What was going on when I was born?

At 9 A.M. today, Ann Pancila, secretary to the principal of James Caldwell High School here, switched on the public-address system, asked for the attention of the school's 754 students and, in a clear and authoritative voice, proclaimed, ''We are now going to observe one minute of silence.'' In Room 512, some of the 17 students sat quietly, a few fidgeted in their seats, a couple giggled. Their class on the methods and procedures of the United States Supreme Court had just come to a close. On this particular day, the students had spent the preceding 45 minutes discussing prayer in the public schools and New Jersey's new law mandating a moment of silence.

One of the world's best known art dealers was sentenced on a criminal conviction yesterday to set up a scholarship fund and artappreciation programs for New York City high school students. The dealer, Frank Lloyd, the 71-year-old owner of the international group of Marlborough Galleries, could have received four years in prison for tampering with evidence in a lawsuit over the estate of Mark Rothko, the late Abstract Expressionist painter. The sentencing ended the most spectacular and complex court case in the history of modern art in this country, a tangled and costly 11-year legal battle that began with civil charges, ended in a criminal trial and captivated the art world with tales of money, power and conspiracy. Mr. Lloyd was ordered by Acting State Supreme Court Justice Herbert I. Altman to set up the scholarship fund and a series of art lectures and private showings for students at each new exhibition that comes to his New York gallery.

President Reagan has accepted a scaled-down economic forecast of 1.4 percent economic growth this year over 1982, after adjustment for inflation, Administration officials said today. The projection leaves the unemployment rate near 10.5 percent at the end of this year and still around 9 percent at the end of the 1984 Presidential election year. Administration officials had earlier stated that the growth rate for this year would be below 2 percent. That was a significant cut from a preliminary forecast in September of 3.1 percent growth after inflation.

The I.C.C. dropped a 48-year ban on railroads entering the commercial trucking business. The action will allow the railroads to move closer to becoming complete transportation companies. The trucking industry immediately challenged the decision and threatened court action. Analysts said that in time, many railroads would probably operate large trucking subsidiaries. (Page A1.) The Administration is undecided on key budget questions, with a wide range of strategies still under study. The options were said to include a possible freeze of some spending levels to deal with the record Federal deficit. (A1.) President Reagan signed a bill providing the first increase in Federal gasoline taxes in 23 years. (B5.) The promise of a sustained recovery is now being threatened by huge deficits that would not disappear even if the economy started growing strongly again. (A1.)

Rising hopes of an economic recovery sent the Dow Jones industrial average up 26.03 points yesterday, to a record close of 1,070.92, in the heaviest trading in two months. Buyers, especially pension funds and mutual funds, flocked to the stocks of such depressed basic industries as chemicals, steel and oil and gas, reasoning that they would benefit from economic recovery, analysts said. The institutions also bought blue-chip and transportation stocks, which have been strong performers for months. William M. LeFevre, market strategist at Purcell, Graham & Company, said the market seemed to be saying, ''Economic recovery is just around the corner, as evidenced by the recent upswing in housing and auto sales.''

Many of New York City's museums, forced to find new ways to deal with economic pressures, have discovered that one of their most valuable assets is not hanging in their collections but above them - their air rights. Witht he 52-story residential tower above the Museum of Moder Art nearing completion and nine other cultural insitutions in the city in various stages of pursuing real-estate development, the energies of art are increasingly becoming intertwined with government and commerce. 'That cultural institutions work out ways to raise the funds to survive is extremely important to the future of this city,' said Mayor Koch. 'The vitality of these institutions is not just a question of the quality of life but of economic necessity. Culture is one of the main reasons tourists come here and one of the reasons so many companies stay.'

A Federal district judge today approved as constitutional a voluntary school desegregation plan that does not include busing of students. In the view of some civil rights activists. the decision by Judge Milton I. Shadur to accept the Chicago Board of Education's desegregation proposals, which were contained in a consent decree with the Federal Government, in effect closes the door to hopes of substantial school desegregation here. Officials of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and others have pressed for the use of busing for desegregation, arguing that little voluntary desegregation is likely to occur in cities such as Chicago, which they say has a history of resisting desegregation. Some Programs Long in Effect Some of the strategies approved in the Chicago plan, such as the use of magnet schools to attract students though specialized programs and voluntary student transfers to enhance desegregation, have been in effect here for six years and have achieved only modest results.

