After much consideration, South administrators recently relieved sophomore Jack Summers of his requirements to read portions of the Bible in English class. Summers refused to read the literal translation of the Bible excerpts used by all sophomore English classes because he is an atheist.
To come to a conclusion, Principal Joel Stembridge solicited advice from many members of the Newton Public Schools community. “I talked with the department chairs. I talked with a lot of faculty members about it too. I also spoke with Paul Stein, the Deputy Superintendent and Jen Price, [the principal at North].”
The sophomore English curriculum devotes much of the first quarter to studying the Bible. Using the textbook, “The Bible As/In Literature,” sophomores read literal text selections. The curriculum is designed to study the Bible on a strictly literal basis with no religious implications, according to English department head Brian Baron. “We don’t want to push religion on kids,” he said.
Summers originally objected to reading the text in mid-September. “I told my English teacher that I was an atheist and that I did object to reading the Bible.” Summers' English teacher assured him that they would “get through [the unit] as quickly as possible.” As the class progressed, Summers said that no accommodations had been made. “I didn’t really come out to my parents or to anyone else about having an issue until we started reading the Gospel of Matthew.”
After Summers spoke with his mother, she brought up the issue with Principal Stembridge. “We first asked them if Jack could switch to another English class that had a different curriculum,” his mother, Marjorie Summers, said. “We then found out that all of the sophomore classes cover the Bible, so there was no elective for him to take.”
After the meeting, a decision was agreed upon to allow Summers to retake two Bible-related quizzes he initially objected to taking. “I was allowed to retake [the quizzes] and I was going to be presented with alternate material that wasn’t the actual Bible. It was sort of like a Cliffnotes version.” However, Summers’ English teacher suggested the quizzes be negated from his final term grade. Going forward, Summers thought he would be receiving a secularized version of the texts. “I think there were some miscommunications. We talked about attaining some secularized version of the Bible or even just a summarized person, just not the actual Gospel of Matthew,” he said. However, Summers never received these translations. “So I just ended up reading the Gospel of Matthew.” In Summers’ English class, students’ major grades for the Bible unit came from two quizzes and an analysis of a religiously inspired piece of art. In the end, Summers did not have to retake the two quizzes and opted to analyze a non-religious work of art.
This was not Summers’ first experience learning about religion. Last year, Summers encountered a problem with the history curriculum. “I slacked off when we were learning about Islam and Judaism and Christianity. I didn’t really do all the work, but I didn’t come out and say … ‘I have an issue with this.'” Summers believes there are other ways to teach students about religion. “I don’t have a problem learning about religion, but I think the religion can be taught in other ways than forcing me to read the holy texts. People take that very, very literally and very personally.”
Stembridge’s decision in regards to Summers’ request has generated widespread discussion over the controversy. While some support Stembridge, others fear his decision will "set a precedent at South."
Nonetheless, Stembridge defended his decision. “I think from time-to-time, students are concerned about [the curriculum], mostly religious beliefs,” he said. “When that happens, my job as the principal is not to make a quick determination, but to listen carefully and to help the student craft a solution.”
Summers has already received reactions from his peers. “Just today when I talked to my friend who’s Christian, we got into an argument,” he said. “It wasn’t huge, but still, it was an argument over whether or not this was an acceptable point to take. He believed that I do need to read the Bible.”
Summers and his mom both said they were satisfied with the way South’s administration handled the situation. “Hopefully they will come up with a way of addressing this in the future,” Summers said. “But for the first time, I think [the way they handled the situation] was definitely acceptable.” Marjorie echoed her son. “I think that I was very impressed with the team listening to Jack’s concerns and trying to be flexible when coming up with an accommodation.”
English teacher Julie Stonehill, however, believes reading the Bible is an essential part of South’s English curriculum. “I completely support the English curriculum,” she said. “It’s so important for students to read the Bible as literature.” Stonehill, a South graduate, said that her experience learning about the Bible as literature prepared her for college, where she majored in English. “It made a huge difference for me,” she said.
While English teacher James Norton sees both sides of the debate. “If someone loses the opportunity to learn about something that could be valuable to them, it’s unfortunate,” he said. At the same time, I believe people need to be taken holistically. You need to go on a case-by-case basis.
Stembridge is not concerned that this ruling will set a precedent. “I don’t see this as a firestorm of students wanting to skip out on knowledge,” he said. “This is an individual student who came forward. I did for this student what any student would want me to do, which is to take them seriously and listen carefully. I’ll do that for any student that comes forward, but I would hope South students would not come forward with such a request without having done some self-reflection. You can’t come just because you don’t want to do the work.”
History department head Marshall Cohen agreed with Stembridge. “I’m sure it’s a case-by-case thing,” he said.
However, Summers his actions will encourage others to voice their opinions when having problems with the curriculum. “If all goes well, hopefully more kids will speak out,” he said.
