About a month ago right before Halloween, Jason posted a blog about how “Adults Are Ruining Everything.” The conversation started with The Madison School District ‘not encouraging’ classrooms to have costume parties for Halloween. Yesterday I ran across a blog along the same lines posted on Blogging Baby, which is a online magazine about pregnancy, baby care and parenting. If any of those four words connect with your life, you will want to check out this blog. It is really well done. Actually, none of those words currently connect to my life, and I am really enjoying it. Sarah Gilbert wrote about ‘Banning holiday talk from schools: how PC can you go?’ She talks about the epidemic of taking holidays out of everything and replacing them with the seasons. She writes,
‘Easter can’t be celebrated, instead students make “spring baskets” and draw pictures of “spring bunnies.” In winter, it’s snowmen and icicles, even in warm climates.’
Having worked in a public school the last five years I can attest to this first-hand. I understand that America is a ‘melting pot,’ but what is happening is that we are all expected to check our traditions and customs at the door and blend into one big blob of nothingness. How is that good? It’s kind of like when my kindergarteners
would paint. (Yikes!) They would start with all of these vibrant colors and inevitably would end up with a big brown picture. To truly respect the diversity in America is to let people freely celebrate and ‘own’ their holidays, religions, and practices- whether you agree with each other or not. That’s where the respect comes in. It’s so refreshing to read Jason and Sarah’s blogs and to be reminded that whether they admit it or not, for fear of not being PC, most people are frustrated by this overwhelming lack of respect for individuals’ identity. We have to be who we are, before we become a big brown picture.