Religious Liberty in the American Law

It remains to examine the application of this principle* to particu- 1 lar offenses. Statutes have been passed against blasphemy and offenders have been prosecuted under them. This, as said in a Massachusetts case, has not been done to prevent or restrain the formation of any opinions or the profession of any religious sentiments whatever but to restrain and punish acts which have a tendency to disturb the public peace.185 To prohibit the open, public, and explicit denial of the-popular religion of a country is a necessary measure to preserve the tranquility of a government. Of this no person in a Christian country can complain; for, admitting him to be an infidel, he must acknowledge that no benefit can be derived from the subversion of a religion which enforces the purest morality.18 6 It follows that the infidel who.madly rejects all belief in a Divine Essence may safely do so, in reference to civil punishment, so long as he refrains from the wanton and malicious proclamation of his opinions with intent to outrage the moral and religious convictions of a community, the vast majority of whom are Christians. But beyond this conscientious doctrines and practices can claim no immunit

Pauline Zollman, transcript only

Transcript of an interview with Pauline (Paula) Zollman by Lucille Brown of Union College. Paula was born between 1900 and 1914 in Zseszow, Galicia. The transcript is missing pages 23 and 24.https://digitalworks.union.edu/berkoralhistories/1010/thumbnail.jp

Converting the Bement Junior High School to the Bement Middle School

The town of Bement, Illinois, had an elementary school (K-8) and a high school (9-12) prior to 1976. The Bement Community Unit School District initiated its junior high school in 1976. This school consisted of the seventh and eighth grades. During the 1983-84 school year, the administrators of the Bement schools expressed a general concern with the academic grades, social development, and behavior that was occurring in the Bement Junior High School. They indicated that many of the problems were the result of having the junior high school students housed with the senior high school students. They perceived that some of the high school students were negative influences on some of the seventh- and eighth-grade students during the school day and on the younger students\u27 personal lives. One immediate suggested solution was the physical separation of the seventh- and eighth-grade students from the high school students. The members of the Bement Board of Education instructed the administrators to implement a middle school that would be operational for the 1984-85 school year. This school included the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades and was housed in a separate area of the school building. This field experience studied the Bement Middle School students\u27 academic grades, social development, and behavior after the 1984-85 school year. Compared to their seventh-grade accomplishments, the academic grades were improved for 55% of the eighth-grade students in language arts; 36% in mathematics; 49% in social studies; and 45% in science. The accumlative grade point average for the eighth grade increased from 3.38 as seventh graders to 3.57 as eighth graders after the first year in the middle school. In order to determine the change in behavior and social development of the middle school students, a survey was given to the 1984-85 eighth graders, the parents of those students, and the staff (administrators, teachers, guidance counselor, and a social worker) of the Bement Middle School. The majority of the students did not indicate that their behavior or social development improved after the first year of the Bement Middle School in comparison to the Bement Junior High School. However, the parents\u27 and staff\u27s opinions strongly supported the improvements of the behavior and social development of the middle school students

Converting the Bement Junior High School to the Bement Middle School

The town of Bement, Illinois, had an elementary school (K-8) and a high school (9-12) prior to 1976. The Bement Community Unit School District initiated its junior high school in 1976. This school consisted of the seventh and eighth grades. During the 1983-84 school year, the administrators of the Bement schools expressed a general concern with the academic grades, social development, and behavior that was occurring in the Bement Junior High School. They indicated that many of the problems were the result of having the junior high school students housed with the senior high school students. They perceived that some of the high school students were negative influences on some of the seventh- and eighth-grade students during the school day and on the younger students\u27 personal lives. One immediate suggested solution was the physical separation of the seventh- and eighth-grade students from the high school students. The members of the Bement Board of Education instructed the administrators to implement a middle school that would be operational for the 1984-85 school year. This school included the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades and was housed in a separate area of the school building. This field experience studied the Bement Middle School students\u27 academic grades, social development, and behavior after the 1984-85 school year. Compared to their seventh-grade accomplishments, the academic grades were improved for 55% of the eighth-grade students in language arts; 36% in mathematics; 49% in social studies; and 45% in science. The accumlative grade point average for the eighth grade increased from 3.38 as seventh graders to 3.57 as eighth graders after the first year in the middle school. In order to determine the change in behavior and social development of the middle school students, a survey was given to the 1984-85 eighth graders, the parents of those students, and the staff (administrators, teachers, guidance counselor, and a social worker) of the Bement Middle School. The majority of the students did not indicate that their behavior or social development improved after the first year of the Bement Middle School in comparison to the Bement Junior High School. However, the parents\u27 and staff\u27s opinions strongly supported the improvements of the behavior and social development of the middle school students