I rather get rid of all holidays than starting giving our kids off (sitting at home doing nothing) for all of these minor religious and non-religious holidays. I am embarrassed our school board wastes the time with it.

Anonymous wrote:Your argument is basically, "The public school system should close for these religious holidays but not for those religious holidays." That is not a tenable position for the Board of Education. If you don't want MCPS to close for Diwali or Eid al-Adha or Lunar New Year, then you should work to get rid of the state law that requires MCPS to close for Easter and Christmas. (Don't worry, MCPS will still close for Christmas, which is a federal holiday.)

I think most people would be completely okay with this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only in liberal Maryland can you justify doing something that affects 95%+ negatively because that 5% or less decides they deserve it. I would never move to a country and ask their schools to change their calendar so my kids could have off on a holiday the main country does not celebrate or recognize. America is getting so over the top for political correctness. How about being grateful for being here and your children are getting a free education. Be happy there is excused holidays for all minority holidays.

THIS!!!!!

+ 1000000000000000...

Would India change their school calendar to accommodate Americans who celebrate Thanksgiving? Nope, don't think so. Why should we bend over backwards for Diwali?

Do we bend over backwards for Christmas, Easter, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur? And if so, why should we?

(Also, India = a country; MCPS = a public school district.)

Anonymous wrote:Only in liberal Maryland can you justify doing something that affects 95%+ negatively because that 5% or less decides they deserve it. I would never move to a country and ask their schools to change their calendar so my kids could have off on a holiday the main country does not celebrate or recognize. America is getting so over the top for political correctness. How about being grateful for being here and your children are getting a free education. Be happy there is excused holidays for all minority holidays.

THIS!!!!!

+ 1000000000000000...

Would India change their school calendar to accommodate Americans who celebrate Thanksgiving? Nope, don't think so. Why should we bend over backwards for Diwali?

24% of Chinese-Americans were born in the US, 69% of Chinese-Americans are US citizens.

31% of Filipino-Americans were born in the US, 77% of Filipino-Americans are US citizens.

13% of Indian-Americans were born in the US, 56% of Indian-Americans are US citizens.

16% of Vietnamese-Americans were born in the US, 80% of Vietnamese-Americans are US citizens.

22% of Korean-Americans were born in the US, 67% of Korean-Americans are US citizens.

68% of Japanese-Americans were born in the US, 79% of Japanese-Americans are US citizens.

11% of Pakistani-Americans were born in the US, 63% of Pakistani-Americans are US citizens.

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/04/04/asian-groups-in-the-u-s/

Your argument is basically, "The public school system should close for these religious holidays but not for those religious holidays." That is not a tenable position for the Board of Education. If you don't want MCPS to close for Diwali or Eid al-Adha or Lunar New Year, then you should work to get rid of the state law that requires MCPS to close for Easter and Christmas. (Don't worry, MCPS will still close for Christmas, which is a federal holiday.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only in liberal Maryland can you justify doing something that affects 95%+ negatively because that 5% or less decides they deserve it. I would never move to a country and ask their schools to change their calendar so my kids could have off on a holiday the main country does not celebrate or recognize. America is getting so over the top for political correctness. How about being grateful for being here and your children are getting a free education. Be happy there is excused holidays for all minority holidays.

Then don't. However, this is America, where

1. immigrants are just as American as people who were born here, and
2. the public school system (and government in general) is secular.

1. Um, no - most immigrants are not American unless they have US citizenship. Most immigrants do not. Just because you are on this soil doesn't make you American.
2. Like you said, the school system is secular. So asking for a minority religious holiday off for a few percent of kids in the entire district, is overstepping.
3. Not all Indian Americans celebrate Diwali. Last poll I checked said 71%.
4. San Jose has the highest Diwali celebrating population per city/metro area in the county (672 per 100,000) and NYC is 2nd with a little under 600. They both do not have Diwali off. DC Metro is 8th at has 432 per 100,000. So it is completely irrational to demand to be off.

Anonymous wrote:

I think that this push is not so much about time to celebrate religious holidays, as it is a desire for recognition and equivalence with what they perceive that larger groups have. The public schools can't close for every obscure minority here. If that is a huge problem for some group, then perhaps they should move back to a country where the state officially sanctions their religious holidays.

"Obscure minority"? Please think about what you're saying here. The groups that are asking for recognition from Montgomery County are: Muslims, people with a family origin in India, and people with a family origin in East Asia.

And many members of these groups can't "move back" to any country -- these members were born here, just like (I'm assuming) you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only in liberal Maryland can you justify doing something that affects 95%+ negatively because that 5% or less decides they deserve it. I would never move to a country and ask their schools to change their calendar so my kids could have off on a holiday the main country does not celebrate or recognize. America is getting so over the top for political correctness. How about being grateful for being here and your children are getting a free education. Be happy there is excused holidays for all minority holidays.

