O, Multi-Culturalism, Where Art Thou?

I get a huge kick out of all the stories that surface during the school year about which holidays will be observed by public schools and what they’ll be called.

These days, celebrating Christ’s birth isn’t overly popular, but I’ve heard of schools embracing Kwanzaa and Hanukkah after they’ve unceremoniously debranched the fake Christmas tree.

Often, of course, the schools opt for a Fall Festival (to veneer over any lingering religious implications attached to Halloween and Thanksgiving), a Winter Wonderland (to gloss over everyone’s pesky religious gift-giving occasions), and a Spring Fling (to de-emphasize any latent preferences for Passover, Easter, and etc.).

I saw an article today about a school that’s keeping Halloween and Christmas, and—for good measure—adding Ramadan. I hate to be the one to mention this, but I can tell them exactly where this is leading.

It reminds me of the old days, honestly. Now, my parents put us five kids all the way through Catholic schools. I’m talkin’ K-12, people! My personal experience with public schools is limited to using the fantastic public library in my local high school, taking swimming lessons in the same building, and finally, learning all about multi-culturalism from the kids who went to Southwest High.

Trust me, multi-culturalism ain’t what it used to be. In fact, back in 1968, no one called it that. What the kids at Southwest called it was “getting out of school for the day.” I’d often ride the city bus home from St. Teresa’s and on the way, the bus would pick up some Southwest kids. I got to know public school kids from the major religions of the day, at least the religions represented in my neighborhood—Catholic and Jewish.

Those kids knew how to work the system. If a Catholic “Holy Day of Obligation” was coming up on the church calendar, they didn’t need a PDA to remind them. On a Holy Day, Catholics were obligated to attend Mass, which meant they would need to skip class in order to fulfill their religious duties. There were maybe 10 or 12 Holy Days during the school year, and you wouldn’t BELIEVE how many Jews converted to Catholicism on those days!

Same thing with the Jewish holy days. Catholic kids denied the Messiah so fast heads would spin, if they thought they’d get another day off school. All they had to do was sign the list in the main office, verifying that they were observant Jews, and voila! Bagels and lox at the New York Bakery during Algebra class!

I envied those public school kids, I really did. As a Catholic school student, we took an hour off for Mass in the middle of the school day, but then right back to classes. No Holy Days off for us! No, if you were REALLY religious, public school was the place where your beliefs—ALL of them—could flourish and prosper without interference from the state.

Now, THAT’S multi-culturalism!

Posted by Katy on 10/04/07 at 02:46 PM

Fallible Comments...

So, Katy, will you be attending the STA reunion this week?
Posted by Lori on 10/10/07 at 11:23 PM
Oh, yes, we have the fall party, the holiday concert and the spring celebration. Of course, we celebrate Black History month and are off school on MLK Day, and we are told to teach Kwanzaa. We tried to make up a snow day on MLK Day one year, and you would have thought we committed murder. We can't do that ever again. I miss the real holidays like Christmas and Easter.
Posted by Bridget on 10/15/07 at 01:00 PM
Over two grand that a great price, I really like the look of your site
Posted by shop for art on 02/04/09 at 02:57 PM

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Personal blog of christian writer & fallible mom Katy McKenna Raymond in Kansas City, Missouri Katy is represented by Greg Johnson at WordServe Literary Read more Katy at LateBoomer.net Follow Katy on Twitter Follow Katy on Facebook 123 Recent Posts Try Becoming Brenda Starr Off Beat Scattered That’s It So I’ve Finally Signed With An Agent. Now What? The Spoon Sciatica Sweetheart A Woman’s Train of Thought Has No Caboose However much we own, we are all still living on borrowed time After all, when restaurants shrink portions, they don’t shrink prices. As with everything in life, balance is key. Slow down, you move too fast… Yeah, I know. I have issues. Search Advanced Search Syndicate Login E me at katy @ ngenius.com	O, Multi-Culturalism, Where Art Thou? I get a huge kick out of all the stories that surface during the school year about which holidays will be observed by public schools and what they’ll be called. These days, celebrating Christ’s birth isn’t overly popular, but I’ve heard of schools embracing Kwanzaa and Hanukkah after they’ve unceremoniously debranched the fake Christmas tree. Often, of course, the schools opt for a Fall Festival (to veneer over any lingering religious implications attached to Halloween and Thanksgiving), a Winter Wonderland (to gloss over everyone’s pesky religious gift-giving occasions), and a Spring Fling (to de-emphasize any latent preferences for Passover, Easter, and etc.). I saw an article today about a school that’s keeping Halloween and Christmas, and—for good measure—adding Ramadan. I hate to be the one to mention this, but I can tell them exactly where this is leading. It reminds me of the old days, honestly. Now, my parents put us five kids all the way through Catholic schools. I’m talkin’ K-12, people! My personal experience with public schools is limited to using the fantastic public library in my local high school, taking swimming lessons in the same building, and finally, learning all about multi-culturalism from the kids who went to Southwest High. Trust me, multi-culturalism ain’t what it used to be. In fact, back in 1968, no one called it that. What the kids at Southwest called it was “getting out of school for the day.” I’d often ride the city bus home from St. Teresa’s and on the way, the bus would pick up some Southwest kids. I got to know public school kids from the major religions of the day, at least the religions represented in my neighborhood—Catholic and Jewish. Those kids knew how to work the system. If a Catholic “Holy Day of Obligation” was coming up on the church calendar, they didn’t need a PDA to remind them. On a Holy Day, Catholics were obligated to attend Mass, which meant they would need to skip class in order to fulfill their religious duties. There were maybe 10 or 12 Holy Days during the school year, and you wouldn’t BELIEVE how many Jews converted to Catholicism on those days! Same thing with the Jewish holy days. Catholic kids denied the Messiah so fast heads would spin, if they thought they’d get another day off school. All they had to do was sign the list in the main office, verifying that they were observant Jews, and voila! Bagels and lox at the New York Bakery during Algebra class! I envied those public school kids, I really did. As a Catholic school student, we took an hour off for Mass in the middle of the school day, but then right back to classes. No Holy Days off for us! No, if you were REALLY religious, public school was the place where your beliefs—ALL of them—could flourish and prosper without interference from the state. Now, THAT’S multi-culturalism! Posted by Katy on 10/04/07 at 02:46 PM Fallible Comments... So, Katy, will you be attending the STA reunion this week? Posted by Lori on 10/10/07 at 11:23 PM Oh, yes, we have the fall party, the holiday concert and the spring celebration. Of course, we celebrate Black History month and are off school on MLK Day, and we are told to teach Kwanzaa. We tried to make up a snow day on MLK Day one year, and you would have thought we committed murder. We can't do that ever again. I miss the real holidays like Christmas and Easter. Posted by Bridget on 10/15/07 at 01:00 PM Over two grand that a great price, I really like the look of your site Posted by shop for art on 02/04/09 at 02:57 PM Page 1 of 1 pages Commenting is not available in this weblog entry. Next entry: Checking Me Out Previous entry: Bullet Points << Back to main


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Personal blog of christianwriter & fallible momKaty McKenna Raymondin Kansas City, Missouri

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O, Multi-Culturalism, Where Art Thou?

Personal blog of christian
writer & fallible mom
Katy McKenna Raymond
in Kansas City, Missouri