This morning on my Timehop, Facebook decided to remind me about an “online argument” I had previously had with the Facebook world. Two years ago today, an extremely religious family member made a public post on Facebook to discuss his feelings on Happy Holidays versus Merry Christmas. As a Christian and a father, he was offended by his local school district his daughter attended and had decided to keep her home from school during the class’s Holiday Party. He was very upset because “this was clearly not a "holiday party" but was in fact a "Christmas party” and could not understand why the school would not just “call it what it is, a "Christmas party.”
Due to the controversial nature of the post, there had been many comments made defending both sides of the argument. A majority of the comments on the post were supporting his decision to keep his daughter out of school, those that did not agree were simply shut down by his supporters. I am not one to argue or go out of my way to join a conversation that I know is going to irritate me, yet for some reason I felt the need to comment my two cents being a teacher that has "holiday parties."
“While I completely understand and respect everyone’s opinion, as I teacher I have to respectfully disagree with calling the parties a Christmas Party. I currently teach in an extremely diverse classroom filled with numerous different religions and cultures. While I understand that to many families in our area it is a custom to celebrate Christmas, there are still those who do not and may feel offended and left out of the party. My role as a teacher is to make sure all of my students are included and feel safe and welcome in my classroom. While I myself celebrate Christmas, several of my students do not. We take time during class to learn about the different holidays that come this time of year so that the children are able to gain more knowledge and respect for those different traditions. Just because we are having a holiday party in no way means that I am neglecting celebrating Christmas. I would understand the disagreement between yourself and the school if (your daughter) was in a parochial school. Due to the fact that she is in a public school, I think that the school made their decision to include all students by calling it a ‘holiday party’ is much more respectful.”
Maybe I am wrong for what I had commented, but I never expected the amount of hatred I would get towards my opinion on the matter. I was getting many hate comments about things that ranged from my lack of being a good teacher, to questioning my religious and moral beliefs, and even making statements about my weight and looks. As a teacher, I try my absolute best every day to make each of my students feel included and safe in my classroom. Although this is not the district that I teach in, I felt nothing but love and respect for the school and teacher for making the decision that they did. This then poses the question, how does a teacher attempt to teach their pupils knowledge and respect for all cultures when their role models do not support it themselves?