Then don't. However, this is America, where

1. immigrants are just as American as people who were born here, and
2. the public school system (and government in general) is secular.

I think that this push is not so much about time to celebrate religious holidays, as it is a desire for recognition and equivalence with what they perceive that larger groups have. The public schools can't close for every obscure minority here. If that is a huge problem for some group, then perhaps they should move back to a country where the state officially sanctions their religious holidays.

Anonymous wrote:Only in liberal Maryland can you justify doing something that affects 95%+ negatively because that 5% or less decides they deserve it. I would never move to a country and ask their schools to change their calendar so my kids could have off on a holiday the main country does not celebrate or recognize. America is getting so over the top for political correctness. How about being grateful for being here and your children are getting a free education. Be happy there is excused holidays for all minority holidays.

Then don't. However, this is America, where

1. immigrants are just as American as people who were born here, and
2. the public school system (and government in general) is secular.

Only in liberal Maryland can you justify doing something that affects 95%+ negatively because that 5% or less decides they deserve it. I would never move to a country and ask their schools to change their calendar so my kids could have off on a holiday the main country does not celebrate or recognize. America is getting so over the top for political correctness. How about being grateful for being here and your children are getting a free education. Be happy there is excused holidays for all minority holidays.

Anonymous wrote:

Christmas and Easter have been celebrated in this country since we became a country. Whether you celebrate these holidays or not, have respect for the history and traditions they represent and the fact that they are part of our culture. I'm not Christian. I celebrate Christmas in the secular sense but not Easter. I would be sad if these weren't recognized as holidays.

Perhaps look up the history of celebrating Christmas and Easter in the US. People in the US --including Christians in the US -- have not always celebrated these holidays. And they have certainly not always celebrated these holidays with trees and Santa and chocolate-filled eggs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They make the decisions on the basis of the volume of kids and teachers who would be absent to observe their religious holidays. Christmas, of course, is also a national holiday in the U.S.

I fully support having teachers lighten the homework load around religious observances, but if the schools close for every, yes, minority religious observance then the school year would go on ad infinitum. Sometimes I think that the push for school holidays is more about groups who seek to have the governments recognize and validate "their" days rather than based on holiday conflict that impacts a large number of students and staff.

No, they don't. They make the decisions based on:

1. state law (Western Christmas plus 4 days over Western Easter), which the General Assembly presumably passed in response to people asking them to do things
2. something they started doing in the 1970s, based on people asking them to do things and numbers they can no longer find
3. people asking them to do things now

If you don't want MCPS to close on Diwali, Eid, or other "minority" religious holidays, then start by asking your state legislators to get rid of the ridiculous Christmas-and-Easter law.

Christmas and Easter have been celebrated in this country since we became a country. Whether you celebrate these holidays or not, have respect for the history and traditions they represent and the fact that they are part of our culture. I'm not Christian. I celebrate Christmas in the secular sense but not Easter. I would be sad if these weren't recognized as holidays.

I don't think that "I would be sad if the schools didn't close over Easter (which I don't even celebrate) because people in the US have traditionally celebrated Easter" is a good reason to recognize a religious holiday in the public school system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They make the decisions on the basis of the volume of kids and teachers who would be absent to observe their religious holidays. Christmas, of course, is also a national holiday in the U.S.

I fully support having teachers lighten the homework load around religious observances, but if the schools close for every, yes, minority religious observance then the school year would go on ad infinitum. Sometimes I think that the push for school holidays is more about groups who seek to have the governments recognize and validate "their" days rather than based on holiday conflict that impacts a large number of students and staff.

No, they don't. They make the decisions based on:

1. state law (Western Christmas plus 4 days over Western Easter), which the General Assembly presumably passed in response to people asking them to do things
2. something they started doing in the 1970s, based on people asking them to do things and numbers they can no longer find
3. people asking them to do things now

If you don't want MCPS to close on Diwali, Eid, or other "minority" religious holidays, then start by asking your state legislators to get rid of the ridiculous Christmas-and-Easter law.

Christmas and Easter have been celebrated in this country since we became a country. Whether you celebrate these holidays or not, have respect for the history and traditions they represent and the fact that they are part of our culture. I'm not Christian. I celebrate Christmas in the secular sense but not Easter. I would be sad if these weren't recognized as holidays.

Anonymous wrote:Please, please no more. If you celebrate a holiday that is not a MOCO holiday, please just take your kid out of school for that day. We do not need to shut down an entire school system for every holiday specific to a cultural group so that we appear to be culturally, politically, whatever correct. We are going over-board on this shiz.

That's circular reasoning. What makes one holiday a "MOCO holiday" vs. another holiday? The fact that it's on the calendar? In that case, once it's on the calendar, ta da! it's a "MOCO holiday".

Perhaps you mean, "If you celebrate a holiday that is not already on the calendar, don't ask to add it to the calendar, because I don't want it on the calendar."?