[2sheep]

is it any coincidence that our public schools started going south about the time that prayer was forced out?

It started long before that. Look at this:

1933 - "The first Humanist Manifesto is published. Co-author John Dewey, the noted philosopher and educator, calls for a synthesizing of all religions and "a socialized and cooperative economic order." Co-signer C.F. Potter said in 1930: "Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism, and every American public school is a school of humanism.  What can the theistic Sunday schools, meeting for an hour once a week, teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching?" -- A History of the New World Order

See also the article at the top of this link for the four kinds of thinking that destroyed America:  The U.S. -- A Modern Babylon?

[RobbyS]

The NEA and AFT both subscribe to Dewey's thinking. Just read their publications.