I remember growing up and being in grade school. I remember the fun times of holiday songs and celebrations before Christmas break or Easter break. Growing up in the area I did, I rarely got to experience different cultures. A culture is defined as “a dynamic system of rules, explicit and implicit, established by groups in order to ensure their survival, involving attitudes, values, beliefs, norms, and behaviors” (Matsumoto & Juang, 2004, pg 10) (Gruman, 487). I do not ever remember learning about Hannukah or Ramadan. I do not ever remember being allowed to discuss what holidays we celebrated; everyone just assumed what was celebrated. Even recently, going back to the same district, none of these things are talked about in school. Think back yourself, depending on where you grew up, do you ever remember learning about holidays other than Christian ones? When I moved districts, it was a whole new experience for me. Although I grew up in an extremely white area, my family did the best they could to open our minds to all different concepts and ideas of what other people may celebrate or how everyone’s lives are different. I started my new job in December, and I remember walking into the classroom, and it was decorated for Hannukah; something I have never experienced. It was in that moment that I realized how important it can be for schools to allow and discuss or even celebrate other holidays. I felt so uneducated compared to the children, having never even had the thought of learning about other holidays than the ones I celebrated. I had this whole other opportunity to learn about another holiday and it was amazing to see some of the children who celebrated getting to share their traditions and how their holiday is different from others. This inclusive behavior allows students to open their minds to other groups of people that may differ from them and let prejudice fade away. Children are wet sponges; they soak in everything around them. If they are exposed to these differences early in life, those differences will no longer be differences; it will be a normal to them having learned about them so early in life.
Many schools in the United States only teach and celebrate Christian holidays. According to the article Teaching Holidays in Public Schools, there are no laws currently that say schools must teach other holidays or refrain them from being able to teach these holidays. One of the reasons that the article states many schools refrain from teaching these is that it can be controversial. However, ensuing the idea that discussing other holidays in a school that maybe no one celebrates those holidays, only further pushes diversity and discrimination of those who celebrate. Everyone knows what Christmas is when you live in America, but does everyone know what Kwanzaa is? Statistics show that of the total American population at least 46% of the country celebrate other holidays than Christian ones. Public school systems are failing to educate on cultural diversity; something that has become increasingly important in recent years. This failure can lead to confusion and mixed emotions and pushing discrimination of those cultures into the minds of the young children who will one day lead this country. The simple idea of learning about another culture’s holiday celebrations opens a whole new set of schemas to young children. If we all had the opportunity to learn a little bit about a different culture’s celebrations, it could expose us all to the different groups of people that live in America. It helps educate the idea of cultural diversity and how every group of people can be so vastly different and yet so similar. I think about all the children who had to participate in our Christmas crafts and never got to share their own. It was in my adult years, that I truly got to see the prejudice and discrimination people face every day, even at such a young age. It is time we start at the roots and take all steps possible to end discrimination and prejudice.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2016). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3rd Edition). SAGE Publications, Inc. (US). https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781506353951
Siegal, Peter. Edutopia. Teaching Holidays in Public Schools. (2016). https://www.edutopia.org/article/teaching-holidays-public-schools-peter-siegel