One single moment of silence, travels all around Arkansas, as all students everywhere take a moment out of their day, every day for just about anything.
Since the Arkansas General Assembly passed a law mandating it, each day at all schools begin with the pledge of Allegiance and now a minute of silence.
The moment of silence has most definitely made an impact.
“I’ve had multiple of my friends come to me and complain about the new policy. We’ve had extra time to finish homework, and to just do anything that we could possibly need to do, so it’s not as bad as it could have been,” freshman Tristan Slack said.
Most students and teachers like the time to to think on the day.
“I think personally that the new policy’s whole point is just to make people realize and to think about their life, to put their lives into perspective, and use that single moment to recollect everything they have as a person of their own thoughts,” junior Olivia Burgess said.
The policy requires everyone in our school to use these sixty seconds of their day, at the beginning of the first period, to take time to themselves. Some were exactly sure why they thought the newest law was passed.
“I think it was passed as a way to beat around the bush to get the chance to pray, but they don’t use the term ‘pray’, only for those who don’t have the same religion, or any religion at all, because a judgement isn’t needed, or wanted, or wished upon anyone,” Slack said.
Others weren’t exactly sure what the point may or may not have been.
“It has been real crazy, the first day of school we didn’t know what to do, no one knew what was going on, and we were all just confused; our teachers didn’t even have an answer for us. We didn’t know what to think,” Burgess realized.
Most of the teachers and students have had to adjust to the new policy.
“It was kind of hard at first, because it was the first day and most of us had just seen our best friends, and we wanted to sit and talk about our summer before class had fully started,” Slack said. “We couldn’t do that because of our moment of silence and even to this day, it still catches us by surprise when we have to be totally silent, and then all of the sudden keep on going with what we started doing in the first place.”
Teachers expect total seriousness to be taken with the new policy.
“Once I was in my first period class and a few of my friends and I had forgotten to be quiet. We busted out laughing, at one of the jokes I had just told them, and our teacher just gave us this crazy look and yelled at us,” Burgess said. “It made all of us mad including my teacher, but we explained what happened and she was fine. She just made sure that it was very clear that we weren’t allowed to talk during the moment of silence and told us not to do it again.”
