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Should holiday decorations be allowed in public schools?

What is your opinion on holiday decorations in public schools?

  • There should be no holiday decorations allowed period.

    Votes: 1 3.0%

  • All holiday decorations should be allowed.

    Votes: 31 93.9%

  • Only Christmas decorations should be allowed.

    Votes: 1 3.0%
  • Total voters
    33
Josie said:
What is your opinion on public schools allowing holiday decor this time of year?
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Christmas trees and other secular holiday decorations, sure. Nativity scenes and Bible quotes, no.

Kids in school already have the freedom to pray themselves or form whatever religious clubs they want - Fellowship of Christian Athletes for example, but a public school is a government institution and thus should remain secular.
 
Taylor said:
Why? What's wrong with helping kids understand that different people have different beliefs? Kids at the school by my house had a parent come in and talk about Jewish beliefs. They learned about lighting candles on the menorah. They played with dreidels. They ate latkes. They loved it.
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I always do Holidays Around the World in my classroom at this time. We talk about how different countries celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, Kwanzaa. It's one of the best times of year. The kids are absolutely enthralled.
 
It would be kind of silly to ignore the religious aspects surrounding one of the holiest times of the year for many faiths. Seems like a great opportunity to teach kids about different religions and customs.
 
Josie said:
P

But I have a follow-up question here -- could a public school teacher have a crucifix or Koran or any other kind of religious symbol in or at her desk for her own personal use? I always have a Bible on my teacher bookshelf behind my desk in my classroom.
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IMO, no. Teachers are viewed as authority figures by younger students, thus have influence even if they are not consciously aware of it.
 
WCH said:
A lot are only interested in the commercialism angle. It's made a farce of Christmas.
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It began with commercialism. This isn't anything new.
 
OlNate said:
As much as atheists would love to erase religion, it's an enduring aspect of our humanity, with 84% of the world's population still claiming one faith or another. ;) I agree with you, I don't think it's the school's job to evangelize - that's why, as a Christian, I send my kid to a public school. However teaching about what the holidays mean, to the various religions groups that observe them, is not indoctrination, but simply education: "Christians believe" or "Muslims believe" or "Hindus believe" is different than "you should believe". As long as that line isn't crossed, I'm good with it.
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The idea that atheists want to erase religion is simply false. Or maybe a tiny minority want to. Most simply want to live in a society where it's not forced upon them. I have never met an atheist in my life that said that they are against the teaching of religious history or beliefs in a completely secular way in public schools. Mentioning some religions in a history class is just essential. Religions are either the main component or a significant aspect of many conflicts in history. I'm fine with my kid being taught history and such. I'm not ok with him being taught that Noah built an ark and floated around with thousands of animals.
 
roughdraft274 said:
The idea that atheists want to erase religion is simply false. Or maybe a tiny minority want to. Most simply want to live in a society where it's not forced upon them. I have never met an atheist in my life that said that they are against the teaching of religious history or beliefs in a completely secular way in public schools. Mentioning some religions in a history class is just essential. Religions are either the main component or a significant aspect of many conflicts in history. I'm fine with my kid being taught history and such. I'm not ok with him being taught that Noah built an ark and floated around with thousands of animals.
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Agreed - again, there's a big difference between "Christians believe" and "you should believe"...and one that I feel should be respected as well.

Also...the winky face was meant to indicate that I was being tongue in cheek with the whole "atheists want to erase religion" bit. From my experience those that do are in the minority, albeit a noisy one... ;)
 
Taylor said:
Why? What's wrong with helping kids understand that different people have different beliefs? Kids at the school by my house had a parent come in and talk about Jewish beliefs. They learned about lighting candles on the menorah. They played with dreidels. They ate latkes. They loved it.
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That's fine in general. So long as you are definately representing all beliefs. The problem is simply that when you say "all holiday decorations should be allowed." The tendency is for the majority to put up their decorations. If there isn't specifically a Jewish family or a Muslim Family or an Atheist Family in the school to ensure there's equal representation things get very lopsided and it becomes proselytizing.

Furthermore, if there's only one Jewish kid, Muslim kid, or an atheist kid in class it can be very difficult for them to stand up for themselves and potentially isolate themselves by pointing out their differences.

The point is simply to make sure that the emphasis is on the diversity of beliefs and holidays going on this time of year not letting on religion drown the rest out because it's bigger.
 