THERE was a time, not so long ago, when people went to see films that showed nothing more than leaves rustling on a tree or a dog walking down the street or smoke billowing from a chimney. These simple films, many of them made by the Frenchmen Auguste and Louis Lumiere at the turn of the century, lasted about 90 seconds each and were often shown in rented basement rooms and meeting halls. This weekend, these early examples of movie entertainment - and many of the more sophisticated, longer silent films that followed them - will be shown in an ambitious new series at the Museum of Modern Art. Titled ''Rediscovering French Film, Part II,'' the series contains about 150 films to be shown throughout 1983. The entire history of French film is included, stopping just short of the New Wave movement that began around 1960. Part I of the series, which ended last January, covered much the same ground, but in more abbreviated form.

The sustained economic recovery that President Reagan has pledged but has not produced is being threatened by record budget deficits that would not disappear even if the economy began to grow strongly. As the President nears final decisions for the budget for the fiscal year 1984, which he will submit at the end of January, his economic advisers say he faces deficits of $200 billion a year through 1988, even with spending cuts he is now considering and even with the resumption of good economic growth. Although the President once promised to balance the budget by 1984, these huge deficits result, in part, from his own policies. The Structural Deficit The President's program - the tax cuts approved by Congress and his proposed buildup in military spending -have aggravated a condition that economists, and now the President himself, call structural budget deficits. These deficits are a product of a legislated mismatch between spending and income.

In the 1898 Gold Rush, the Yukon seemed like the center of the world. A legend named Klondike Kate was the blue-eyed darling of the miners; booming Dawson fancied itself as the ''Paris of the North,'' and janitors were making small fortunes by panning barroom shavings for gold dust spilled the night before. These days, all that glitters seems like fool's gold. For the first time since the Gold Rush, there is not a working mine in the Yukon; after more than eight decades of continuous operation, the colorful White Pass & Yukon Railway from here to the Alaskan coast is closed; the economy is sinking and people are fleeing.

Soviet officials denied yesterday that their nuclear-powered reconnaissance satellite was out of control and in danger of crashing to earth. But American officials said ''our information is different'' and placed a nuclear emergency search team on standby alert. The North American Aerospace Defense Command, which monitors all orbital traffic, reported that the satellite, Cosmos 1402, continued to behave erratically and to lose altitude. It is now about 150 miles above the earth and, at its current rate of descent, could plunge into the atmosphere by the end of the month. The command, known as Norad, said it would be unable to give more than a few hours' warning of when and where the satellite was likely to come down. 'Preplanned Operation' Cited But Vladimir A. Kotelnikov, a vice president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, said at a news conference in Moscow that the changes in Cosmos 1402's orbit were part of a ''preplanned operation,'' although he declined to discuss any details.

Bob Carroll will sing, talk, walk, crawl, and dance with willing members of the audience at 9 tonight and tomorrow night at Soundscape, 500 West 52d Street, at 10th Avenue, in his new entertainment, ''Dirt '83.'' With four musical colleagues - Robbie McCauley, Ed Montgomery, David Sulzer and Miguel Rodriguez - he will also offer reworked parts of his ''Salmon Show'' and ''Dirt Show.'' Mr. Carroll is interested in all kinds of dirt: scandalous news, for instance, or moving continents, and members of the audience are encouraged to bring their own. Admission: $7. Reservations: 581-7032. SALSA IN A SOHO KITCHEN The Kitchen in SoHo - known for presenting avant-garde and new music - is broadening its horizons tonight and tomorrow at 8:30 with a salsa festival. The pulsating, Cuban-derived dance music is typically performed by ensembles consisting of three or four percussionists, piano, brass instruments, flute and bass. Groups appearing at the Kitchen, 484 Broome Street, include Conjunto Classico, Tipica 73 and Henry Fiol. Admission is $5. Reservations: 925-3615.