Black-and-orange day instead of Halloween. Winter break instead of Christmas holidays. And little to no mention of any celebrations.
No, I’m not describing an imaginary, lifeless, robotic town, but rather the reality of our public school system. We are so scared of offending someone and being politically incorrect that we have sterilized our schools of all holiday cheerfulness. Instead of ignoring Canada’s diversity and breeding ignorance in children, it is time to face the challenge and celebrate our multicultural identity.
In my day, teachers tried to incorporate other holidays into our traditional Protestant celebrations by singing a Hanukkah song during the month-long Christmas hoopla, for example. This tactic clearly did not suffice in acknowledging the diversity in the classroom, as the inequality in the religious representations taught us that some holidays were more important than others, and did not exactly promote acceptance of the minorities into our majority culture.
Between the intimidation by non-religious forces and the overreaction of multicultural advocates, our teachers were stuck without a way to make everyone happy. Instead of striving to be inclusive, they dropped holiday practices entirely and missed out on a huge learning opportunity for children.
Sure, it is easier to avoid the conflict of religion by eliminating religious discussion, but education is not about ease. It is about teaching children to be aware and accepting of the diversity that surrounds them, which can only be done if we are willing to do so ourselves. How can we expect children to respect others’ beliefs if we, their role models, are too scared to bring up the terrifying topic of religion?
We do not have enough time in the day to address all the religions in the world, but we can start by acknowledging the beliefs of the children in individual classrooms. We can ask children what their families celebrate and what is important to them. As a future teacher, I feel think it is reasonable to accommodate the needs and values of the children in my classroom in order to have the majority and minorities equally represented.
However, we have to be careful that discussions are educational, rather than promoting or inhibiting religion, so that children can learn about the philosophy of their classmates without feeling forced to identify with certain religions or cultures. We can do this by making it clear that they should feel proud, not ashamed, that their beliefs and traditions are different than those of their friends. This dialogue would teach children to discover and accept the differences among their peers rather than being blissfully unaware of their diversity.
You might argue that religion is a family matter, worrying that children will get confused by the abundance of religious information and not know what to believe, possibly leaving their families’ cultures. I can assure you that if we mindfully inform children about the diversity in the classroom without encouraging them to deviate from their own beliefs, their familial connections will not change.
You must not panic that children will enjoy a particular holiday more than those honoured by their families because when the party is occurring, they are much more focused on the tradition of merriment than the religious background. They will simply become more aware and respectful of the diversity that surrounds them in their classroom, as well as in every aspect of our country.
What memories of your elementary school years stick out most in your mind? For me, it is parading around the school in my Halloween costume and making Valentine ’s Day mailboxes. All I wanted was to spend time with my friends and skip a day of schoolwork; why I was celebrating was not all that important, and I was not at all aware of the religious or secular belief that was being represented.
We can keep these celebrations alive while also supporting the discussion of why we are celebrating, even if children do not absorb all of the information during the party.
In Canada, we celebrate our national day with bhangra dancers, bagpipers and everything in between. We, as Canadians, are expected to promote the acceptance of our diversity, not sweep it under the rug. We are a diverse nation that celebrates the world’s cultures and traditions that are brought to our country, as well as those of a more traditional Canada, and it is time for this to be reflected in our schools.
You have the ability to make that happen merely by requesting that your family’s beliefs and celebrations be acknowledged in the classroom, and by supporting the recreation of a festive environment, rather than allowing lifeless schools to advance.
Most important, you need to demand that your child’s school stops blindly breeding ignorance and starts creating a cultured, respectful and accepting generation.
Reisha Williams is a University of Victoria student majoring in Hispanic and Italian studies.
