"Cultural Sharing" Double Standard

[Anonymous]

11 pages in but isn’t it the Evangelical Christians who are opposed to Valentines Day and Halloween? So Christians are mad that a Diwali lantern came home and also mad that they oppose Halloween but want to celebrate Christmas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just because a holiday has "religious roots" somewhere in the dim past doesn't mean anyone who celebrates it now thinks it has any religious meaning. Halloween was fun at school - dressing up, parade and parties. Valentine's Day was all about friendship and caring, cards for everyone and parties. I find it so depressing that these kind of things can no longer happen at school because of this idea that absolutely everything we do has to include absolutely everyone.

Public school Long Island and North Carolina We had to color Christmas trees and santa for a month before Christmas.

Zero empathy.

Really? Did you make a nativity as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m reading the Valentines Reminder differently. It says no candy because of allergies (which seems like a necessary health precaution and culturally neutral) and to remember that not everyone celebrates Valentines.

It doesn’t say that your child can’t celebrate, or even that the class won’t celebrate together, just that some people prefer not to celebrate. I’d see it as a heads-up to warn the kids not to get offended or think it weird if someone doesn’t give them a valentine or doesn’t want to accept one.

I’d suggest e-mailing the teacher for clarification.

OP here, and I agree that maybe there is a more charitable interpretation than how I initially read it and I hope you are right. However, for context, they made it very clear elsewhere there will be no class party and the class will not celebrate together, so I do know that that is part of the intended message.

Also, to be clear, I of course completely understand the candy issue and have no problem with skipping that due to allergies. It's the larger messaging that seems to signal (and I could be over-interpreting, but this is one of many such emails) that "certain specific holidays are arbitrarily not welcome here" that bothers me.

dp.. you seem to be having an issue understanding the difference between a whole class party for one event vs a cultural sharing day where every kid gets to bring something about their culture.

Did the teacher forbid a white child from bringing in something "American" if they wanted to? We live in America, so the "American" culture isn't really something different for the kids to learn about.

My DH is British. For cultural heritage day, there wasn't that much they could share that Americans don't know about. I mean, there's the "spotted d!ck", but I don't think that would've gone over well with the teacher; I'm sure the kids would've thought it hilarious, though. So, DC struggled to think what to bring.

We brought cornbread to Heritage Night to represent my kid's grandparents from Mississippi, and I love cornbread, but it didn't shine amongst the samosas, empanadas, spring rolls, and jollof rice.

My niece had this at her school and brought chicken nuggets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I wouldn’t admit it out loud but I agree OP. I have a bunch of virtue signaling liberal/lefty friends with “in this house we believe…” signs who trip all over themselves to schedule events around people fasting for Ramadan yet are openly contemptuous of people doing similar things to observe Lent. It’s so clear they’re doing it strictly because it makes them feel superior to other less culturally aware white people, they have no interest at all in sincerely supporting a diverse array of spiritual practices.

You've met people who are openly contemptuous of people who aren't eating things for Lent? Really? When? Where? What did they say?

“Yeah but you do eat meat though” as if they don’t know

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. In my opinion, Valentines and Halloween are American celebrations that are only very loosely tied to religions. Growing up, every religion (except Jehovah’s Witness) celebrated them and they were just fun class parties. Now we are trying too hard to be PC and are not making anyone happy.

Honoring and learning about other cultures is fantastic, but we should not need to erase the American customs to do that.

Totally agree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with you too, OP. If I were to move my family to India, I absolutely would expect them to celebrate Diwali in school. Or for it not to be taboo. Why can’t the same be said for Halloween and Valentines?

I am a longtime teacher. Almost every child I taught whose parents kept them out on Halloween was African American. They weren’t people who moved their families to this country, they were part of a uniquely American culture.

I’m trying to understand this as well. I have some neighbors that do not celebrate Halloween but celebrate other religious holidays like Valentines no problem. First they are also Christians, but Protestants I notice. Also they seem to think Halloween is a celebration of the devil or of evil. And I agree there are some things about Halloween that I don’t particularly care for. So I don’t allow my kids to dress in evil or murder glorifying costumes. Our usual costumes are caped crusaders (pun not intended) like Batman and superheroes. There must be some teaching in the Protestant Christian tradition against it but i don’t know since I’m not Protestant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I completely agree with you. American holidays are not valued by mcps, but international holidays are, which is incredibly sad.

American holidays: the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day.

Oh come on, Halloween is a far bigger holiday in the U.S. than Presidents Day.

They don’t trace coins under paper with crayon or make presidents’ heads out of black construction paper anymore?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the Op and think parents in this area should push back on these kind of messages with an undercurrent of you can celebrate but don’t enjoy it. In other parts of the country schools still have Halloween and horrors - Christmas 😱 secular version of course.

I mean people really believe that things should be inclusive then they should accept standard black and white American kids who celebrate halloween, valentine’s day, christmas, thanksgiving, etc

And include all the other holidays that other kids celebrate

Secular Christmas. Standard black and white American kids. Hoo boy.

I mean what else would you call it? 🙄 America has an established culture

[Anonymous]

I have no religious belief, and I find things to celebrate for kids to have fun memories. I appreciate elementary school has fall class party, truck or treat, valentine party, making turkey arts, and etc. I take them to see christmas lights, easter egg hunts, trick or treat, and we are open to attend other cultural holiday celebration as long as it is kid friendly like something fun for them to do. I enjoy the celebration part.

[Anonymous]

When did Halloween become a celebration of the devil and evil? Some people are over thinking and not allowing their kids to share in the fun and creating childhood memories

I’m in my 60s and it has always been about dressing up and getting free candy.

I still dress up as an adult and go to Halloween parties. There is fun, food and drinks. Some people get really creative. There is no celebration of the devil or evil. It’s fun. Try it!!

[Anonymous]

I agree 100% OP. Why don't you bring in a costume and a massive bag of Halloween candy to share on cultural diversity day? That would win over a lot of kids to Halloween! I'm not joking either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kindergartener got to learn about Ramadan including that "we kneel on the floor and say Allahu akbar, which means God is great " in a public school. But no Valentines. We left the school

You should have stayed. Your kid might have learned something.

Valentine’s Day is ubiquitously celebrated in our culture. Your kid doesn’t need special lessons about that in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kindergartener got to learn about Ramadan including that "we kneel on the floor and say Allahu akbar, which means God is great " in a public school. But no Valentines. We left the school

You should have stayed. Your kid might have learned something.

Valentine’s Day is ubiquitously celebrated in our culture. Your kid doesn’t need special lessons about that in school.

The point is, we're not allowed to celebrate Valentine's Day in schools anymore but we are allowed to celebrate kneeling on the floor and saying Allahu akbar. That's the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kindergartener got to learn about Ramadan including that "we kneel on the floor and say Allahu akbar, which means God is great " in a public school. But no Valentines. We left the school

You should have stayed. Your kid might have learned something.

Valentine’s Day is ubiquitously celebrated in our culture. Your kid doesn’t need special lessons about that in school.

The point is, we're not allowed to celebrate Valentine's Day in schools anymore but we are allowed to celebrate kneeling on the floor and saying Allahu akbar. That's the point.

Did your child actually celebrate Ramadan in school? Were they made to kneel and say Allahu Akbar? Or did they just learn that Islam exists?

[Anonymous]

The voters have spoken. The war on Halloween that people from superstitious cultures have waged is over
Long live Halloween!!