Does your MCPS elementary school still do Halloween?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so glad that I don't live in one of those "DIVERSE" communities that HATE HALLOWEEN. That's crazy.

What does "DIVERSE" mean?
I am in one of these communities and no one HATES HALLOWEEN. We just respect that not everyone celebrates it. And the ones that do dress up at night and trick or treat. It's a non issue.

DIVERSE is a polite way of saying crazy in the context of we can't celebrate Halloween at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

There are different kinds of ‘diversity’. If you are a French immigrant, are you and your DH both college-educated? Are you super religious?

We are at a Silver Spring school, lower-income with a high population of African immigrants (from Africa) and Latin American immigrants. Many of the African immigrants are devoutly Muslim and many of the Latin American immigrants are devoutly Catholic/Christian. IME, many of these immigrants who are super religious really disapprove of Halloween. They don’t care about their kids being ‘happy’ and don’t have an understanding of the roots oh Halloween. (Even less so now that the school isn’t allowed to teach about it.)

So your higher-income diverse friends might support Halloween. But not all people from other countries embrace it.

I bet you can name any tradition, teaching, or concept taught in school and can find people from some country that don't "embrace" it. I think if the majority of the school is in favor of it _and_ an alternate activity is offered, it should be allowed.

[Anonymous]

Dufief ES does a parade and classroom parties. Parents can choose to opt out if they want to. I don't think there has been any discussion of changing the celebration.

[Anonymous]

Jackson Road ES- they have an alternate fall festival which is extremely boring. Bring back the costume parade and parties! That was one of my fondest memories from elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because some of us go to diverse schools where children do not celebrate Halloween for religious reasons. Separating them for an alternate activity may or may not work depending on who then has to supervise them and resources/space available.

I'm the PP you replied to. Diversity is really and truly not the excuse. We are French, our elementary has over 60 nations represented, and as you know, Halloween is mostly an Anglo-Saxon tradition (UK, USA, etc). Yet we all love Halloween because costumes have a special draw for children, and we see how happy our kids are. I lived in the UK and understand the celtic roots of Halloween. There are extremely few families who refuse to celebrate for religious reasons (since Halloween is not a celebration of evil, as anyone with any knowledge of history will know).

I agree there can be too much sugar, but that's more a matter for every parent to police at home. My kids never eat all their candy.

So the schools who choose to ban Halloween are doing it for other reasons.

There are different kinds of ‘diversity’. If you are a French immigrant, are you and your DH both college-educated? Are you super religious?

We are at a Silver Spring school, lower-income with a high population of African immigrants (from Africa) and Latin American immigrants. Many of the African immigrants are devoutly Muslim and many of the Latin American immigrants are devoutly Catholic/Christian. IME, many of these immigrants who are super religious really disapprove of Halloween. They don’t care about their kids being ‘happy’ and don’t have an understanding of the roots oh Halloween. (Even less so now that the school isn’t allowed to teach about it.)

So your higher-income diverse friends might support Halloween. But not all people from other countries embrace it.

But they came here to take part in America, not to drag down silly local traditions because of their religious orthodoxy. That is why I pay not to live around poor people. If they don’t embrace it they are welcome to take on a couple of extra shifts on their Uber while others have fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so glad that I don't live in one of those "DIVERSE" communities that HATE HALLOWEEN. That's crazy.

What does "DIVERSE" mean?
I am in one of these communities and no one HATES HALLOWEEN. We just respect that not everyone celebrates it. And the ones that do dress up at night and trick or treat. It's a non issue.

DIVERSE is a polite way of saying crazy in the context of we can't celebrate Halloween at school.

People who use it in that context are self-identifying as racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so glad that I don't live in one of those "DIVERSE" communities that HATE HALLOWEEN. That's crazy.

What does "DIVERSE" mean?
I am in one of these communities and no one HATES HALLOWEEN. We just respect that not everyone celebrates it. And the ones that do dress up at night and trick or treat. It's a non issue.

DIVERSE is a polite way of saying crazy in the context of we can't celebrate Halloween at school.

People who use it in that context are self-identifying as racist.

Likely a parent from one of the segregated schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so glad that I don't live in one of those "DIVERSE" communities that HATE HALLOWEEN. That's crazy.

What does "DIVERSE" mean?
I am in one of these communities and no one HATES HALLOWEEN. We just respect that not everyone celebrates it. And the ones that do dress up at night and trick or treat. It's a non issue.

DIVERSE is a polite way of saying crazy in the context of we can't celebrate Halloween at school.

People who use it in that context are self-identifying as racist.

Likely a parent from one of the segregated schools.

New flash, Life segregates.

I don't see anyone rushing to add poor, uneducated, low functioning, religiously ridiged or lazy entitled people to their work place. Why we think it is a great idea to do it for the kid's work place Ill never know. I even get why people say it will help all the poor kids by mooching by proximity but I'll never understand how it is susposed to help the kids of the high functioning parents. Bassiclly saying "Youll have a better dinner by sitting around watching the poor kids stuff them selves"

I for one understand capitalism needs 50% of the county paycheck to paycheck as useable labor and nick-knack buyers and i am ok with the status quo. Somebody needs to fill coffees for the white collar workers to talk about how tired they are from staying up to watch the game.

