Christmas in School

It seems that in the interest of being "politically correct", we've decided to just pretend that the holiday doesn't exist at all.

I can understand not having religious-themed celebrations in school, but to not allow Santa, is, IMO, taking too far. And to not even say "Happy Holidays", and instead wish them a nice "winter break" is ridiculous. Pretty soon, they will do away with the snowmen too - or are they "snowpersons?"

do you want the reason? it's called being politically correct.

Kinda like saying Happy Holiday's INSTEAD of MERRY CHRISTMAS!! God forbid - you might offend someone.

It's all about NOT offending anyone. It sucks. We've lost our way, our customs and rituals to being PC.

I have to agree with you, I find it silly Santa is not allowed, he is in no way religious. We celebrate the Solstice and Yule, but Santa still comes to our house every year!

Santa is included in the holiday parties at all the schools around here. They stay far from religion though and avoid anything Christmas/ Christ centered, for instance it is a holiday party, not a Christmas party. They do the reindeer, Santa, snowman, holiday trees, snowflakes... But then again, we are in the Bible belt, I wasn't aware that Santa was an issue for holiday parties at school. Interesting! I do appreciate your views on it though and I agree. Most non-religious people I know do still celebrate Santa, I actually know more Christians that don't. Which is funny, b/c you are right the historical figure of Santa is a religious icon, but that part is long forgotten with most people.

I saw your post this morning and knew I would respond later..well here I am...way later.

My son came home today all excited because at school he got a letter from Santa...actually from the North Pole. Each child got a letter. The letters were cold and had some snow on them. (Teacher's helper pulled them out of the freezer right before handing them out)

I was thrilled to read the letter. It is hand written by one of Santa's elves. Each child received a hand written letter from a different elf. It was long and very detailed. Then my son handed me a letter addressed to the parents of Child J (my son) In it was a letter from my son to Santa that was transcribed by his teacher. It is so cool to read his letter and then re read the one that the elf responded to. WOW!!! My son does not know I have his letter to Santa.

The kids had a Christmas party, made Santas, Santa hats, decorated cookies and sang Christmas songs. The teaches even waved saying Merry Christmas as the kids dismissed for vacation. I was shocked. I really thought it would all be a very watered down "Holiday" party. I am so pleased that the teachers went out of their way to keep with tradition and make it fun for everyone. I have not heard if anyone was offended...but I did see and hear a lot of giggles,smiles and joy!!

I remember my oldest son's 2nd grade Christmas Party years ago when his muslim friend ,Mohammed ,took part in all the Christmas oriented festivities. We learned a lot from him..he learned from us. If I was to go to school in a predominately Muslim country then I would expect to take part in their holiday festivities as well. Doesn't mean I think they are out to convert me...or they think they are better. I would understand they are the majority...and we will celebrate their holidays. I would not be offended or threatened.

Good luck and best wishes!

I am one of the room parents for my daughters first grade class and today was their 'winter' party. It was so hard not to bring Christmas or Santa into it but we did our best and all the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. Although I must admit we both had to stop ourselves a few times from wishing the kids a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays - we instead told them to have a great winter break. Also, even though our party was winter themed there were two students who were not able to participate at all and we sent to the library during our party- and the same two students were not able to participate in the fall party either.

We were having a similar conversation at work today. I remember growing up, we would have a Christmas pagent at our public school. The holiday concerts we sang Christmas carols, the traditional ones like "Silent Night" and "Away in a Manger". I hate that our society has everyone afraid of offending someone. I also agree that not only Christmas should be recognized, the schools should also recognize the traditions of other faiths. Isn't it the school's responsiblity to educate our children?

I get sad when I hear this because some of my favorite memories were of the CHRISTMAS parties at my public school. Making Santa faces out of construction paper and cotton balls. Santa visited our school and the little kids got to see him and sit on his lap. Some of the kids never got to go see a Mall Santa so this was their only chance.

Every year we did a Christmas Around the World celebration where each class would learn a Christmas song in a different language (even sign language!) and we always learned about Hanukkah as well and one class always sang some Hanaukkah songs.

I know that's no more and that makes me so sad! It makes me sad that we told God to get out of our schools--when bullying is running rampant along with drugs, smoking and teen pregnancies. Perhaps in our frenzy to not offend anyone, we've offended the Man Upstairs.

I think our schools should be ALL INCLUSIVE. Why not study and celebrate ALL holidays? Celebrate Christmas with the Christians. Celebrate Hanukkah with the Jewish. Celebrate Chinese New Year with the Chinese. And so on. Why not LEARN about different holidays and traditions? Why not decorate the classroom in Chinese fashion and if there are Chinese students, why not let them share their holiday?

I just thought school was about learning and sharing. And making everyone welcome in our country, not tiptoeing around, afraid to offend anyone.

Updated

I get sad when I hear this because some of my favorite memories were of the CHRISTMAS parties at my public school. Making Santa faces out of construction paper and cotton balls. Santa visited our school and the little kids got to see him and sit on his lap. Some of the kids never got to go see a Mall Santa so this was their only chance.

Every year we did a Christmas Around the World celebration where each class would learn a Christmas song in a different language (even sign language!) and we always learned about Hanukkah as well and one class always sang some Hanaukkah songs.

I know that's no more and that makes me so sad! It makes me sad that we told God to get out of our schools--when bullying is running rampant along with drugs, smoking and teen pregnancies. Perhaps in our frenzy to not offend anyone, we've offended the Man Upstairs.

I think our schools should be ALL INCLUSIVE. Why not study and celebrate ALL holidays? Celebrate Christmas with the Christians. Celebrate Hanukkah with the Jewish. Celebrate Chinese New Year with the Chinese. And so on. Why not LEARN about different holidays and traditions? Why not decorate the classroom in Chinese fashion and if there are Chinese students, why not let them share their holiday?

I just thought school was about learning and sharing. And making everyone welcome in our country, not tiptoeing around, afraid to offend anyone.

Just a note of clarification: the United States has never named a national language. Though most people speak English, English is not the national language.

Not everyone observes Santa. For example, Muslims don't celebrate this time of year at all. They don't "do" Santa and gift giving. They do their gift giving at Eid, which falls at a different time of year.

I don't understand why our schools need to be the place for observance of religious or non-religious holidays. Can't that be done at home?

We have a large Muslim population in the Minneapolis/St.Paul metro area, so their practices are being incorporated into policies in schools and other public places. I also happen to have a Muslim stepson, daughter-in-law, and three beautiful grandchildren.

Because Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in holidays. My sister is a Witness and they have been one of the reasons most holidays have been taken out.

School is supposed to be neutral territory so I look for it all to be taken out at some point, no Valentines Day, St. Patrick's day of wearing green, no more Thanksgiving breaks, etc...some day the only days allowed to be mentioned in school will be those that are Federal days like Memorial Day, Labor Day, 4th of July, etc....