School Overacted

[Taz_Zoee]

I was just showing this to Bruce and while we were discussing it I was reading the article again. My question is why was the teacher asking them to draw something about "the holiday"? Isn't that incorrect too? I thought you weren't supposed to single out Christmas or whatever. Ugh, it's just all so dumb.

[Freedom]

Update:

This is all over the news here ( it is local, for me).

Now the school claims:
- that is NOT the picture which was at issue
- the school did NOT ask the child to draw a Christmas pic
- the picture in question was NOT even drawn at school but was brought in by the child
- the child was NOT suspended


And on and on.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/bre..._abel_g_6.html

[sparks19]

so what WAS the issue then? and so WHAT if the child brought the picture in from home. It's not like he brougth in a weapon. it's a freaking PICTURE.

Sounds like they are trying to tap dance their way out of this one

[smokey the elder]

This whole kerfuffle about when and where religious expression is appropriate is, IMO, a manifestation of the increasing religious diversity in the US. When I was in school quite a few years ago, much of the US was religiously very homogeneous. "Diversity" was Catholic or Protestant. Christmas carols and Bible stories in school were not uncommon, and no one thought anything of it that I know about. Is that right or wrong?

I would hazard that in this day and age with religious diversity it might be appropriate to discuss (in a class called "Comparative Religions", say) the differences among cultures how their religions work, what holidays they celebrate, etc. The big problem seems to be fear: i.e. if one religion is discussed, does it "invalidate" all others?

[Grace]

Oh boy - the last 2 paragraphs in that article . . . . . . .

Amid the flurry of media attention, the boy's father held court today at his girlfriend's apartment here, demanding the school district compensate him for his family's pain and suffering.

"It hurts me that they did this to my kid," Chester Johnson, the boy's father, told the Globe. "They can't mess with our religion; they owe us a small lump sum for this.''

[JenBKR]

Grace - they had me until those paragraphs you posted. Now it seems a little fishy to me. If it happened as the boy and his father said it did, the school most certainly overreacted. However, now I have to wonder if it was all a strange money making scheme....very odd.

Off topic a bit, but the whole Christmas/holiday thing is so far out of control. I have much more I want to say on this topic but Idon't want to hijack the thread, so I'll start a new one.