Last week, we had a PD session about equity. It focused on inequality around holidays. Celebrating Christmas at school leaves out lots of kids who "aren't Christian," so we were told not to put up any Christmas-type decorations, not to wear holiday clothing or jewelry, not to do anything Christmas-y at all in the name of equity. Sigh. I'm sad about that. The kids used to love my colored lights and snowmen.

likesmarthelpful
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Unfortunately this isn’t anything new; I personally went to a school that did something similar when I was young and that was the 90s. But I feel like now, with a culture of inclusion—instead of removing one “religious” aspect (although most of the traditional “Christmas” themes are largely commercial or appropriated anyway), how about using this as an opportunity to include other holidays that students may be less familiar with? One way to help educate students on diversity is to expose them to cultures outside of their own.

likesmart

Inclusion of one group does not mean exclusion of another group.

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Why would a tree and lights be considered exclusively “Christian”? Don’t other cultures use these as well for celebrations? Why not simply allow others to bring in something representing their cultural heritage? Why not make celebrations a shared experience? How else will we learn about other cultures? Life is dreary enough as it is, equity doesn’t mean painting everything grey and pretending that we are all clones.

likesmart

Administration allowing well-intentioned but wrong-headed, fun sucking, extremist PD to take the joy out of life. How motivating that must be for the students.

likehelpfulfunny

There is nothing wrong with celebrating holidays. There are just people who want you to believe if you wear a holiday sweater you are excluding someone. Telling you you can not wear seasonal or holiday clothing is actually a violation of you 1st amendment rights.
Lights represent so many holidays. Diwali, is the Festival of Lights . Hanukkah has 8 candles or lights and Kwanzaa has 6 candles. Lights represent so many holidays. There have been Christmas trees and Christmas decorations in schools since this country was founded. It is part of our national culture. Sure not everyone may celebrate but a large majority does. I know of people who are not Christian that put up trees and Santa visits. You find other ways to include those students. Try to learn about all holidays and recognize them when they come up. Gingerbread houses and boys and girls are not “Christmas” neither are snowmen and snowflakes. You can add alternatives in. It brings a lot of joy to a lot of people. Why destroy that. We are not a Communist, Socialist society were everyone has to be equal and exactly the same. What ever happened to celebrating our differences, being our own person, thinking for ourselves, and accepting others for their differences?
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year!

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Thank you! I think it’s important to teach children about all holidays. That includes all those that are celebrated around Christmas. We cannot keep children from being exposed to Christmas outside the school. However, they are often denied exposure to Hanukkah, Kwanza, etc. I would not have my children ignorant. Ignorance leads children, with no filters, to inadvertently hurt others or single them out as different when they do not learn that differences are okay and should be celebrated and encouraged. I believe ignorance is what is wrong with our country today. People have become so determined to demand they be treated just like everyone else because they are different.

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It sounds like your powers that be (and much of our society as well) have completely misunderstood the idea of equity. In no way does it mean we should exclude, discourage, or ignore ideas and beliefs that aren’t shared by everyone. Quite the opposite is true!! Equity involves understanding, accepting, and respecting differences. Yes, it is easiest to just exclude all unshared beliefs and ignore people’s differences. But does that really send the message of equity? Heck no! It says one belief is more important than the other. It says the way to deal with differences is to fight against them. It incites fear of differences and hatred of those with contrasting beliefs or characteristics. Humans are diverse beings. We have diverse ideas, beliefs, interests, backgrounds, genetics, and lifestyles. If we truly want to move in the direction of equity, we should be encouraging our students to respect, and appreciate the differences amongst us.
The Bottom line?
It is OUR responsibility to educate our our students (and administration it seems) on how to move toward true equity. We need to open the lines of communication about differences; allow everyone to take pride in and share their differences; create a climate of inclusion, respect, and celebration of diversity. We need to RESPECT ALL DIVERSITY and make room for everyone’s disparate appearances, beliefs, and lifestyles. No more taking the easy way out and hiding differences!!! It is time to showcase them and embrace the disparateness of America, the world, and the human race.

likehelpful

Well said and I believe that the administration that is asking people not to wear Christmas sweaters it’s going too far.  The clothes we wear is a personal choice. There is a difference between wearing Christmas apparel and making your students sing Christmas carols regardless of their beliefs. Case and point: I do not celebrate Christmas or New Year’s. After a survey of my students families I realized that they all do celebrate. Therefore I reached out to my teaching assistant and a substitute teacher and asked if they could please Prepare and facilitate Activities that would respect and honor my students beliefs. The last week before break My students were able to participate in those activities on zoom with the very kind staff members that not only agreed to completely plan and implement the activities but
Also respect in my beliefs. I jumped into a breakout room While they did the activities
and jumped back in when they were done.  if I would have had a student that did not celebrate then WE would have gone into the breakout room and done something just as special as what the rest of the class was doing. Easy Peezy lemon squeezy everyone is respected everyone is happy!