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It should be allowed, as long as all other religions can put up decorations for their holidays.

Though I imagine a lot of the people that claim Christmas is under attack and needs defending would not support having decorations for Islamic celebrations.
 
I think we should be reminded of our Christian heritage. No matter how it's camouflaged, calling it Happy Holidays in stead of Christmas, it is celebrating the birth of Christ, hence the whole gift tradition. It's the reason for the season.
 
Josie said:
What is your opinion on public schools allowing holiday decor this time of year?
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Depends on what you think are holiday decorations. Nicely decorated trees should not be a problem. A tiny nativity scene below a tree, not that much of an issue to me. A full blown big nativity with full scale animals and baby Jesus in a manger, that would be stretching it.
 
Carjosse said:
It should be allowed, as long as all other religions can put up decorations for their holidays.

Though I imagine a lot of the people that claim Christmas is under attack and needs defending would not support having decorations for Islamic celebrations.
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Yea, you don't want to open Pandora's box and allow all displays, because that would mean Satanic holidays, as well as Flying spaghetti monster holidays, Atheist tributes to logic and reason , etc... :mrgreen:

On second thought, that would be a perfect way to put Christian hypocrisy on full display when they have a collective meltdown about the other holidays ,and start ranting about the U.S. being a Christian nation.

At least it would take the heat off Starbucks. :)
 
beancounter said:
Yea, you don't want to open Pandora's box and allow all displays, because that would mean Satanic holidays, as well as Flying spaghetti monster holidays, Atheist tributes to logic and reason , etc... :mrgreen:

On second thought, that would be a perfect way to put Christian hypocrisy on full display when they have a collective meltdown about the other holidays ,and start ranting about the U.S. being a Christian nation.

At least it would take the heat off Starbucks. :)
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:lol: :thumbs:
 
No more Christmas,no more Santa Claus.There should be a person dressed up as President Trump in all the malls.Kids would love sitting on his lap and getting a photo.
 
TheParser said:
Only Christmas decorations should be allowed in front of the school, in the hallways, in the cafeteria, etc.

Traditionally, this has been a Christian nation.

For sometime to come, it will continue to be.

Therefore, only Christmas should be celebrated in public schools.

*****

Of course, all religions should be respected.

If students wish to take a day off for a non-Christian religion, no problem.

In fact, if they wish to put up decorations in a specified area, no problem. But it should not be a school-sponsored event.

Here in Los Angeles, there has long been a very diplomatic way to show respect to religion X. Each year, one day is always a non-school day for some reason (I forget what). It is also a "coincidence" that every year the selected day just happens to also be a holiday for religion X.
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That is precisely the reason our founding fathers were great men. No Christ needed to form a secular government. The real funny thing is Christians have a hard time deciding exactly what a "true" Christian is.

 
All decorations should be allowed.

They should celebrate the FSM on world pasta day by offering free plates of spaghetti from the cafeteria.
 
Let the schools decide. Some places, lets say Dearborn, MI might frown on what we could think of as more Christian leaning decorations, i.e, while schools in the bible belt might not necessarily have an issue with a more traditional Christmas theme.
Lets celebrate love in whatever form it comes
 
Josie said:
What is your opinion on public schools allowing holiday decor this time of year?
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As long as no religion's decorations are prohibited, I am fine with it. Mind you, if no one of any given religion wants to put any up, then that is on them. The school should not be required to decorate, but instead leave it to the students.

Sent from my Z982 using Tapatalk
 
Josie said:
What is your opinion on public schools allowing holiday decor this time of year?
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I would like to vote for "all holiday decorations allowed" but can't bring myself to do it. I mean there has to be a limit somehow. Some marijuana church will want to decorate with marijuana leaves for their Marijuana holiday and if they aren't allowed to do it they could sue for discrimination. That is the politically correct madness we live in today. I would also hate it if no decorations were allowed and it would not be right to only allow Christian decorations. So, we need to set a limit by maybe taking all of the religions practiced in the US or that particular state and take the top few and only allow decorations from them. Even then, in this politically correct society we would have problems. We just need to get rid of all of this politically correct crap.
 
Whatever holiday decoration is appropriate for school age is fine by me. Each school principal has (should have? lol) the common sense to know what is appropriate and right for their school.
 
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