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Or maybe it's time we take the First Amendment seriously and stop allowing a religious celebration to intrude into what SHOULD be a secular classroom environment. Field trips should be for educational purposes only; even setting aside the religious aspect, taking kids out of school to see Santa is just as inappropriate as it would be to take them out of school to see the latest Star Wars movie. Visits to Santa, Christmas concerts, Christmas parties, etc., can be organized by entities other than the public school system and can be done outside of school hours.
i don't necessarily agree with taking the kids out of school to see santa to be honest. BUT it has nothing to do with religion or because it's a christmas centered holiday or whatever. mainly because it just seems silly. however, at the same time, i believe kids need to be able to have fun at school and with their classmates out of school as well. i would hate it if school had no fun. if kids were only allowed to do book learning stuff, and not have any fun doing things like, well, things like a field trip to see santa. i think they could have a better field trip for them that was still fun and inclusive to everyone. BUT again, kids need to have fun too and it's part of getting to know others and getting to grow as a person. that is part of growing up, even in school! it actually is learning.
it looks like no one is going to change anyone's mind here. and that's ok. it would be boring if everyone agrees with everyone else. wouldn't it?
i don't agree that this OP case is a big deal and if i felt that it was such a waste of time or so offensive to my beliefs, then i'd say my kid can't go. too bad, so sad. not a big deal! but people who don't agree with my way of thinking are free to try to change things in the public schools. which they are doing, trying to change things. and that's fine. that's one of the good things about america right? you have a right to try to change things. i also have that right. i'm agnostic and i don't see the harm in christmas or jewish festivals or kwanza, or whatever, being celebrated and learned in school. i actually thinks it's good for kids and helps them to be more tolerant of other people and other religions. yes, even in public school. it's a good way to learn about fellow students. if you don't agree then that's fine with me! keep working to change it. i'm not going to change my mind because you don't agree with me.
A lot parents doing nothing with the kids so going to movie such as Star Wars is not bad idea.
Why not let kids have a little fun in their school time.
School is first and foremost about EDUCATION, not simply "fun." If the educational trip is also fun (like going to the zoo to learn about wild animals, or going to a living history park which will of course involve being outside as part of the experience), I'm fine with it. But just going to a popular movie, or to the mall, during school hours - nonsense! Kids have the rest of the week to have fun; it's not asking too much of the precious little darlings to spend a few hours each day concentrating on such un-fun things as learning to read, write, and cipher.
1. Inappropriate field trip for a public school.
2. Nothing significant to do with the curriculum.
3. Taking kids to see Santa is the job of the parents.
4. Taxpayers should not be paying for that kind of field trip.
Ok, so here's an interesting occurrence from the opposite perspective.
Quote:
Her daughter's hands were covered with an intricate brown design, known as a henna tattoo. The second-grader got the tattoos during a lesson on different cultures at Ed White Elementary School.
"Learning about culture is awesome, but I don't want it tattooed on my daughter, it is not our culture," Samour said.
The school did send an email as part of a weekly agenda to parents, informing them of the activity that would explore cultures from Spain, the United States, Australia, Israel and India. And in parenthesis, the email says, "will be doing henna."
"I didn't see the email, my husband did, but we didn't know what henna was," Samour said.
She said for the last two days she and the teacher have scrubbed her daughter's hands with nearly every cleaning product they could find.
"Especially that Christmas is next week. We have family photos, opening presents, church, and she is going to be wearing that on her hands throughout the holiday," Samour said.
Is it ok that a school used a henna tattoo on a child as part of a lesson plan? And does it matter that the child will have the design on her hands during Christmas photos and activities?
Alright.....time to play the devil's advocate card. A very good friend of mine is 1) Mensa Member 2) Published author 3) Highly respected college professor. According to him, the incoming freshman classes just get dumber every year. So, taking that into consideration, will an hour or two seeing Santa REALLY make that much of a difference in those kids education????
Is it ok that a school used a henna tattoo on a child as part of a lesson plan? And does it matter that the child will have the design on her hands during Christmas photos and activities?
I can see her point. Still, the school did notify them. She states that she and her husband did not know what henna was. So they can read an email, but don't know how to use Google?
I can't believe there are Christians (supposedly) in this thread calling for people to leave the country because they disagree on the practice of visiting Santa at school.
Public school, publicly funded, should follow the law, right? The law comes from the Constitution, yes? Therefore public school operates under the control of the Constitution... just like the rest of the country. If you don't agree with the Constitution, maybe YOU should leave the country!
Why are people so ignorant? (Maybe because their school days were filled with happy-fun-time instead of learning?)
What is wrong with what they ended up doing? Having 8 visitors come and talk about their different cultures, holidays and traditions? Everyone sitting on Santa's lap is better than that?
School is first and foremost about EDUCATION, not simply "fun." If the educational trip is also fun (like going to the zoo to learn about wild animals, or going to a living history park which will of course involve being outside as part of the experience), I'm fine with it. But just going to a popular movie, or to the mall, during school hours - nonsense! Kids have the rest of the week to have fun; it's not asking too much of the precious little darlings to spend a few hours each day concentrating on such un-fun things as learning to read, write, and cipher.
If you have fun you are learning more, going to movie once a year with whole class is NOT bad idea.
Sp Ed kids going to mall to learn how to react to other people etc.
We talk about just once a year and not every month.
Give the poor kids a break.
I can't believe there are Christians (supposedly) in this thread calling for people to leave the country because they disagree on the practice of visiting Santa at school.
Public school, publicly funded, should follow the law, right? The law comes from the Constitution, yes? Therefore public school operates under the control of the Constitution... just like the rest of the country. If you don't agree with the Constitution, maybe YOU should leave the country!
Why are people so ignorant? (Maybe because their school days were filled with happy-fun-time instead of learning?)
What is wrong with what they ended up doing? Having 8 visitors come and talk about their different cultures, holidays and traditions? Everyone sitting on Santa's lap is better than that?
The 8 visitors talking about their holiday traditions is fun and educational. That should have been the school's plan from the beginning. Since they are supposed to, you know, be educating their students.
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