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NYC schools have added two Muslim holidays to their calendar. Here are my questions:
- Should public schools observe any religious holidays?
- You can’t have a religious holiday without somehow “observing” it, and tacitly approve of it. Aren’t pubic schools designed to avoid religion?
- Who determines which holidays are added? There are high profile “pressure” groups who purport to speak for the “community” but what they really are are thinly disguised PACs for various politicians.
- What is the threshold for adding religious holidays? Where does it end?
BTW, one of the approved holidays is “Eid al-Adha”, which is also known as the Feast of Sacrifice. The sacrifice being the slitting of sheeps throat on public sidewalks and doorways. Not exactly what you want to see in the current climate.
NYC schools have added two Muslim holidays to their calendar. Here are my questions:
- Should public schools observe any religious holidays?
- You can’t have a religious holiday without somehow “observing” it, and tacitly approve of it. Aren’t pubic schools designed to avoid religion?
- Who determines which holidays are added? There are high profile “pressure” groups who purport to speak for the “community” but what they really are are thinly disguised PACs for various politicians.
- What is the threshold for adding religious holidays? Where does it end?
BTW, one of the approved holidays is “Eid al-Adha”, which is also known as the Feast of Sacrifice. The sacrifice being the slitting of sheeps throat on public sidewalks and doorways. Not exactly what you want to see in the current climate.
I definitely hear you! I now, sadly, believe that ALL religious holidays should not be acknowledged in any way in any public school. This saddens me, though, because I was born in 1953, and school Christmas pageants are part of fondest memories of childhood. However, maybe it is past time to COMPLETELY separate "church" (or "religion") from anything paid for by taxpayers.
With the "PC at all costs" agenda that has been occurring for the past 40 or so years and which has rapidly accelerated since Obama was inaugurated, I now think that acknowledging religious holidays in public schools is now just too cumbersome -- there are simply too many of them!! I mean, if Muslim holidays must be honored, why not all Catholic saints days? As you said, where would it end? Taken to the ultimate "fair" conclusion, kids might end up missing so much school that their education would be severely diminished. And even if the recognition of holidays would just involve discussion and not days off, think of all the time spent having to educate the teachers before they could educate the kids, not to mention the possible teaching of incorrect or controversial aspects of some religious teachings -- and just think of all the possible subsequent lawsuits!!!
The only other remedy that I can imagine would be to allow each child to have so many "personal days" (perhaps five?) a year, with the understanding that any school work missed on those days would have to be made up.
I will repeat myself: Maybe it IS time to completely separate "church" (or "religion") from ANYTHING paid for by taxpayers.
It is more about keeping enrollment numbers up. If the school does not have a certain number of students in attendance on any given day, they can lose funding for that day. Also, if a large number of teachers need to be out to observe their holiday, it can be difficult/impossible to get enough subs.
That's why many school districts shut down for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, or Good Friday. I see no difference with observing Muslim holidays if there are enough students who would be out of school anyway.
It is more about keeping enrollment numbers up. If the school does not have a certain number of students in attendance on any given day, they can lose funding for that day. Also, if a large number of teachers need to be out to observe their holiday, it can be difficult/impossible to get enough subs.
That's why many school districts shut down for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, or Good Friday. I see no difference with observing Muslim holidays if there are enough students who would be out of school anyway.
In Colorado, there is an "in school" count ONE day a year, and funding is based on just that one day. (Or at least that's how it was about five years ago, the last time I had a kid in public school.)
Also, I think you bring up a good point about finding enough teachers to substitute if too many are out to celebrate a particular day, but IF the teachers' religious beliefs are in line demographically-speaking with those of the students, I don't see that being a huge problem. But, again, this just illustrates another problem with being "PC" and with mixing religion with public (general) education.
I'm most familiar with the issue from the Jewish perspective. For whatever reason, many Jews go into education as compared to the general population. There are plenty of areas around the country where schools close down for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur because of the teachers, while very few students are Jewish.
This seems like an issue where it's good for me, but not for thee.
In Colorado, there is an "in school" count ONE day a year, and funding is based on just that one day. (Or at least that's how it was about five years ago, the last time I had a kid in public school.)
Also, I think you bring up a good point about finding enough teachers to substitute if too many are out to celebrate a particular day, but IF the teachers' religious beliefs are in line demographically-speaking with those of the students, I don't see that being a huge problem. But, again, this just illustrates another problem with being "PC" and with mixing religion with public (general) education.
That's done in most states, as well as having the parents fill out a form in areas with heavy military presence (payment in lieu of taxes from the federal property).
The attendance thing one poster mentioned was a requirement of NCLB and now Race To The Top. Schools have to report their average daily attendance. If it drops below a certain per cent (it was 95%, I'm not sure if it still is) the school has to implement measures to bring it up to the requirement.
Under the old Average Yearly Progress the attendance numbers had to increase each year to 99%. That's one reason NCLB requirements were sort of discarded, no school anywhere could meet the requirements which were all 99%-100%.
I am not sure at all if this had anything to do with parent's wishes. There are many Muslims who don't do anything special on those two days and since they have to go to work the last thing they need is to worry about where to keep the kids. I'd be surprised if they polled the parents. And don't think this stops here. Sooner or later schools will have to educate the rest of the students and staff through workshops, curriculum, events etc.
I think schools should not observe ANY religious holidays. Having said that, there should be guidelines in place so that if it is a religious holiday, the parent's have a choice to keep their child at home without having the child's attendance record affected.
Kids will still have plenty of school holidays due to 4th of July, Thanksgiving, New Years Day, President's Day, etc. since all of these holidays are celebrated by all Americans regardless of religion.
The other thing to note is that minus Christmas, what days do schools currently close for other religious holidays?
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