Our elementary school canceled Halloween

[Anonymous]

The focus seems to have changed from inclusivity and a celebration of the many cultures in America to a bland, homogenized monoculture that has no traditions at all other than "be kind, be mindful, be positive". In the 90s we had a "Holiday Concert" with non-religious Christmas songs, Hannukah, Kwanzaa and generic winter stuff like "Frosty the Snowman." Now that would be verboten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The focus seems to have changed from inclusivity and a celebration of the many cultures in America to a bland, homogenized monoculture that has no traditions at all other than "be kind, be mindful, be positive". In the 90s we had a "Holiday Concert" with non-religious Christmas songs, Hannukah, Kwanzaa and generic winter stuff like "Frosty the Snowman." Now that would be verboten.

And it’s a shame.

Part of the reason our country is so divided is precisely because we no longer strive for a community that celebrates diversity. Instead, we somehow landed on nothingness.

A winter concert showcasing a variety of holiday songs would be a lovely event to build community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The focus seems to have changed from inclusivity and a celebration of the many cultures in America to a bland, homogenized monoculture that has no traditions at all other than "be kind, be mindful, be positive". In the 90s we had a "Holiday Concert" with non-religious Christmas songs, Hannukah, Kwanzaa and generic winter stuff like "Frosty the Snowman." Now that would be verboten.

Cancel/equity culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The focus seems to have changed from inclusivity and a celebration of the many cultures in America to a bland, homogenized monoculture that has no traditions at all other than "be kind, be mindful, be positive". In the 90s we had a "Holiday Concert" with non-religious Christmas songs, Hannukah, Kwanzaa and generic winter stuff like "Frosty the Snowman." Now that would be verboten.

And it’s a shame.

Part of the reason our country is so divided is precisely because we no longer strive for a community that celebrates diversity. Instead, we somehow landed on nothingness.

A winter concert showcasing a variety of holiday songs would be a lovely event to build community.

+1

I would love to attend something like this.

I'm sure anyone who brings up this suggestion would be called some kind of "ist" though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a fun, happy celebration for >95% of the school community and unfair to <5%. It’s sad to lose this fun thing that most people look forward to, but it’s public school, so we shouldn’t be marginalizing the kids who don’t celebrate.

Just like we shouldn’t marginalize kids who don’t stand for the pledge of allegiance.

And soon, we won’t marginalize the kids who don’t want to follow the dress code. Oh right, we don’t really have a dress code. Kids can wear sagging pants, booty shorts and crop tops.[/b] But your kid cannot wear a coat or pullover with a zipper at Rosa Parks MS because they apparently do have some bizarre dress code that fixates on zippers and they do enforce it. [b]

I just asked my kids, who are at Rosa now, and they had no clue about this. They both wear hoodies with zippers. Can you elaborate on this? I also asked my 9th grader and it wasn’t a rule last year either.

[Anonymous]

Yeah you all can blame my next door neighbor (I’m exaggerating because I’m in a neighboring county than OP but I’m sure my experience happens in every county). She wasn’t from this country and refused to participate in Halloween. She called it the satanists’ holiday and lobbied the school board and our principal to cancel it. The weirdest thing was that she wasn’t religious, so you all can stop blaming Christians for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound like my Republican parents. "They are destroying everything we BELIEVE in". OMG really? We believe in Halloween Gramma?
It's school. Wanna celebrate Halloween, do it at home, do it on your streets, have kids over for a party, hell host a Sabbat under the full moon. No one is stopping you.

- Will happily be celebrating Halloween - at home - cause it's not illegal

Yes, it is destroying American society. Society is all of us, doing things together. As a group. It's not about what you are allowed to do on your own time, in the privacy of your own home.

Society is literally the activities and cultural norms we all participate in together. Do you really not understand that?

Halloween has gotten bigger and bigger the last several decades. It we take it out of schools, it will still be in homes, on streets, in retail stores, etc. My kids were given Halloween candy by their instructor at their swim lessons the week of Halloween for God’s sake! There’s no threat that Halloween will vanish.

