You are in class Christmas day having a Christmas party, when suddenly the teacher is pulled out by cops and arrested. You later find out that your teacher was arrested for celebrating Halloween in the class room in a classroom. Is this
what our public school system is heading to in the future? Yes, while this that is a very extreme and we do not do that now but teachers are getting in trouble for only talking and celebrating the Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter. While I do understand racial equality I think it is outrage that in order to mention Christmas to my students that I must also I must talk about all the other holidays around that time period as well. December 25th is Christmas none of the other holidays have that day as there celebration day therefore whether you like it or not it is Christmas. The teacher should have the right to discuss what ever holiday they want as long as it does not bother their students are parents. Making laws say either discuss all of them or none of them is just ridiculous.
Public school are, by law, longer allowed only discuss Christmas, Halloween, Easter or any popular holiday like those. What I do not get is if public school and other federal buildings are closed for those holidays yet we can not talk about them. Schools are closed usually for Christmas, New Years, for Thanksgiving, for Easter and in the New Orleans area Mardi Gras yet the only one we can really celebrate are Mardi Gras. If they honestly want no specific holiday to be favored in public institutions then why are they still considered federal holidays. The only reason we can celebrate Mardi Gras is because it is consider a cultural holiday more than a religious holiday, but yet there are religions around the area that do not believe in going or doing anything that involves Mardi Gras. Now of days the popular holidays such as Christmas and Halloween are not seeing by children for their religious aspects but more for the cultural ones so why not celebrate.
Most children now of days see these holidays as something, children unless taught by their families do not see it for the religious aspects of it. to them Christmas involves a jolly fat man in a red suit bring presents, Easter involves a bunny bringing candy and eggs, Halloween is dressing up and asking people for candy and Mardi Gras is yelling “Throw me something mister”. It is our adult minds that can not see it for what it is. As we grow we lose the innocence of our youth and seem to forget how to just have fun. That is exactly what these holidays are for these children, FUN. There is no reason why fun could be offense to anyone. As long as teachers do not teach the religious points of any of the holidays and they consider their students religious background, I do not see the problem in having celebration for any of them.
As long as a teacher takes in to consideration all the religious backgrounds of their students, there is no reason why they should be banned from celebrating something fun. I know in the area I live in we still say Halloween and Christmas in the classroom and we do not care about the laws on it. the area we live in is almost completely Christian and for the students that do not we do “Fall Fest” and “Spring Fling”, but when October 31st rolls around it will be Halloween and there are ghost, pumpkins, bats, goblins, and witches decorating the halls. Teachers are also wearing Halloween stuff and after Halloween it will be Thanksgiving and than Christmas. I work in a school and I can tell you the children are not concerned with the religious aspect of any of the holidays. It is the parents that are concerned with it on a religious aspect.
Really the religion should not be brought into it, according our most there is supposed to be a separation of church and state. Wikipedia states:
Separation of church and state is a political and legal doctrine which states that government and religious institutions are to be kept separate and independent of one another. The term most often refers to the combination of two principles: secularity of government and freedom of religious exercise.[1] The phrase separation of church and state is generally traced to a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists, in which he referred to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution as creating a “wall of separation” between church and state.
Separation of church and state, though I hate to say this, does not really exist and this just proves it. The term “separation of church and state” does not exist in our laws, it was said in letter and as for the first amendment schools are not in violation of that either. It is not inferring upon anyone’s right to celebrate the holidays, since these holidays are more apart of American culture and a fun, more than they are religious.
In most of the schools they never did teach any of the holidays from a religious point of view therefore they are not in any direct violation of laws. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment or religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,” first amendment of the US Constitution. Think about what that says it says the government will not get involved in things pertaining to religion therefore they should not even be making laws stating that schools can not practice particular holidays due to religion. With that being said school should, on their on discretion, be able to celebrate what ever holiday the majority of their students believe in as long as they take in consideration the other students that do not believe into account. Also, for the people that do not believe in holidays like Christmas, maybe you should explain to your children why Christmas and other holidays like it are so popular. It will not hurt your children to participate in the activities so let them, instead of sheltering them from it teach them to enjoy and embrace the different cultures. Let’s bring FUN back to the holidays and stopped making it about complex adult feelings and the religious aspects of it.
Sources:
First Amendment Center. “A Teacher’s Guide to Religion in the Public Schools.” Nashville: The First Admendment Center, 1999.
National PTA. “A Parents’s Guide to Religion in the Public Schools.” Nashville: The First Admendment Center.