"Cultural Sharing" Double Standard

[Anonymous]

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.

I’m seriously shocked that you couldn’t think of anything British! I would have had a list of words and their corresponding British word (like trunk and boot of a car). Or common “Britishisms”. Serve hot tea. Had a sign where they had to read it in their best British accent.

Depending on the age, common British books like paddington are fun too.

Alas we’re just plain Americans with no culture to share. I asked if I could celebrate the state that we come from and they said it was just other countries.

[Anonymous]

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.

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."

Np but I think there obviously should be a double standard in favor of the holidays *most* kids celebrate. And we can celebrate less popular secular versions of other holidays too. MCPS being a joyless virtue-signal machine is a choice, and not a good one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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 find that really surprising. Any idea what their issues with Halloween were?

Generally families who are conservative Christians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It was not. Our constitutional framers deliberately created a secular government with strong protections for and from religion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It wasn't. It wasn't even founded on Christian values, but in any case, the idea of "Judeo-Christian values" didn't exist in the US until the 1930s. Also, Christianity is not banned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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?

Halloween hasn't gone anywhere, so what do you mean by "I really want Halloween back"? You want your child's class to have a Halloween party during the school day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

Halloween hasn't gone anywhere, so what do you mean by "I really want Halloween back"? You want your child's class to have a Halloween party during the school day?

Yes. And the schools used to do a Halloween parade where the kids dressed in costumes used to march around the school. It was fun. Bring it back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

Halloween hasn't gone anywhere, so what do you mean by "I really want Halloween back"? You want your child's class to have a Halloween party during the school day?

Dp but, uh, yes? What's wrong with that?

[Anonymous]

Yes. I want parties and fun brought back to elementary school like when I was a kid. I used to love school so much, love my teachers, love having my parents come in for special events, just loved school.

My kids are having such a different experience. I want there to be joy again. And Halloween and Valentine’s Day parties are a part of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

Halloween hasn't gone anywhere, so what do you mean by "I really want Halloween back"? You want your child's class to have a Halloween party during the school day?

Dp but, uh, yes? What's wrong with that?

There's nothing wrong with that, if that's what you want. But it's not like no in-class/in-school Halloween party = abolishing Halloween.

[Anonymous]

What school are you talking about, OP? Name the cluster or it didn't happen.

FWIW, my child graduated from a MCPS elementary only 5 years ago and the school did celebrate Valentine's day by distributing cards to classmates and Halloween by having an outside parade, every single year, K to 5. I admit it's possible things have changed THAT much ever since but I find it hard to believe.

[Anonymous]

The ban on Halloween parades and parties happened in the last two years at my school.

[Anonymous]

My youngest graduated from elementary in 2022 and there had not been Halloween parties/parades since 2019, pre-pandemic.

I thought they were gone because of that and just never brought back.

[Anonymous]

My kids' DCPS does Valentine's Day cards and candy, and had a Halloween Parade with candy in addition to learning about other cultural celebrations throughout the year.

[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

Holy crap. I would have left too.