In Ecclesiastes, it is written that there is a season for everything. There is a time to kill and a time to heal. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to keep silent and a time to speak.

And the time to keep silent is not a moment during the morning announcements.

We, the editorial board of the Central Times, firmly oppose the re-implementation of the daily moment of silence.

Conducting a moment of silence at the beginning of the school day is not practical. It is inconvenient and lacks significance both for people who would want to use it for silent prayer or reflection and those who would not.

Due to the size and complexity of the school, many students and teachers are not able to hear the announcement of the moment of silence. Students in PE are in the locker rooms when the moment of silence is read. Since there are PE classes every hour, there would be no ideal time to conduct a moment of silence in which the entire school would be able to participate.

In addition, the moment of silence is too short for the majority of students to engage in meaningful prayer or reflection. If a student can say a prayer in the moment of silence, then they can say the same prayer in the moment between the bell ringing and class starting. Teachers rarely start class the exact moment the bell rings.

Another suggested use for the moment of silence is to set a goal for the day. But this doesn’t make sense either. Why set a goal for the day during a moment after you have had one class? If the administration would like students to set a goal for the day, it would make more sense to lengthen first hour by a few minutes and spend time then setting a goal.

The Central Times also thinks that the mandatory moment of silence is infringing upon the principle of the separation of church and state. Although the Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act does not endorse religion, its name implies a religious undertone. It would be illogical, as we have demonstrated, to spend a moment at the beginning of second hour reflecting “on the anticipated activities of the day,” as the law suggests. Even if we conducted the moment of silence at the beginning of the day, it would still be illogical for many of the same reasons. Some students would still be in PE, and the moment would still be insufficient time for significant reflection.

That being said, we support the use of moments of silence when they have clear, secular purposes. For example, a moment of silence in memory of the shootings in Arizona made sense.

In addition to conducting a daily moment of silence, we have begun to listen to the Pledge of Allegiance every day during the announcements. The Central Times believes that saying the Pledge of Allegiance each day reduces its significance.

However, the editorial board of the Central Times is divided on the issue of whether or not the Pledge of Allegiance should be read at all. Some of us think that the sense of nationalism that saying the Pledge of Allegiance in school instills is beneficial to American students. Others of us agree that nationalism is important, but firmly believe that the school is not the place to instill it, just as the school is not the place to have a moment of silence.

Because the moment of silence and Pledge of Allegiance are mandated by law to be conducted each day, the Central Times also encourages students to respect the practices. Talking through the moment of silence or the Pledge of Allegiance is disrespectful to classmates who are trying to make the best use of the activities.

However, we also urge students to make their opinions about both daily activities clear. The administration has received little formal feedback. We would like them to receive more. We would also like the mandatory moment of silence to be overturned at the state level. This requires political pressure. So, we encourage students and families to petition their state representatives to overturn this law.

For everything there is a season. There is a time for silence. But for everything there is also a place. And the place for daily, mandatory silence is not here, not now, not ever.