Next experience: What happens when others believes are not acknowledge or respected? Our school decided to do a Halloween parade First time in history and it just so happened to be when I was working there. You probably knew This was coming but I don’t celebrate Halloween either. The whole entire school HAD to not only participate but attend the parade needless to say it involved costumes. However I was not the only one who did not celebrate not only were there other staff but there were several students who did not celebrate either. I was the only staff member who does not celebrate we spoke up. Fortunately there was another staff member who was willing to step in for me during the parade and take my class. I also volunteered to take any students who did not participate Away from the premade and do something special with me in my classroom. I also extended that invitation to other staff who did not celebrate. What ended up happening in the end? We had very awkward staff meeting and blog interactions about the whole thing as a staff, kind of like what’s going on here. The other staff and the students who did not celebrate did not speak up. The staff awkwardly participated in the parade and the students who did not celebrate were kept home by their parents. I felt incredibly hurt because the staff that came up with the idea knew my beliefs and pushed hard for this parade to be mandatory for everyone. I Felt singled out and even bullied. Fortunately our new administrators Come from culturally and ethnically diverse school districts and have been incredibly supportive of me and others who have beliefs that are Different than the majority. They even asked me about the Christmas tree that the office staff usually puts up. I told them that it would not be fair to the rest of the staff for me to ask them not to do that. October November and December is full of Christmas trees and Christmas sweaters and Christmas commercials, and I am not going to dig a hole and bury my head under the ground, and neither will my head explode if there is a Christmas tree in the office! Our district has begun equity work including developing a task force and professional development. Why? Because of the last two lines written by the Kentucky High school teacher above. Remember all that we are here to vent connect and network  and as professionals it is our responsibility TO EACH OTHER to remain respectful. If we can express our views in that way to our administrators and students families how much more so should we do so with each other? 

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I said Merry Christmas to every class today & got it back from everyone including the one Jewish kid in class who we had all wished Happy Chanukah to during Chanukah.
Very Catholic town. Christmas lives!

likeuplifting

Why would snowmen be considered Christmas? It’s just winter decorations for me. That’s what I like to put up because you can keep it up a little longer. If that’s the case they have just gone too far.

likehelpful

So right! I do let it go for both because it takes me until Christmas break to get it all up. 🤣

So sad. First 2020 takes away there education then the “system “ takes away their life. And I assume none of those children go to a store full of holiday decorations.

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So, what about our beliefs? That’s where I’m becoming more and more disgruntled. An unhappy teacher, is not the best teacher.

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I think it's pretty safe to say that there's very little religion tied to Christmas anymore. Besides Christians, atheists, and even some Jewish families (especially those couples that are split in religion) "celebrate" Christmas. I think you can make the case that it's about as religious as St. Patrick's Day.

Also, nothing wrong with having kids discuss religious holidays in general at this time. You can encourage them to decorate with different holidays, and point out those that don't celebrate any.

Don't let them be a scrooge... (a non religious famous character we tie to Christmas proving that it's less a religious holiday), find a way to make yourself happy. You check all the boxes.

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Suing is a bit... extreme. In the comments I think you can find enough ways that fulfills the needs to celebrate with following all the given restrictive guidelines.

Children not seeing the inside of a church is an issue for the parents. We can introduce Jesus, Allah, Buddha, and every other religious diety ever thought of, but like everything else, if it's not supported by the parents, it doesn't stick. Just as all the memes that say we should teach how to change oil, do taxes, and cook meals, I often ask, "Then what's the role of the parent?". In fact God is in the pledge (we say daily), as well as printed on our money. These are things that we come in contact with daily. Yet, many complain that God has been excluded from our society. Maybe we need to examine our leaders actions (not those for the camera). We have priests under great scrutiny because of indecent actions with children. We have public leaders with scandalous lives. We worry more about what our leaders can get us, than lead us with needed morality. It's not about the almighty dollar.

If you want schools to be the place where kids can grow, even without an unsupported household, you're going to significantly raise taxes to make sure each can be provided for. There is the study that shows every $1 spent on education saves $9 in later life. However that means you need to show it as an investment, not a tax. Realize that China has 2 teachers per class, and those teachers only teach. Someone else sets up, and maintains their classes. Imagine if you could care for students because all you did was focus on them.

I would refuse to not wear my xmas sweater or santa hat!! It takes nothing away from anyone.

likefunny

I loved sharing Christmas with my students when I taught Kindergarten & Gifted! Always included activities, talks, made ornaments, etc. about other celebrations around this time so my kids would know about other cultures! Also, sometimes it was/is the only Christmas some kids get to celebrate. Had many parents excited to hear about what their kids knew about other celebrations!

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Why doesn’t the school send out a survey for families to complete asking what they do celebrate then go from there. I hate how we just assume things, you may be surprised by the data.

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And at the same time students are not able to celebrate and share their beliefs with teachers and peers. A little sad

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I think sometimes we can go to far with trying to have equality for everyone that we actually create inequality for all.

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Doesn’t sound equitable to me. Sounds restrictive. Scrooge/Grinch take your pick

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Your school policy is discriminatory and exclusionary. I’d fight it. It’s promoting inequality by not letting you put up Christmas decorations. What about your rights?

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On another note, sometimes these things get over the top and take away from learning. I know Halloween can be a huge distraction and candy party. I always said the elementary kids know how to party. I’d rather have just a few decorations, small party, and focus on our schoolwork. I feel the same about too many assemblies.

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I am Jewish and Christmas can be a very tough time of year as a non Christians. There were not many others Jews in my community and I felt different and left out of made to explain myself and my traditions. Hanukkah is a very minor holiday and does not deserve the attention it gets. I want everyone to wear there Christmas sweaters but trees are a symbol of the everlasting life of Jesus. They are a religious symbol. So are lights. They are a symbol of the star of Bethlehem. Being different is hard. Especially when you are a kid. Politically correct is sometimes just respect for those who are different from you. Please just try to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.

likehelpful

There their they re

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