The refinement of pedagogy is a constant and convoluted practice that many individuals struggle to understand and only few succeed in doing so. Since the founding of the United States, educational reforms have responded to needs at that time. For decades, the various churches and religions throughout America have responded to their communities need to educate their youth. Through the intertwining of religion in schools, Churches have successfully been able to successfully raise their youth into fine practitioners of religion. At the rise of a new era with increasing globalization, society's needs are evolving. The effort that American families are making to control their children's religious upbringing is proving to be detrimental to the function of society. In order to show these negative effects on society as a whole, one must look into the different religious educational practices that are being implemented in the United States. By comparing the influences that various lower school religious practices have on their students, one can analyze how those influences ultimately extend throughout society.

In America, it is the duty of the educational system then to meet society's needs by creating a safe learning environment free of religious prejudices and discrimination. To eliminate discrimination, children must be taught at a young age to respect other's beliefs. In order to accomplish this, public schools should education about the various prominent religions of the world in their curriculum. To promote diversity and cohesion between world cultures, the U.S. Public School system should educate about all major world religions. Teaching students to understand other major religions would not only eliminate the negative connotation set in place, but it would teach students how to accept others. Although private schools legally have the power to require their students to have a broad understanding and education about one specific religion, it should be required that they implement a system to teach students the origins, customs and beliefs of the different world religions. The United States Educational System then, should require all students to be learned in the different major religions of the world in order to instill basic moral values, expel religious prejudices in today's youth, and enhance the overall function of society.

 For thousands of years parents have had to either personally teach their children at home or pay large amounts of money to hire a private tutor if they wanted them to have an education. It was not until the late seventeenth Century that the first American colonials found it important to be able to educate the members of a community on a larger scale (Education News). In 1635 the first public or 'free' school was established in Virginia for families that could not afford a private education. (Stephanie Watson). 

Some of the earliest private schools in the U.S. were originally founded to teach people the classical languages of Latin and Greek, something that was not usually an option in other schools at that time. Following the teaching of classical languages, Jesuit schools were founded in order to teach religion (Boarding School Review). Teaching a specific religion alongside the standard curriculum in religious private schools was a significant innovation in the history of education as it introduced a new form of education, the education of virtues and moral values. Additionally, there still remained the alternate, non-religious public school option for those families that either could not afford otherwise or simple preferred not to have their child taught a religion in school. With so many different schooling systems that were implemented by the turn of the nineteenth century it seemed that there must be a perfect fit for everyone, although this was, and still today is not the case.

Given the wide variety of different schools in the U.S., it is easy to believe that there is a perfect school for every child, yet this is hardly true. Although there exists many different non-public or private schools for families of different religions, as well as public schools that keep a separation of religion and education, still today there are very few schools that educate students about all of the main religions of the world. A child's primary education is not supposed to train them how and what to think, but instead is supposed to introduce them to the world so that they can learn to think for themselves. In private schools, by exclusively teaching a young student a specific religion, the student becomes sheltered and forms religious prejudices that poison society. On the other hand, in public schools, by creating such a strong separation of religion and education, the student lacks exposure to the religious world and forms a sort of disinterest and negative-connotation towards the practice of religion. The education of different major religions of the world is essential to expel religious prejudices in society and promote a diverse community, not just ethnically but religiously as well. 

Ever since widespread education was implemented in the United States, public schools have been the source of education for the vast majority of young Americans from Kindergarten through twelfth grade. The religious restrictions set on public schools differ greater from that of non-private schools. Since the state government directly funds public schools, public schools must operate completely free of religious influence and practice. Put in general terms, "Public schools may not teach religion, although teaching about religion in a secular context is permitted" (Anti-Defamation League). As straightforward as this rule sounds due to the difference in interpretations, the gap between 'teaching religion' and 'teaching about religion' is near indistinguishable.

Due to the controversy that is created when public schools attempt to incorporate religion into education, the majority of public school teachers have made it a habit of completely ignoring religion in the classroom altogether. As far as teaching about religion in public school goes, "most schools don't bother trying to navigate this murky legal territory" (Education Digest). John Horvat II is researcher and educator whose works have been published in places such as The Wall Street Journal, and has been researching and writing about the socioeconomic issues that the United States face for over two decades now. Horvat shares what he has learned over his twenty-plus years of researching the U.S. public school system, "The educational establishment treats religion as if it is a deadly disease, not a blessing, for kids" (The Blaze). By avoiding religion altogether, the public school system veers students away from practicing faith and acting open towards religious diversity. 

As a state-funded educational system, the U.S. public school system just short of violates the United States Constitution by condemning religious discussion and education in school. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" (US Const. amend I). Although there is no law prohibiting public school students from free exercise of religion, through influencing students to believe that exercising religion is looked down upon, one could be argued that many public school administrations teach in an un-constitutional manner.

The lack of religious education in the public school system is not only harmful to society as a whole, but is detrimental to the future success of students. In his book, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, Harvard Sociologist, Robert Putnam writes, "Compared to their unchurched peers ...  youth who are involved in a religious organization take tougher courses, get higher grades and test scores, and are less likely to drop out of high school" (Putnam). When public school teachers steer young students away from religious education they not only denote religious diversity, but also hurt the student's chances of academic success, leading some to even end up dropping out of school. These adverse effects are ultimately detrimental to the function of American society, and could be easily avoided if the school system promoted the secular education of religions.