[Anonymous]

We are at a Silver Spring school, lower-income with a high population of African immigrants (from Africa) and Latin American immigrants. Many of the African immigrants are devoutly Muslim and many of the Latin American immigrants are devoutly Catholic/Christian. IME, many of these immigrants who are super religious really disapprove of Halloween. They don’t care about their kids being ‘happy’ and don’t have an understanding of the roots oh Halloween. (Even less so now that the school isn’t allowed to teach about it.)

Devout Catholics celebrate Halloween. Most devout Protestants do as well. It's the evangelical/Pentecostal Christians that general eschew it. Many, many Catholic families of Latin American descent, like my family, embrace Halloween, because it's fun, but because it also ties well with Dia de Muertos. Even some families who don't celebrate at home allow their children to participate in celebrations at school.

And in the interest of OP's post, which school are you speaking of?

[Anonymous]

As an immigrant, moving here means to find new culture and meet different people. Is there anything that is different from home country and/or I don't like? Of course, I can name many. However, I don't expect people who have lived in the US to change their culture and life style for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so glad that I don't live in one of those "DIVERSE" communities that HATE HALLOWEEN. That's crazy.

What does "DIVERSE" mean?
I am in one of these communities and no one HATES HALLOWEEN. We just respect that not everyone celebrates it. And the ones that do dress up at night and trick or treat. It's a non issue.

DIVERSE is a polite way of saying crazy in the context of we can't celebrate Halloween at school.

People who use it in that context are self-identifying as racist.

Likely a parent from one of the segregated schools.

New flash, Life segregates.

I don't see anyone rushing to add poor, uneducated, low functioning, religiously ridiged or lazy entitled people to their work place. Why we think it is a great idea to do it for the kid's work place Ill never know. I even get why people say it will help all the poor kids by mooching by proximity but I'll never understand how it is susposed to help the kids of the high functioning parents. Bassiclly saying "Youll have a better dinner by sitting around watching the poor kids stuff them selves"

I for one understand capitalism needs 50% of the county paycheck to paycheck as useable labor and nick-knack buyers and i am ok with the status quo. Somebody needs to fill coffees for the white collar workers to talk about how tired they are from staying up to watch the game.

As does policies like gerrymandering school boundaries like busing kids who live next to Einstein over to Walter Johnson, red-lining or locating all the section 8 housing in a few out of the way corners of the county does also. There are in the forces that created this defacto segregation not some libertarian fantasy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes at Bannockburn ES in Bethesda. Parade, parties, and costumes and throngs of parents during the school day. An alternative activity was available to those who don’t celebrate.

Same at Forest Knolls.

[Anonymous]

The anti-Halloween movement is being driven by evangelical christians. I'm frankly tired of evangelicals pushing their religion on everyone else.

Conservative muslims do not celebrate Halloween but they have seldom been vocal about it and are not a numerous group.
Catholics, even conservative ones, tend not to care about Halloween other than the political angle. Conservative catholics will criticize allowing a holiday with pagan origins when Christmas is not allowed. They also strongly object that yoga or Native American mythology, stories or history that touches on beliefs is allowed while any mention of Jesus or christianity is not allowed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The anti-Halloween movement is being driven by evangelical christians. I'm frankly tired of evangelicals pushing their religion on everyone else.

Conservative muslims do not celebrate Halloween but they have seldom been vocal about it and are not a numerous group.
Catholics, even conservative ones, tend not to care about Halloween other than the political angle. Conservative catholics will criticize allowing a holiday with pagan origins when Christmas is not allowed. They also strongly object that yoga or Native American mythology, stories or history that touches on beliefs is allowed while any mention of Jesus or christianity is not allowed.

This depends on the school. There are definitely schools in MCPS where there are a good number of conservative Muslims who have been vocal about which holidays are celebrated in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because some of us go to diverse schools where children do not celebrate Halloween for religious reasons. Separating them for an alternate activity may or may not work depending on who then has to supervise them and resources/space available.

I'm the PP you replied to. Diversity is really and truly not the excuse. We are French, our elementary has over 60 nations represented, and as you know, Halloween is mostly an Anglo-Saxon tradition (UK, USA, etc). Yet we all love Halloween because costumes have a special draw for children, and we see how happy our kids are. I lived in the UK and understand the celtic roots of Halloween. There are extremely few families who refuse to celebrate for religious reasons (since Halloween is not a celebration of evil, as anyone with any knowledge of history will know).

I agree there can be too much sugar, but that's more a matter for every parent to police at home. My kids never eat all their candy.

So the schools who choose to ban Halloween are doing it for other reasons.

I don't think you can generalize about all immigrants from your own experience.

I am first generation, and there are many members of my immigrant community who do not embrace American traditions. My parents did. They enjoyed trying different foods, and introducing us to different celebrations. We're not Christian, but they got us a tree, etc. But there are many family friends who have been here 40 years, who hold on tightly to the traditions from their home country. And, some are even 'fearful' of becoming too Americanized.

So, there are plenty of immigrant parents who do not feel the way that you do, and would much prefer to have their kids exposed to as few American traditions as possible.