This is probably one of the worst solutions to a problem Ive ever seen. Not in the least because the problem it addresses isnt even the one the board was faced with. Montgomery’s Board of Education voted 7 to 1 Tuesday to eliminate references to all religious holidays on the published calendar for 2015-2016, a decision that followed a request from Muslim community leaders to give equal billing to the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha. So, Muslims in the community asked--at the absolute least--that their holidays get noted on the calendar. The school boards response was to remove *all* religious holidays. But that wasnt their first proposal. It was an amended one. The first one truly goes a long way to showing their cultural blindness... Superintendent Joshua P. Starr presented the board with three options to resolve the question Tuesday, and a majority of members supported his recommended proposal to do away with the names of both the Muslim and the Jewish holidays on the calendar. But amending the proposal, the board opted to ditch references to Christmas and Easter, too. Thats right, the original proposed plan was to remove all non-Christian holidays. It wasnt until someone on the board (hopefully) noticed how utterly asinine and offensive that would be to the Jewish population that there was an amendment made. This is all the equivalent of sticking your fingers in your hears, closing your eyes, and hiding under the covers when someone asks you to clean your room. Just because you cant see it or hear others complain about it doesnt mean the mess is gone. These religious holidays are FACTS. The exist. Whether you want them to or not. Removing mention of them does nothing but allow those who wish to remain ignorant to do so more easily. Thats exactly the *opposite* of what the education system is supposed to do. I couldnt care less how they justify or calculate what days the school is closed. I dont give a damn if they call what happens around December 25 Christmas Break or Winter Break. But you damn well better be honest about the facts of the history of those breaks. They werent always calculated based on the absentee rate. And, really, theres nothing wrong with acknowledging that past. Removing all mention of holidays that exist and are important to people? Instead of just adding mention of others? Thats just asking for more trouble.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 17:41:29 +0000
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