NationStates Jolt Archive

Pray. (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pmckee29aug29,0,5051194.story?track=mostemailedlink)

That's what the principal of Boca Raton High School said did it for the school he oversees.
BOCA RATON · Students may have worked hard, but it was God who led Boca Raton High School to its A grade from the state and numerous other accomplishments last year, Principal Geoff McKee said.

snip

McKee, 42, believes the widespread prayer efforts achieved a miracle for the formerly C-rated school, which got B's in 2003 and 2004 before its A school year. He said the school district had anticipated a D for Boca High last year after students took diagnostic exams designed to predict scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests later in the year.

Upon hearing that news, McKee said he called on the local branch of an international Christian group, Moms In Touch, to pray for students to do well on the exams, and the group complied.

"There was a lot of prayer for the school and staff to achieve their God-given potential," said Moms In Touch member Lori Degler, whose two children attend Boca High. "We give credit to hard work, but it's spurred on by the spirit of the Lord."

Moms In Touch was not the only group to pray for Boca High. McKee said churches, local and national Christian radio stations and campus groups also voiced their support.

"I never felt so bathed in prayer as I did last year," McKee said. "The outcome would have been different. It wouldn't have been as great a year."

So remember folks--if your school is doing poorly on standardized tests, there's no need to give them more money for better supplies, work harder as students, work harder as teachers or anything of the sort--just get a bunch of people to pray for you and God will fill you with the spirit on standardized testing day and mystically give you the correct answers.

How is this idiot a principal?

Amen to that!

Can anyone give me a continual update on the highschool 10 years from now? I want to see if it really works! :D

Pray. (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pmckee29aug29,0,5051194.story?track=mostemailedlink)

That's what the principal of Boca Raton High School said did it for the school he oversees.


So remember folks--if your school is doing poorly on standardized tests, there's no need to give them more money for better supplies, work harder as students, work harder as teachers or anything of the sort--just get a bunch of people to pray for you and God will fill you with the spirit on standardized testing day and mystically give you the correct answers.

How is this idiot a principal?

Uh... but it worked.

Uh... but it worked.


I'm sure this had nothing to do w/ it:

Still, some students say McKee's emphasis on the power of prayer minimizes the amount of studying and practicing they did.

"Praying helps, but all the hard work changed things for the better," senior Jessica Summers said.

"You can't totally depend on prayer to help you achieve," senior Emily Kirkland said. "A lot of people would be offended by that."

does that mean that god cheated on the test in the schools favor?

Well, I think that guy is an idiot! There is no god anyway!

does that mean that god cheated on the test in the schools favor?
Assistance from anyone (including the Holy Spirit), would constitute cheating. They're clearly guilty of fraud.

does that mean that god cheated on the test in the schools favor?

No, he probably went back in time and used his omnipotence to rewrite the test.

More likely, on the answer keys used to grade the tests, answers like "gravity" and "cells" were all replaced with "God did it".

Assistance from anyone (including the Holy Spirit), would constitute cheating. They're clearly guilty of fraud.
i cant help but agree with you. these test results should be invalidated and the principal should be put in jail.

I'm sure this had nothing to do w/ it:

Still, some students say McKee's emphasis on the power of prayer minimizes the amount of studying and practicing they did.

"Praying helps, but all the hard work changed things for the better," senior Jessica Summers said.

"You can't totally depend on prayer to help you achieve," senior Emily Kirkland said. "A lot of people would be offended by that."

Very true, but obviously it inspired them to do better.

I'm sure this had nothing to do w/ it:

Still, some students say McKee's emphasis on the power of prayer minimizes the amount of studying and practicing they did.

"Praying helps, but all the hard work changed things for the better," senior Jessica Summers said.

"You can't totally depend on prayer to help you achieve," senior Emily Kirkland said. "A lot of people would be offended by that."

Yeah, but Jessica and Emily didn't claim that prayer wasn't part of the equation of success for their school. Contrarily, they seem to suggest that it did help. "Praying helps..." -Jessica Summers. "You can't totally depend on prayer..." - Emily Kirkland.

The kids clearly did better, so I'm not sure why anyone would be upset about this except if they hated God and just don't like to see him helping people.

Yeah, but Jessica and Emily didn't claim that prayer wasn't part of the equation of success for their school. Contrarily, they seem to suggest that it did help. "Praying helps..." -Jessica Summers. "You can't totally depend on prayer..." - Emily Kirkland.

