Holidays

With the holiday season approaching quickly I have began to wonder if the whole idea of de-christmascizing so to speak in schools is really a great idea. Now I completely understand that not everyone celebrates Christmas, and that they should be allowed to celebrate whatever holiday they want but I think things have gone a little far. I work in an elementary school. There are no more kids Christmas concerts. They have purposely moved them to fall and spring to avoid the holiday season. I remember being a kid and singing all the nice Christmas songs to an audience of parents, it was just part of Christmas. There are no Christmas projects done in art class anymore, and there can't be class Christmas parties anymore, they have to be "winter" parties. There are still the couple of Christmas type projects that we can do, like making gift tags for example. But we have to make sure there is an understanding that they can be any kind of gift tags and say "you can make Christmas tags, if you celebrate that holiday." It is not OK to sing any type of Christmas song that has to do with Jesus or the real meaning behind Christmas, but it is OK to listen to the other holiday songs in different languages since no one can understand them even if they were talking about Jesus, or whatever god that holiday celebrates.

I am all about diversity, expression of ones own beliefs, and learning about all the other holidays that go on in our own country and around the world but it seems that we are no spending so much time making sure we know about and celebrate all the other holidays that we have forgotten about the one that most of us (in my school and situation) celebrate. There has to be a happy medium and at this point I think it has gone too far in the other direction.