The public school system is not the only side of education that contributes to the religious prejudices and academic decline of America's youth. Aside from the mind-set that public schools often imprint on young students, the lack of religious diversity in religious private schools largely contributes to various social ills. The majority of religious private schools do promote the exercising and teaching of a 'religion', but never 'religions'. Indeed, those who can afford a religious private school education typically benefit from the moral values that are taught. Nonetheless, exclusively teaching any one specific religion in a primary school denotes lack of diversity as well as condones discrimination against other religions. In a book review published in Education Digest, Sarah Jones summarizes former Boston Globe editor Linda K. Wertheimer's new book. Faith Ed. Jones illustrates the negative effects that arise when young students are exclusively taught the history of Christianity and Catholicism without being educated in other religions as well. Jones writes, "Schools in nearby Bedford, MA, had reported a rash of anti-Semitic incidents. Teachers spotted children playing a game called 'Jail the Jews;' in another incident, Christian children accused Jewish children of 'killing Jesus'" (Education Digest). The teachers' attempt at educating children about Christianity clearly turned into the most innocent form of religious discrimination. This anti-semitism is most likely attributed to the fact that the students were only taught about one religion.

The effects of requiring all United States schools to teach about religions will lead to a better relationship with other countries and better relationships between students. According to The Guardian, one in four children are bullied because of their religious faith (The Guardian). The study conducted by the 'Beatbullying' charity concluded that many of the children who were bullied questioned or became ashamed of their faith because of it. Young students were led to self-harm themselves, drink alcohol, or do drugs because of the bullying (The Guardian). One might argue that it is in the nature of adolescence to pick on peers that are different, although when looking closer at the forms of bullying it is clear there is usually a religious prejudice behind the action. Linda Wertheimer, a journalism lecturer at Boston University recalls her conversation with a young Muslim student that fell victim bullying, "A Muslim sixth-grader remembered a classmate's taunt from a few years before: 'Do you have a bomb in your locker?'" (The Washington Post) It is clear that young students lack of knowledge when it comes to minority religions results in them misinterpreting others, and discriminating. Wertheimer writes, "Muslims talk about being stigmatized every time a news story breaks about a terrorist who has a connection to Islam" (The Washington Post). This type of repetitive behavior is the epitome of just one of the societal ills that poison the United States' reputation in the eyes of the rest of the world. In order to promote a nation of freedom and opportunity we must expel these prejudices to form a safe and accepting learning environment. In order to create such an environment it is necessary to require young students to be learned about world religions. 

Aside from discriminating against other religions, many private school students lack a basic understanding of the world's major religions and acceptance of diversity. Although the majority of enrolled students are learned in the practices of that schools denomination, they are unlearned and unfamiliar with foreign denominations. The nation's first Jesuit private school, Georgetown Predatory School, was founded in 1789 in Washington D.C. (Boarding School Review). After the foundation of Georgetown Prep, prevalent churches in the United States began establishing their own parishes and school to raise the younger members of their church in a community that promoted their religion. Logically, an environment that promotes an individual's specific religion is an environment that obstructs religions that differ from the individual's. According to John Horvat, "the purpose of education is to make children 'career and college ready'" (The Blaze). It is difficult to presume then that an education being taught in a setting that obstructs the diversification and acceptance of other religions seldom prepares individuals for the college world. 

Throughout the history of the world, religion has heavily influences nations relationships with each other, as well as many world-influencing events from the signing of treaties to mass murders. The main cause of dispute when it comes to these events is the lack of respect and understanding between different religions. In the midst of a boom in economic globalization, it could be said that showing hospitality towards foreigners is more important to the success in one's profession or educational career now than it has ever been. According to School Reform, the percent of the U.S. population that was foreign born has nearly tripled from 1970 to 2010 (School Reform). Taking into account the increase is cultural diversity it is hard to believe that educating children in an environment that shelters them from the world's religions and ideologies effectively prepares them for college and a career outside of said environment. In a nation with an increasing population of individuals from less-familiar cultures it is important to make an effort to create a community that is welcoming and accepting of others. In order to encourage students to welcome those from different backgrounds into our culture it would be beneficial to teach about the different religions and ideologies that these foreigners come from. 

 In primary school the motive behind educating about religion is not simply to teach young individuals to practice their faith, but instead is to teach individuals to respect all faiths, and to be well learned in the practices of others, so that they do not fear what they do not understand. Much like a parable, religious education is about deriving a deeper meaning, and second-handedly learning from the experiences or mistakes of others. The popular quote, 'Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it' which is more correctly quoted from the world-renowned American philosopher, George Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (Reason in Common Sense) puts into simplest terms the possible fate of America's younger generation if it does not become educated in the world's religious history. In order to prevent future outbreaks of religious disputes between nations and religious hate crimes throughout the world a solid understanding of unfamiliar religions are necessary. "According to the U.S. Department of Justice's 'Hate Crime Victimization' report, the percentage of hate crimes that were motivated by religious bias was nearly three times higher in 2012 (28%) than in 2004 (10%)" (School Reform) The fact that these hate crimes are committed by and against United States citizens serves to be hypocritical to what America stands for as a nation. Taking into account that 20% of the perpetrators were minors at the time the crime was committed shows that their religious education or lack thereof ultimately had an influence on their actions (School Reform). This sinister influence that the lack of cohesion between religions has on today's youth proves just how evident it is that religious education has a major place in United States primary schools. 

