The Silly (Halloween) Season Has Started
Just one of these for flavor: Cindy Kaie, self-righteous principal of Kohl Elementary School in Broomfield, Colorado, has decreed "no Halloween party."
In a newsletter sent home to parents, Principal Cindy Kaier wrote that the traditional Halloween party celebrated in classrooms each year will be replaced by a fall party on Friday.
And because the party is focused on fall, not Halloween, children can't wear costumes.
Parents expressed frustration that they weren't included in the decision.
Consult the parents? Whatever for? Are they qualified? Do they have advanced degrees in education?
A Denver-area blogger listened to her on a radio talk show and wrote about "control mania."
I heard part of an interview with this Kohl Elementary School principal on a local radio program this morning. Listening to Principal Cindy Kaier would make any normal person retch -- politically correct drivel, educrat-ese jargon, and a smug "we know best" attitude oozed out of this woman's mouth -- this is precisely why public confidence in public education is deteriorating. How teachers who genuinely want to teach and instill the joy of learning in children can stand to work for a self-approving functionary like this is beyond my understanding.
(And that's coming from a Green Party member, not a Rush Limbaugh clone!)
The article was not exactly clear about the cause of the ban. Does "not leaving anyone out" mean "not offending rabid Christians"? Or what?
In a newsletter sent home to parents, Principal Cindy Kaier wrote that the traditional Halloween party celebrated in classrooms each year will be replaced by a fall party on Friday.
And because the party is focused on fall, not Halloween, children can't wear costumes.
Parents expressed frustration that they weren't included in the decision.
Consult the parents? Whatever for? Are they qualified? Do they have advanced degrees in education?
A Denver-area blogger listened to her on a radio talk show and wrote about "control mania."
I heard part of an interview with this Kohl Elementary School principal on a local radio program this morning. Listening to Principal Cindy Kaier would make any normal person retch -- politically correct drivel, educrat-ese jargon, and a smug "we know best" attitude oozed out of this woman's mouth -- this is precisely why public confidence in public education is deteriorating. How teachers who genuinely want to teach and instill the joy of learning in children can stand to work for a self-approving functionary like this is beyond my understanding.
(And that's coming from a Green Party member, not a Rush Limbaugh clone!)
The article was not exactly clear about the cause of the ban. Does "not leaving anyone out" mean "not offending rabid Christians"? Or what?
Labels: Halloween
posted by Chas S. Clifton at 11:01 AM Permalink
8 Comments:
Quite possibly it means 'not offending rabid Muslims'. An article in our local paper today reported mullahs in our area warning their congregations not to celebrate any North American secular holidays, or even use holiday greetings like 'Happy Thanksgiving' or 'Merry Christmas'. And while Christians may whine when the world doesn't play by their rules, Muslims sometimes do rather more than whine.
Guess she hasn't read about the latest round of litigation on the subject:
http://religionclause.blogspot.com/2007/09/court-says-halloween-decorations-are.html
(Hint: Halloween is OK!)
Some Muslims certainly are rabid on the topic. Any holiday not approved by them is horrible awful polytheism.
On the other hand, I'm happy with the idea that Halloween is a secular holiday that we can celebrate with everyone (except grumpy monotheists). And then we can have our own religious event at Samhain proper, which is usually about a week later if figured astronomically.
Seasons are "regionally universal," but wouldn't a focus on "Fall" make the observance closer to Pagan spirituality than Christian/secular Halloween? Or at least, wouldn't it seem so? It simply sounds less folkloric and more focused on immanence (timeliness) and values (all be they twisted in this instance) and awareness.
One would think it would be easiest to find and celebrate diversity when it actually exists.... such as around Oct. 31/Nov. 1, the Spring Equinox, and Winter Solstice. But it seems increasingly that merely mentioning something different is an imposition.
"Celebrate diversity"?? How did that buzz-phrase become attached to the wheel of the year?
Sheesh.
I am afraid the fundies have won this one, and it was not unsophisticated of them to think to do it in this way, i.e. claiming that "since Samhain is a religious holiday, celebrating it in a visible way violates the guidelines observed by many communities and schools regarding other religious holiday displays and celebrations."
In other words, pagans might have been happy with Hallow'en continuing to be the commercialized secular sugar- and spook-fest it has been for years, making peopel think they need to spends lots of money on superficial crap, just like Christmas! But since Christmas has "Christ" in the word it is, at least ostensibly, a religious observation, Never mind that very few actually regard it as such, even if they are Christians, even while celebrating its various rituals.
My deepest apologies for this kind of nonsense espoused by some fundamentalist and evangelical Christians. Please don't equate us all with this. There are some of us who absolutely love this time of year and who see a deep connection between it and our spirituality. I try to explore some of this on my TheoFantastique blog, and there are others like me. Perhaps we can work together to ignore the noise of the naysayers while enjoying this time of year.
I doubt the "fundies" have won anything...in fact, I think they've used up their currency in most areas. If this year is any indication, Halloween is more popular than ever.
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