Over some
years as a Curriculum Coordinator in more than one Vermont school district, I
was dismayed to discover the degree to which Christmas was routinely observed
and celebrated in our schools and classrooms.
Christmas was everywhere: Christmas decorations in school lobbies, halls
and classrooms; secret Santa gift giving; un-secret Santas in costume;
school-sponsored Christmas bazaars; Christmas concerts featuring Christmas carols;
Christmas plays; Christmas classroom parties during the school day, featuring
Christmas cookies and other Christmas treats.
In the midst of all of this, I kept picturing a non-Christian child or
adult - Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, Sikh, Atheist, or Agnostic - facing
the deluge of Christmas in school for weeks, fearful about disclosing her/his
“otherness”.
The First
Amendment of the Constitution carries important obligations. Public schools may
not endorse religious activity or doctrine, nor coerce participation in
religious activity. The right of
religious expression in school DOES NOT include the right to have a “captive
audience” listen, or the right to compel other students to participate,
actively or passively.
Eventually I
raised this issue with a listening superintendent. She and I worked with the supervisory union
attorney to craft what came to be known (ultimately fondly) as “The Grinch Memo”. I’ve written
countless memos in my career as an educator.
This is one still makes me proud.
We intentionally sent it early in the school year, giving everyone time
to make plans for the winter months. We
knew it would cause a stir, and it did.
But for many years afterwards, principals would often ask me for a copy
of it…because it made sense to them, too.
The purpose
of public schools is to engage students and prepare them to live as productive
citizens in a democracy. We serve this
purpose poorly by ignoring the religious, ethnic, and economic diversity of our
society; by assuming that our own community is homogenous.
(This article, by Nancy Cornell, was initially published by Edutopia on December 2, 2014)
