1. In your experience, is Christmas “taboo” in public schools? How is Christmas treated at your school? Do you think your school has gone too far to be politically correct during the holidays?
2. Do you think there really is a “war on Christmas?” Cite an example to support your claim.
3. Who is hurt when Christmas is celebrated in a public school? Who is hurt if other religions are also celebrated? What educational benefit might ensue if Christmas or other religious holidays were taught in school?
4. What harm is done in removing Christmas and related elements from public schools?
5. Is Christmas is a cultural or religious holiday? Explain.
The main issue is the law. Courts have over and over stated that public expenditures (including salaries) cannot be used for religious puposes. Like that or not, it is the law.
1. When I taught in a rural midwestern middle school, Christmas wasn't taboo, but it wasn't emphasized. Musical performances in December played selections from several different cultures and religions. I learned the hard way as a young teacher 30 years ago to be careful about making assumptions. A girl whose surname was Garcia challenged the Christmas-themed spelling words I had assigned. She rightly pointed out that not everyone is Christian; she had a Jewish aunt and uncle in Chicago. Emphasizing Christmas also made my Jehovah's Witness students uncomfortable.
2. The only "war on Christmas" that I know is that of excessive commercialization with merchants using every means available to get people to buy, buy, BUY. Spending lots of money on frivolous items is not part of any religion.
3. Christmas shouldn't be "celebrated" in public schools. Our Constitution guarantees a separation of church and state and therefore celebrations of any religious holidays do not belong in public schools. Everyone is hurt when Christmas is "celebrated" in public schools. Christians are hurt because their celebrations should be specific to their particular denomination, not a generic celebration. People who are not Christian are hurt because valuable educational time is being spent on celebrating a religion in which they don't believe.
I do believe, though, that we should teach about religions in social studies (and perhaps English) classes. We all should know the basic facts about the major world religions in order to understand other people.
4. I don't think anyone is harmed by removing Christmas from public schools. We get enough commercial Christmas in November and December -- on radio, TV, ads, malls, etc., so that schools don't need to promote it. Churches have many programs and services during the Christmas season; the schools don't need to get involved, too.
5. The word Christmas means "Christ's Mass." It began as a celebration of the birth of Christ. However, in order to bring pagans into the celebration, medieval Europeans incorporated many primitive mid-winter customs, such as the Christmas tree and yule log, into this religious holiday. I saw an interesting variation on this adaptation theme when I visited the Soviet Union at Christmas in 1976. The Soviets esposed atheism and didn't celebrate Christmas. But they had decorated evergreen trees and red and green ornaments that they called New Years' decorations. It was definitely a festive season, without religious overtones.
Correction:
The Soviets espoused atheism and didn't celebrate Christmas.
6 answers