students who participate in The Bible and Its Influence as a course?
4. Is there a significant difference in the number of disciplinary referrals in schools that teach The Bible and Its Influence as a course to those schools that do not teachThe Bible and Its Influence as a course?
5. Can the number of student future disciplinary referrals be predicted by whether a school teaches The Bible and Its Influence as a course?
Population
Schools from Southeast Alabama will be selected and differentiated by whether the Bible curriculum is taught in that system. The schools chosen will contain the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades. Gender and race will be noted but will not be included in the overall study because the desired results are the overall affect of the Bible curriculum.
Data Collection
The disciplinary referrals will be collected from each school for the past three years. Students will be identified as either enrolled in the Bible curriculum or not enrolled in the Bible curriculum. Students names, demographics, or backgrounds is necessary in the data collection thus only numbers are needed.
Instrumentation
Microsoft SPSS will be used as database collection software to analyze trends and organize data. SPSS will also be used to determine predictions of future trends in disciplinary referrals by utilizing regression analysis and Pearson’s r will be used to determine if there is a correlation between the variables.
Data Analysis
A Pearson’s r correlation will be used to analyze trends in student’s behavior. Regression analysis will be used in predicting future trends in students’ behavior. If no significant difference is found, the null hypothesis will be accepted. If there is evidence as to whether implementing the Bible curriculum affects student behavior through means of disciplinary referrals then the alternate hypothesis will be accepted and the null hypothesis will be rejected. The null hypothesis will be accepted if p>.05. If p,.05 then the alternative hypothesis will be accepted.
Ethical Treatment of Population
No student will be harmed or identified in this study. Only number of disciplinary referrals or the severity of the referral will be collected for students as a whole in schools that do not offer the Bible curriculum and students as a whole in schools that do offer the Bible curriculum along with student groups who actually take the course.





















References
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. 2001, Crossway Bibles.
Good News Publishers.
Fenwick, Lynda Beck. Should the Children Pray?: A Historical, Judicial, and Political
Examination of Public School Prayer. 1989. Markham Press Fund of Baylor.
Boles, Donald E. The Bible, Religion, and the Public Schools. 1965.
Iowa State University Press.
United States Crime Rates 1960-2007. FBI Crime Reports. Copyright 2008. Retrieved from
http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm
Presser and Stinson. Church Attendance Studies. 1994 (more references cited on site). Retrieved
from http://www.religioustolerancc.org/rel_rate.htm
Van Biema, David. The Case for Teaching the Bible. Time Magazine Online. 1996. Retrieved
from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1601845-1,00.html