Holidays’ names stricken from next year’s Montgomery schools calendar

I'm surprised they were still naming the religious holidays until now. HISD doesn't name them. Probably many don't. With all the separation-of-church-and-state types all over, I thought all schools would be the same, so it's funny that it comes over pressure from Muslims instead of secularists.

 

Seems like an easier option would be to add a few days to the school year in the summer instead of treating the summer months as sacrosanct. The studies show that kids' abilities do drop off during that downtime anyway, so it could be a good thing.

 

I am so freaking sick of religious people and their nonsense. Erase all of this crap from everything.

Everyone can have an equal billing share of zero point zero percent.

 

In before.... Fox's "War on Christmas".

 

They should remove the names from all holidays, no one really cares if it's MLK day or Labor day, they just like that they don't have to go to school/work.

 

lol this, just put, holiday, __ days off work

 

The original complaints against observing Christmas and other holidays came from Jewish activists. Secularists and Muslims today are using that precedent.

I think it'd be interesting to observe Jewish holidays over Muslim since given time, there'd likely be more Muslim students than Jewish.

Overall though, if you strip away the connotations some people hold against Muslims, this is more of the same test over multiculturalism and religious tolerance that made this nation a test bed of ideas.

I don't think the school made the wrong decision. They made the most risk adverse, given the choice of observing Muslim holidays in a red county (yep) or ripping the whole compromise off like a bandaid and officially endorsing no religion.

 

I tried to find school district data on how many Muslims are in the Montgomery County district in the first place, but couldn't find any. I did find a website that said 2%+ of the Washington DC area is Muslim. The national average for Jews is 1.7%, for comparison. It's possible they have a critical mass to justify a holiday. The methodology described in the article of comparing absenteeism to the prior week seems kinda weak to me. Is that what they're going by?

 

Religious holidays are a reality of many (if not most) K-12 students and recognizing that they occur helps with their understanding of the US melting pot.

No one is saying you must force all kids to miss school on holidays or even observe it in some fashion. There is definitely a way to do this without offending anyone.

For example, in HISD, the principal of TH Rogers (K-8) delivers a weekly address that goes out to parents via email and phone. Besides providing updates regarding school activities and recognizing individual achievement, he delivers a simple message on holidays like "We would like wish our Muslim students a happy Eid al-Adha." IIRC, he also does this for Diwali and the Jewish high and holy days.

No harm no foul.

 

DC? I thought it was Alabama.

I guess red/blue isn't factored in this one.

The activists quoted in the article are saying that. The schools give them religious holiday exemptions but they don't want their kids to lose days and get "left behind".

The precedent are Jewish holidays that observed schoolwide.

 

It's not clear in the OP, other than that the article is from the Washington Post. Google it and you'll see other articles are more clear about which Montgomery County they're talking about.

 

That sort of defeats the purpose of the Holiday, to honor the person as exemplary so we establish what traits we aspire to as a nation.

 

Well I'd be for treating all holidays the same, be it religious holidays or secular holidays. If removing the names from religious holidays wouldn't "defeat the purpose" of the holiday, why would it do so for secular holidays?

 

Totally against that. The Muslim holidays are literally two days in a school year. In my experience they get excused by the school, but I was still responsible enough to recognize when I couldn't afford to miss the school day.

In terms of the Jewish holidays, I always found it strange that they were district-wide holidays. Regardless, It didn't matter as my teachers were understanding of the days I had to miss because of Muslim holidays.

 

Because religious holidays promote specific religions. Nationally designated holidays promote individuals and groups without discrimination. There's no Muslim Christmas but every American can celebrate non-violence and equality.

 

Actually, "national" holidays would end up promoting statehood (insert 'Murica joke here).

We're human, we'll find a way to screw it up.

Having said that, this is a good thing the school did before it gets out of hand. Muslim holidays are supposed to be 3 days for each of the two Eid holidays, and then a few more for Prophet's ascension, birthday and Islamic New Year. Eventually you'll have to add another for Shia's 10th of Muharram as well.

Better to get it out of the way now.

 

I appreciate your point, but they didn't remove the names of the religious holidays. They renamed them, essentially co-opting them into secular holidays. Christmas break isn't celebrating Christmas at all. It's Winter Break, that marks the end of one semester and the beginning of the next, gives some students some time off to rest, and just so happens to occur during the high Christmas season. The school isn't letting kids out for a generic break, or for unannounced reasons but in recognition of events in the school calendar. (Of course, there's a chicken-and-egg thing here because the school calendar was built around Christmas, but it is what it is now.)

 

It is STUPID.

People are getting those days off historically because of the named holiday.

Christmas, Easter, etc. all are part of the American culture and history.

It doesn't mean that you have to celebrate the holiday or even like the meaning behind it..... but sterilizing it is just dumb.

 

I don't think taking the name away is necessary though, Christmas is more of a secular holiday at this point anyway. I once dated a woman that had Muslim parents and they still gave gifts at Christmas time because it's become more of an American thing to do than a Christian thing to do.

For many, Christmas is about a fat man giving presents not about anything related to Christianity. Though some don't know it, the Christmas tree, Santa Claus, and most "Christmas traditions" are Pagan in origin.

How about Easter? Is it really a Christian holiday when to most it's a day where a magic rabbit hides painted eggs for kids to find?

I argue that those holidays have become secular so they shouldn't be offensive to anyone that matters. As such, there's no reason to remove the name....unless you want to remove all names from holidays.