Religious Holidays in Public Schools

Soon · 07-20-2010, 07:13 AM

I think there should be a pre-determined amount of School Breaks without any official naming of them--besides a Break.

In Australia, the year was divided into terms--after every three months of school, a two week break was given. In December/January it was summer break which lasted approximately six weeks if I recall. I really liked this system; there was always a break to look forward to instead of long stretches without a rest (for all concerned). There was no *official* naming or links/ties to any religious holiday--they existed solely as School Breaks.

In North America, yes some of our Breaks were designed around Christian holidays; however, I think any affiliation to the Christian roots of these holidays should now be removed--in a pluralistic society and in a publicly funded system, I don't see the need to favour one religious holiday over any other any longer.

I am not sure to do about Easter though; how to get rid of that (in Canada, students get Good Friday AND Easter Monday off) without calling it Easter--and this is in public schools. However, we also have one religion whose school boards are entirely government funded (R.C) in two provinces.

I don't want more religious holidays included in a public school's calendar, and I want the ones that exist renamed into neutral non-religious breaks.

If families want to remove their children for a religious holiday, that is their prerogative and all they need to do is call in their absence.

View Poll Results: what do you think about adding holidays to school calendars?
I think we need to be more inclusive and add other religious holidays	39	41.49%
I think we need to pare it down, we have too many	11	11.70%
I think we need to take all religious holidays out of public school calendars	27	28.72%
I don't care	17	18.09%
Voters: 94. You may not vote on this poll

07-20-2010, 07:13 AM	#13
Soon Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: femme Relationship Status: attached Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: . Posts: 6,896 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 29,046 Thanked 13,094 Times in 3,386 Posts Rep Power: 21474858	I think there should be a pre-determined amount of School Breaks without any official naming of them--besides a Break. In Australia, the year was divided into terms--after every three months of school, a two week break was given. In December/January it was summer break which lasted approximately six weeks if I recall. I really liked this system; there was always a break to look forward to instead of long stretches without a rest (for all concerned). There was no official naming or links/ties to any religious holiday--they existed solely as School Breaks. In North America, yes some of our Breaks were designed around Christian holidays; however, I think any affiliation to the Christian roots of these holidays should now be removed--in a pluralistic society and in a publicly funded system, I don't see the need to favour one religious holiday over any other any longer. I am not sure to do about Easter though; how to get rid of that (in Canada, students get Good Friday AND Easter Monday off) without calling it Easter--and this is in public schools. However, we also have one religion whose school boards are entirely government funded (R.C) in two provinces. I don't want more religious holidays included in a public school's calendar, and I want the ones that exist renamed into neutral non-religious breaks. If families want to remove their children for a religious holiday, that is their prerogative and all they need to do is call in their absence. Last edited by Soon; 07-20-2010 at 07:20 AM. Reason: morning grammar blahs