The kids clearly did better, so I'm not sure why anyone would be upset about this except if they hated God and just don't like to see him helping people.
Time for a little lesson on the difference between causation and correlation. What we have here--at the very best--is correlation. Principal claims he asked people to pray for school. School did better than expected. There is no provable causal link between the two, because there are a host of potential other reasons why the school could have done better than expected, including students working harder, teachers doing a better job based on the diagnostic results, and, quite frankly, fraud. All three of those are more logical than the idea that God took time out his schedule to help a single school cheat on some standardized tests.

Yeah, but Jessica and Emily didn't claim that prayer wasn't part of the equation of success for their school. Contrarily, they seem to suggest that it did help. "Praying helps..." -Jessica Summers. "You can't totally depend on prayer..." - Emily Kirkland.

The kids clearly did better, so I'm not sure why anyone would be upset about this except if they hated God and just don't like to see him helping people.
I hate that which does not exist!

I guess this is just another manifestation of the whole "affirmations" thing. If the principal decided to ask some people to pray for his school, it's more than likely that he also took other steps to improve the school. My bet is that those did more than the prayer did (God favoring the side with bigger guns and all that.) :sniper:

They phoned God, but Satan picked it up.

(prays)

Time for a little lesson on the difference between causation and correlation.

You have nothing to teach me, thanks.

What we have here--at the very best--is correlation. Principal claims he asked people to pray for school. School did better than expected. There is no provable causal link between the two, because there are a host of potential other reasons why the school could have done better than expected, including students working harder, teachers doing a better job based on the diagnostic results, and, quite frankly, fraud. All three of those are more logical than the idea that God took time out his schedule to help a single school cheat on some standardized tests.

This is all speculative, and you've made up your mind anyway. I suppose that you would argue that test scores in other schools haven't soared in the course of a year in every other school where the students "work harder" (because they magically started to care about the school's overall grades, even though they didn't care about their own up to that point), or the teachers "do a better job" ('cause they were slacking off up until then, I guess)--as you so eloquently described it. Yet you're not arguing that this is even possible still because you've sewn the "fraud" safety net. If all else fails, there must be some sort of underhanded conspiracy at work, because prayer can't be responsible! That would involve the common sense notion that there's a God who cares!

You have issues, man :)

I hate that which does not exist!

So why the heck are you upset that people prayed for improved performance and their performance improved?

So why the heck are you upset that people prayed for improved performance and their performance improved?
I'm not? I don't know... What are we talking about?

So why the heck are you upset that people prayed for improved performance and their performance improved?
No one's upset. We just don't think that prayer had much of an effect.

You have nothing to teach me, thanks.
Apparently, I do, because you haven't gotten it yet.

This is all speculative, and you've made up your mind anyway. I suppose that you would argue that test scores in other schools haven't soared in the course of a year in every other school where the students "work harder" (because they magically started to care about the school's overall grades, even though they didn't care about their own up to that point), or the teachers "do a better job" ('cause they were slacking off up until then, I guess)--as you so eloquently described it. Yet you're not arguing that this is even possible still because you've sewn the "fraud" safety net. If all else fails, there must be some sort of underhanded conspiracy at work, because prayer can't be responsible! That would involve the common sense notion that there's a God who cares!

You have issues, man :)
Yeah, my observations are speculative, but they're a whole hell of a lot closer to provable and less insulting to the people who did the work than the notion that the prayer of uninvolved people was the causative factor in the improvement of test scores.

Last time I checked god helps those who help themselves.

Praying should be giving your thanks and appreciation for what god has given you (if you believe in god), not trying to bum him for a higher score on a test.

Not to mention that time praying could be time spent studying and last time I checked studying boosted test scores. I can't remember who said this but: "Two hands working get more done than a thousand praying".

I'm agnostic, but I do believe that god wants us to be self-reliant, not a bunch of moochers.

Yeah, my observations are speculative, but they're a whole hell of a lot closer to provable and less insulting to the people who did the work than the notion that the prayer of uninvolved people was the causative factor in the improvement of test scores.

You hit the nail on the head there. It's so silly when people try to steal others' thunder and attribute it to a deity.

I thought this was an Onion article at first. The ignorance, not just in coming up with the idea but attributing any success to it!

If they all flunked, I wonder if it would have been 'because god didn't want us to succeed' or 'god didn't hear our prayers'. Success is always due to god, when it comes to failure, he gets of scot-free. This god dude has a seriously good racket going on.

I thought this was an Onion article at first. The ignorance, not just in coming up with the idea but attributing any success to it!

If they all flunked, I wonder if it would have been 'because god didn't want us to succeed' or 'god didn't hear our prayers'. Success is always due to god, when it comes to failure, he gets of scot-free. This god dude has a seriously good racket going on.

To quote The End of Days:

Satan: "Whenever something good happens it's because of god, whenever something bad happens...ehhh he works in mysterious ways. I tell you he is the biggest underacheiver of all time!"