"Cultural Sharing" Double Standard

[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.

I don't think Halloween or Valentine's Day are in any danger of being erased. They are strong enough to withstand even the blow of elementary-school students not longer having in-class Halloween or Valentine's Day parties. Because that's what this really is: people who are very upset that their kids in public school don't get to have in-class Halloween or Valentine's Day parties.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]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.[/quote]

+100

I have friends who will say horrible ignorant things condemning Christianity and then go out of the way to post “I wish a good Ramadan to all of my friends who celebrate it” when they know darn well they don’t have any friends who are celebrating Ramadan.

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So tell if I am being unreasonable to be annoyed here--

DC is in elementary school that frequently touts the beauty and joy of "sharing your culture." At one point, parents were invited in to "share an activity from your culture." As a result of that invitation, my kid brought home a little lantern they made in celebration of Diwali.

And yet, when it comes to mainstream secular holidays like Halloween or Valentines Day, we get emails like this:

Valentine's Reminder

As Valentine's Day approaches, let's be mindful of our school community's inclusive approach to celebrations. While the holiday is often celebrated with parties, distributing Valentines, and treats, it's important to recognize its religious roots, and that not all members of our community may observe it. Additionally, due to serious allergies, our school has a no-candy policy in classrooms.

We got a similar message around Halloween. I can't help but get the feeling, based on these emails, that if I took up the teacher on one of these invitations to "share my culture" around Halloween or Valentines Day or any other secular take on a mainstream American holiday (e.g. Christmas), it would not be well-received. I am all for my kid learning and celebrating other cultures, but this feels like a double standard.

Frankly, I find it annoying that we not allowed to have any common celebration with these holidays. I remember Halloween and Valentines Day as some of my most fun in-school experiences and this feels like they are caving to an unreasonably intolerant minority. Obviously we can and still do invite classmates over to celebrate these holidays at home, but that is not quite the same.

Thoughts?

Is this what people call white grievance? It sure seems like a MAGA issue.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So tell if I am being unreasonable to be annoyed here--

DC is in elementary school that frequently touts the beauty and joy of "sharing your culture." At one point, parents were invited in to "share an activity from your culture." As a result of that invitation, my kid brought home a little lantern they made in celebration of Diwali.

And yet, when it comes to mainstream secular holidays like Halloween or Valentines Day, we get emails like this:

Valentine's Reminder

As Valentine's Day approaches, let's be mindful of our school community's inclusive approach to celebrations. While the holiday is often celebrated with parties, distributing Valentines, and treats, it's important to recognize its religious roots, and that not all members of our community may observe it. Additionally, due to serious allergies, our school has a no-candy policy in classrooms.

We got a similar message around Halloween. I can't help but get the feeling, based on these emails, that if I took up the teacher on one of these invitations to "share my culture" around Halloween or Valentines Day or any other secular take on a mainstream American holiday (e.g. Christmas), it would not be well-received. I am all for my kid learning and celebrating other cultures, but this feels like a double standard.

Frankly, I find it annoying that we not allowed to have any common celebration with these holidays. I remember Halloween and Valentines Day as some of my most fun in-school experiences and this feels like they are caving to an unreasonably intolerant minority. Obviously we can and still do invite classmates over to celebrate these holidays at home, but that is not quite the same.

Thoughts?

Is this what people call white grievance? It sure seems like a MAGA issue.

Wow, how racist do you have to be to assume that only white people care about their culture not being differentially suppressed?

[Anonymous]

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?

Because they are not American holidays. They are holidays for certain Americans, just as Diwali is a holiday for certain Americans.

[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.

Right? Hoo boy indeed.

[Anonymous]

I agree that whoever is making that decision is stupid, OP.

[Anonymous]

MCPS is a kill joy

[Anonymous]

I’m with you on Halloween. One parent in our school had a crusade against it and now kids can’t do anything associated with the holiday. She said it was the devils holiday and only little satanists celebrate. I was shocked when she said it to my face. She was a Catholic from another country, but I’m Catholic American and I love it.

Can’t we get the satanists to come out and say they want respect for their holiday? And they too should be included? I really want Halloween back. Why aren’t they a religion too?

[Anonymous]

Why is there secular Christmas but Hanukkah gets to have a religious symbol of a menorah? The nativity is banned.

Some things seriously puzzle me but whatever.

[Anonymous]

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.

The fun activities at the schools that kids have enjoyed for generations are being erased.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is there secular Christmas but Hanukkah gets to have a religious symbol of a menorah? The nativity is banned.

Some things seriously puzzle me but whatever.

It is popular to ban Christianity even though our country was based on Judeo-Christian values.

[Anonymous]

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.

Do you seriously think this is a double standard? It seems to me like in both cases, the school is sending the exact same, very appropriate message: "Let's respect the backgrounds of all our students by recognizing that not everyone celebrates the same holidays."