That is not a reason to ban Halloween from schools. If you don’t want your kid to have candy after her swim lesson, you are welcome to opt out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The focus seems to have changed from inclusivity and a celebration of the many cultures in America to a bland, homogenized monoculture that has no traditions at all other than "be kind, be mindful, be positive". In the 90s we had a "Holiday Concert" with non-religious Christmas songs, Hannukah, Kwanzaa and generic winter stuff like "Frosty the Snowman." Now that would be verboten.

Cancel/equity culture.

All of the blame for this falls squarely on the shoulders of the progressive liberals in this County. 100%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound like my Republican parents. "They are destroying everything we BELIEVE in". OMG really? We believe in Halloween Gramma?
It's school. Wanna celebrate Halloween, do it at home, do it on your streets, have kids over for a party, hell host a Sabbat under the full moon. No one is stopping you.

- Will happily be celebrating Halloween - at home - cause it's not illegal

Yes, it is destroying American society. Society is all of us, doing things together. As a group. It's not about what you are allowed to do on your own time, in the privacy of your own home.

Society is literally the activities and cultural norms we all participate in together. Do you really not understand that?

Halloween has gotten bigger and bigger the last several decades. It we take it out of schools, it will still be in homes, on streets, in retail stores, etc. My kids were given Halloween candy by their instructor at their swim lessons the week of Halloween for God’s sake! There’s no threat that Halloween will vanish.

That is not a reason to ban Halloween from schools. If you don’t want your kid to have candy after her swim lesson, you are welcome to opt out.

You missed the point, which is that Halloween is observed practically everywhere now. You can’t escape it (not that I’m trying to; we celebrate Halloween), so if it’s taken out of schools, your kids can still celebrate it everywhere else. People are only trying to remove it from the one place where attendance is mandatory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound like my Republican parents. "They are destroying everything we BELIEVE in". OMG really? We believe in Halloween Gramma?
It's school. Wanna celebrate Halloween, do it at home, do it on your streets, have kids over for a party, hell host a Sabbat under the full moon. No one is stopping you.

- Will happily be celebrating Halloween - at home - cause it's not illegal

Yes, it is destroying American society. Society is all of us, doing things together. As a group. It's not about what you are allowed to do on your own time, in the privacy of your own home.

Society is literally the activities and cultural norms we all participate in together. Do you really not understand that?

you are entitled to your feelings. I disagree. America has always been about freedom to do whatever religious or cultural thing you want, and no one can force you to do otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Our elementary school doesn’t celebrate Halloween either. No fun memories of a parade for us. FCPS.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in the south too and we never had any Halloween celebrations/wore costumes at school, even though everyone dressed up and trick-or-treated with their friends and families at night, had Halloween parties occasionally, etc. It just had nothing to do with school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The focus seems to have changed from inclusivity and a celebration of the many cultures in America to a bland, homogenized monoculture that has no traditions at all other than "be kind, be mindful, be positive". In the 90s we had a "Holiday Concert" with non-religious Christmas songs, Hannukah, Kwanzaa and generic winter stuff like "Frosty the Snowman." Now that would be verboten.

I know the far-right Christian Taliban think Halloween is a satanic holiday and try to cancel it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the south too and we never had any Halloween celebrations/wore costumes at school, even though everyone dressed up and trick-or-treated with their friends and families at night, had Halloween parties occasionally, etc. It just had nothing to do with school.

Me too. The Evangelicals made sure schools did not celebrate "satanic" Halloween in the south.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the south too and we never had any Halloween celebrations/wore costumes at school, even though everyone dressed up and trick-or-treated with their friends and families at night, had Halloween parties occasionally, etc. It just had nothing to do with school.

Me too. The Evangelicals made sure schools did not celebrate "satanic" Halloween in the south.

I grew up in a rural town in the irreligious north and we didn’t do Halloween in school either. I don’t know anyone who opted out and I doubt the school would have cared if they did, it just wasn’t a school thing. It was AWESOME though; I have fond memories of Halloween decorations all over and trick or treating all over our town, even the years it was snowing. This idea that Halloween (and American culture) woo somehow be lost if schools don’t proactively teach it is wild to me.