Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There's a huge difference between respecting the religious customs of any group, or having these customs fostered upon your small children in a public school that is funded with your tax money.
I don't care if they went to see Santa, light a Menorah, or spin a prayer wheel. It's not an appropriate use of public educational funds, especially when it's only done for one majority religious group and puts the minority students in a situation where they feel foreign / excluded.
The right way to handle this would be to organize a trip after school and let the interested parents sign up and pay for it.
Replace "Santa" with "Hillary" and see if you still like the idea
Public education funds busses that take school sports participants to/from games....those are very inclusive groups....you have an issue with those too?
Wikipedia has its faults, but there's nothing wrong with using it in discussions at the level we're having. I've read many of your posts that have no references at all.
This coming from the self proclaimed expert on school
The issue is with having this done on school time as part of public school sponsored activity. Yes they are forcing her mother to do something. Either take her girl out of school during regular time, or have her participate in a religious themed custom. Either way, she would feel excluded and marginalized. None of this would be a problem if it was an after hours, voluntary extracurricular event not paid for with public funds. Or if this was a part in a series of such trips covering multiple religious practices / customs.
Public education funds busses that take school sports participants to/from games....those are very inclusive groups....you have an issue with those too?
There's no fostering of someone's religion on other kids here. Or spending public funds on private religious practices.
How would you feel if the Christian kids in a majority Muslim school district (say Dearborn MI) were taken on a school sponsored, taxpayer funded trip to some Muslim celebration, without the same being done for Christmas ? I bet most people would be all up in arms about this, and rightfully so. Or how about a few white kids in a predominantly black district being told to attend a school Kwanza party without any Christmas parties planned ? Sure they can exclude themselves. See any problems with that ?
And 99% of families in the school district I attended as a child would have been absolutely fine with crowning Mary as the May Queen in our local public schools. Would YOU be OK with YOUR CHILD participating in that?
"Majority rules" is not the principle this country was founded on, no matter how much many Protestant Christians wish it was.
Don't dump on Protestant Christians. It seems that most of the people here supporting this school don't even know that Santa is associated with Christianity. I'd say their knowledge of religion of any kind is a little lacking.
Geeze, as only one of two Jewish families in the first grammar school my sisters and I attended back in the 50's we had to participate in Christmas pageants centered around a nativity scene, sing very religious Christmas carols and decorate Christmas trees throughout the school. We kids felt uncomfortable and felt as if we were acknowledging a religion that was not our own. It made us feel like outsiders.
These things never belonged in public schools but it was always a fact of life. If the teachers want to arrange field trips to see Santa or do other events linked to specific religious ties, they should do it voluntarily on their own time, dime and offer them for those interested in participating rather than making them obligatory.
Well, here you have to sign a permission slip to go on every field trip. Some trips seem pretty mundane and wouldn't want to go.
Quote:
Originally Posted by phetaroi
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by phetaroi
No, it's not inappropriate for kids, but it's inappropriate for tax dollars to be spent on it.
You seem hung up on the tax thing. Let me just tell you that almost all field trips in my children's school district is funded by the students, parents association for the schools. They raise the funds themselves. You don't like the trip, don't sign the permission slip.
Don't like the trips, Participate in raising the funds for the trip. Be part of the team that organizes field trips. We raise the money to send them to multiple camps each year and trips for different grades.
On top of that if they are going to a pumpkin patch at Halloween, apple orchard or any number of other activities they also have to pay a per trip fee in most cases if the funds weren't raised ahead of time. They have to pay for the bus driver on each trip.
Anyway, field trips are funded by those going on them here. If I objected to Halloween would I cause the whole class not to go to a pumpkin patch at that time or should I simply just not sign the permission slip?
Nobody makes anyone go on field trips. Just because you don't want your child to participate doesn't mean you should stop others.
Most of this is getting beyond ridiculous on every topic in this country.
The issue is with having this done on school time as part of public school sponsored activity. Yes they are forcing her mother to do something. Either take her girl out of school during regular time, or have her participate in a religious themed custom. Either way, she would feel excluded and marginalized. None of this would be a problem if it was an after hours, voluntary extracurricular event not paid for with public funds. Or if this was a part in a series of such trips covering multiple religious practices / customs.
You still won't address my example of public funds being used for school sports....not everyone has access to it yet the public pays for it....get rid of that too?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
".
