Take a hint
I have this Christmas cd that I absolutely adore. It is a children's choir singing lots of classics, but my favorite is a song called "The Holly and the Ivy." I actually never heard it until I got this cd. Is that a popular Christmas song? Maybe it is from before my time.
Anyway, I have been playing the cd in my classroom to get my students in the holiday spirit. (Three out of my four students hate any kind of noise, so they spend a lot of time with their ears covered. However, I am convinced that some of the spirit is seeping through.)
I have played that particular song on repeat several different times, just cause I like it. Today, one student was singing the tune in the cafeteria. She got to my favorite part and abruptly stopped singing. She looked straight at me and said shrilly,"Stop it! Stop it!"
From a person with a non-echoic vocabulary of 20 words, that is a pretty profound statement. Guess we should play something else for a change. Wouldn't want to get overwhelmed by all the holiday spirit.
Anyway, I have been playing the cd in my classroom to get my students in the holiday spirit. (Three out of my four students hate any kind of noise, so they spend a lot of time with their ears covered. However, I am convinced that some of the spirit is seeping through.)
I have played that particular song on repeat several different times, just cause I like it. Today, one student was singing the tune in the cafeteria. She got to my favorite part and abruptly stopped singing. She looked straight at me and said shrilly,"Stop it! Stop it!"
From a person with a non-echoic vocabulary of 20 words, that is a pretty profound statement. Guess we should play something else for a change. Wouldn't want to get overwhelmed by all the holiday spirit.
posted by Amanda
at
7:48 PM
16 Comments:
Pffft! Great story!
Do you teach at a Christian school?
Well, the field trip to the tree farm should be very interesting. I await the details...
no, i teach at a public school.
why?
Ha! I love Christmas music. It seems to be working!
p.s. I'm BACK!! Can't wait to read all that I have missed.
Because, do the parents of these children know you are forcing them to listen to music about Jesus' blood and his virgin birth?
Because if I were a parent of one of those children, I'd be pissed.
What makes you think it's okay for you to push your religious views on these children?
I mean, it's one thing to have Christmas songs playing at school. It's quite another to have such an obviously religious song played OVER and OVER and OVER until the children are singing it themselves.
The public school is not the place for you to spread your religious beliefs. I wouldn't spread my non-belief to your children, why do you insist on spreading your belief to other people's children?
Momsquared, your response is completely out of line. You know nothing about where my sister lives, the school she teaches in, her students or their parents.
I'll leave it to Amanda to respond further but I must say I'm very disappointed in your hostility.
It doesn't matter who the children or the parents are. It's a public school and an inappropriate forum for lyrics about Jesus dying for the poor sinners.
And when Christians keep forcing their beliefs on everyone else, people are bound to get hostile. I'm sorry if you don't like that it makes people angry, but it does. How would you like it if I taught your children that there is no god and made them listen to songs to that effect? Do you think you might be a little hostile?
Of course, I would never do that. Because it's WRONG.
wow. WOW.
okay, i teach at a public school. it doesn't matter that it is small, or that we live in the bible belt.
i will agree that it is not right to push religious beliefs onto my kids.
that was actually never my intention.
your comments have made me think about other perspectives, so you did make your point. but you are abrasive, and maybe you could consider calming down a little before jumping up and down and yelling on my blog.
we took our students to a Christmas tree farm for a field trip last week. the third grade put on a pageant that included some obviously religious Christmas songs. we say pledges to our flags every morning, and have a moment of silence, which is mandated by our state law.
i make no apologies for these things because if someone disagrees, they may opt not to participate. (yes, i SEE that music is different. i SEE that now.) i wish you luck in finding an agnostic school for your children. otherwise you surely have quite a battle ahead of you.
i don't censor comments here, so you can say what you want. (that is freedom of speech.) i don't seek to constantly bicker and fight, so this is probably the last response you will get on this post.
thank you for sharing your perspective.
I tend to be abrasive at times. I appreciate that you paid attention to the content of my posts despite your disagreement with my methods. Not everyone can do that.
I know you've said you won't respond, so I won't expect one, but I do want to note that I take issue with this:
"someone disagrees, they may opt not to participate."
My (hypothetical) question to you is, how many children will do these things just because their classmates are? How many will do them because of peer pressure or because they don't want to stand out? I doubt that everyone who doesn't wish to do these things will actually opt out.
then i think the responsibility falls to the parent to teach the child integrity in their decisions.
we celebrate MLK Jr day and Black History Month. for the family that doesn't agree, it is up to them to teach their children their beliefs. we can't take the experience away from everyone else. if we reduce school experiences to those that are shared by everyone, we will eliminate a lot of richness in our culture.
children are going to be bombarded with religious ceremonies, songs, experiences, and symbols for the rest of their lives. if it is important to you that they believe as you do, then teach them to discriminate. as a teacher, that isn't my job.
"if we reduce school experiences to those that are shared by everyone, we will eliminate a lot of richness in our culture."
huh?
MLK day and Christmas aren't the same. There is seperation of church and state (and public schools = state). There is no seperation of..what..racism and state? So the comparison is faulty.
Would you like it if Dillon was made to recite hindu prayers at school? Or made to listen to songs about gods and goddesses?
The school is not the place for religion - any religion. I wouldn't bring my disbelief and teachers shouldn't bring their belief. It is the job of the parents to educate their children, that much is true. But to say that you can push activities of religious significance onto children because their parents should unteach them doesn't make much sense.
"if it is important to you that they believe as you do, then teach them to discriminate. "
And actually it's not important that they believe as I do. I actually don't think my kids will suffer eternal torment for not taking on my beliefs, as many Christians do. Thus I can allow them freethought and the power to make their own decisions. That said, I will not allow their schools to indoctrinate them toward Christianity. I will allow them unlimited access to all religions, but nobody in a place of authority should be "selling" any specific view to children.
my point is that you can't please everyone all of the time. i am sure you will find issue with SOMETHING. aren't you in law school, after all? :)
so i'm done!
"aren't you in law school, after all?"
Ad hominem and invalid. The fact that I am in law school has nothing to do with the validity of my points, few of which you've actually addressed.
"my point is that you can't please everyone all of the time"
It's not a matter of pleasing people. It's a matter of our constitutionally protected right to NOT have religion in government institutions.
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