It's time to take a break--NOT
What do you do when you're ferverishly typing your next exciting blog post and suddenly your computer starts to sizzle and brew its insides like burnt Texas toast in the DeLonghi? If you're like me, you scream, "Ahhhh, my files are melllllting." This is what happened to me the other day, hence my absence from the blogosphere. So, here I am, all newly connected on my antique Gateway that moves at the pace of a worm cut in half. This is no way to live when you're a technically in-tune individual such as me. Again, I have been humbled. I will survive.
So, now on to the thing I was so feverish about before the plastic-melting stench and smoke invaded my life.
January 10th marked the beginning of the Muslim holiday Eid-Al-Adha. According to tradition, Eid-Al-Adha celebrates the sacrifice that Abraham was willing to make of his son Ishmael (or, Issac, as told in the Bible). The holiday brings much festivity, prayer, and pilgrimages to Mecca. In Dearborn, Michigan, Eid-Al-Adha also means more time off school for our youngsters. Now, I'm all for diversity, but in the wake of the long Christmas break, the last thing these kids need is more time off from the classroom. What's more, in order not to cause controversy (HA!), the Dearborn School District slyly refrains from printing on the school calendar exactly why there is no school. The calendar simply states "vacation" for three days, which fall just prior to MLK Day.
The hedging on this issue in the district is unnerving. I questioned several administrative staff members in the district about this "vacation." Apparently, they have been given instruction not to disclose any information concerning the real reason school is out of session. Their answers were the same every time. "It's vacation. That's all I can say." As if the kids were in dire need of another vacation from their neverending studies over Christmas. No ties to the Muslim holiday are publicly acknowledged. Very odd, indeed.
As far as my research has found, no other Michigan school district recognizes this holiday with time off. It's unique to Dearborn. Does this fact have something to do with the district's uneasiness about announcing the true reasons behind the vacation?
To clarify my position, I am not in opposition of observing Eid-Al-Adha. I'm just opposing that the holiday adds to the number of days off in the school year for all students. The combined vacation days in this district don't just shorten the summer break; they also break up the continuity of learning. It's as if Dearborn kids are sprinting through the curriculum, moving along quickly then taking a break, moving along quickly then taking another break. It's ridiculous.
The Eid-Al-Adha vacation also begs the question of how religion influences the decisions made within the secular establishment of a school district. Although noteworthy, that question for debate is useless because the bottom line is that school districts cannot count a day as a legitimate day of instruction unless 75% of students are in attendance. Dearborn, most specifically East Dearborn, has already experienced the lack of appropriate attendance during Muslim holidays. Therefore, it has been deemed necessary to provide vacation days during those times to avoid being fined or reprimanded by the State.
The topic of time off for religious holidays is tricky business. Nonetheless, in Dearborn it's time to come up with creative solutions to the number of days off during the school calendar. Maybe we can shorten the Christmas holiday. Maybe we can divide the district so that predominately Arabic schools recognize the Muslim holidays while predominately anglo schools recognize the Christian holidays. These are just options, and undoubtedly dicey ones to throw out for discussion. But, a decision needs to be made so that students aren't off for two weeks, on for five days, off for four days, back again for three weeks, off again for one week, and so on.
There is no consistency for learning under the current method. And, this situation will become even more exacerbated with the new law governing that all Michigan schools start after Labor Day.
If it's time to rid the schools of religious influence altogether, so be it. Under the current program, true fairness would mean that we recognize all religious holidays in the school calendar--Jewish, Arabic, Christian, African. You get the picture. If school districts statewide did just that, heaven knows, our kids would never be in school.
Is it too much to take only a week off in December, and then a week off in January? Can't we cut down on the existing week-long breaks over Easter and Thanksgiving? How about taking another look at the week-long midwinter break? Let's ask the teachers.
I'm thinking that the current calendar, with its many, many vacations, does nothing but give teachers plenty of rest, while parents work harder at keeping their kids' studies in check due to lack of classroom time. Case in point, at the onset of every vacation, my kids come home with a study packet.
Since the Teacher's Union negotiates the details of the school calendar, I'm convinced that the results we see every year are in the best interests of the teachers, and not the students. The religious holidays may be a good reason for more time off that are above and beyond the traditional breaks. There obviously has been no compromise elsewhere in the calendar.
The Teacher's Union isn't the only one at the bargaining table. The union for non-instructional employees are also a part of the negotiations. However, I'm going to guess that their union might not support the calendar as is. Why? Because non-instructional employees don't get paid during those additional days off. I'm sure they'd rather be working, getting paid.
David Mustonen, Communications Coordinator for the Dearborn School District, suggests that parents write letters or emails to the school board, the superintendent, the directors of education, and each union about the calendar. Although I haven't spoken with many of the Muslim families affected by days off during Christmas and Easter, I certainly have heard many qualms from non-Muslim families about the extra number of days off during Ramadan and Eid-Al-Adha. It's time to make a change. Otherwise, next year we might be celebrating The Islamic New Year.
posted by tanagrame @ 6:48 PM
4 Comments:
I'm sending resident religious expert over as soon as he's done studying for his NERB II exams.
We discussed this post over a smoke break, and he kept saying..."Hmmm."
And so I pass along his "Hmmmm."
We'll be back.
Isn't the problem that we recognize some religion's holidays and not others? Christmas holiday - A week? Don't the kids get an extended spring break too? Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Good Friday. How do you then say to another religion - "nope, you're not good enough."
I wonder what the response would be if all of a sudden the christmas break was reduced to 2 or 3 days to make up for this muslim holiday.
Here's my idea - no days off for religious holidays at all. Separation of church and state and all that. Give the students personal days like workers get and close the schools for government holidays. Case closed.
amen. ;-)
All right, then. Sounds good.
Spencer's on it.
Can you fix health care next?
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