We read:
"One principal is bringing reform to Massachusetts schools. Well, at least in the way they celebrate holidays. NECN reports on Principal Ann Foley’s stand against celebrating Halloween, Columbus Day and Thanksgiving at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Somerville, Massachusetts:
The Boston Herald reports that the Foley controversy emerged after an email she sent to teachers was revealed, outlining the principal‘s opposition to some of America’s most cherished holidays:
“’When we were young we might have been able to claim ignorance of the atrocities that Christopher Columbus committed against the indigenous peoples,’ wrote Kennedy School Principal Anne Foley. ‘We can no longer do so. For many of us and our students celebrating this particular person is an insult and a slight to the people he annihilated.
On the same lines, we need to be careful around the Thanksgiving Day time as well.’”
This section from the scathing email comes off of Foley’s ban on allowing children to come to school in costumes on Halloween.
“Many parents and grandparents were outraged. Parent Lisa Eicks said, ‘If you don’t want to celebrate it then don’t celebrate it, but I don’t think it’s right for the kids that do celebrate it to suffer.’
Foley would not elaborate on her “atrocities” comment, but told the Herald ““When I grew up, I was taught from a very European perspective of history and it was both embarrassing and enlightening to me when I learned other perspectives.”
Source
The old bigoted fallacy of judging the past by the standards of the present. She is one of those who condemn George Washington because he was a slave owner and Abraham Lincoln because he wanted to send the blacks back to Africa. She could hardly be more narrow-minded.
17 comments:
It has become common among the left to blame Christopher Columbus for the wholesale death of the Native Americans - a charge which totally ignores the truth of the situation.
90% of the indigenous population of the Americas was wiped out by diseases which were endemic in Europe and the Old World. It wouldn't have made any difference who arrived in America - Chinese, Europeans, Africans - they would all have brought the Old World Diseases that were so devastating to the New World populations.
As for the "Atrocities" - they were no worse than our buying goods to support a rather repressive Chinese system that today tortures and imprisons political dissenters, or child labor ghettos in India. People have always been, and continue to be, inhumane to other people.
Yes, let's get all over Columbus and how the Spanish stopped the impressive surgery performed by the Aztecs in which they proved they could remove people's hearts while still beating and without needing anesthesia.
All this person has shown is that she has replaced one romanticized view of history with another.
Most people who celebrate traditional or public holidays have little knowledge or interest in the history behind them. It's just a time to relax and have a day off work. Maybe ignorance is bliss!
I'm a bit torn on this one. I definitely think the principle is out of line on Thanksgiving and Columbus Day. But I have to wonder, what is there about Halloween that is good, positive, and worth celebrating? Freely giving children special treats is fine, but the rest of it really makes me wonder.
Luke is thinking Halloween is related to paganism, which of course it is (Celtic mainly) but so are many so-called "Christian" festivals, as the spreading Christian church merely saw it very expedient to simply win over the subject populations by converting their existing religious festivals - so many saints days and even "Christmas" and "Easter".
Witches, goblins, Zombies, Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, global warming, the devil, and God are all imaginary.
Luke is thinking Halloween is related to paganism,
You suck at mind reading.
I'm talking about the stuff that gets celebrated every year. Death, decay, horror, fear, evil, etc. Even the modern concept of witches is of, at best, the amoral use of powers to get what they want. And around Halloween, the focus is usually on witches as evil [women] actively looking to cause harm.
Are these really something worth celebrating?
"the focus is usually on witches as evil [women]"
Hey Luke, you must have met my ex-wife. Small world.
Luke, how about calling Halloween what it is, just plain old FUN! Can't kids have fun anymore? Have we become that screwed-up that we can't let kids be kids? Do you think they care about all the nonsensical bullshit that's being discussed on this page? Man, talk about FUBAR!
Bird of Paradise said...
"The prinipal needs to be placed in detention for the rest of the school year for being such a total idiot..."
No, all the parents should be punished for not pulling their kids out of that school ASAP! Irrelevant little nobodys like this principle are only strong when dealing with weak parents.
Luke, how about calling Halloween what it is, just plain old FUN! Can't kids have fun anymore?
Does making the concepts of Halloween fun somehow change those concepts into something that's good? Hospitals in my area (and probably across the country) offer free xrays of children's Halloween candy. Is Halloween really pure, safe fun? Doesn't seem like it.
You know, it is possible to have fun without including negatives and dangerous consequences, right?
The parents should take it right to the principal and tell them that they dont want suclar humanism ot athiesm forced on their kids
I'm perfectly fine with Christopher Columbus, Thanksgiving, etc., but I still don't think that schools should be celebrating those holidays the way they typically do, which usually consists of pointless craft projects stretching over several days.
Crafting turkeys out of disposable plates and bits of colored paper teaches nothing about why people left Northern Europe and came to the New World.
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, but lets be realistic--it has no instructional value whatsoever. The schools should not be touching Halloween at all, because there is nothing to learn.
I worked a second job at a major arts and crafts retailer for a couple years, and the parents were constantly complaining about all the money they had to spend on their childrens' endless craft projects for school, and how they weren't actually learning anything in school. And people actually wonder why our schools are failing...
Crafts teach creativity, planning, organizing, and individuality. It is an easy way to combine fun as well as teach certain fundamentals. If instructors can add in some historical concepts and lessons as well, then more the better. I'm sure in Singapore and India they may do the same for Dwiali.
Halloween=Dress Like a Whore Day. An excuse for slutty costumes, massive booze consumption, and (hopefully) slutty behavior. I love this holiday soooo much.
Thanksgiving=Never Trust Whitey Day. Where we eat too much and watch football to celebrate the Indians saving a bunch of idiots that showed up, took over their land, used them to gain the skills to survive, and then spent their spare time killing and stealing from them. I can take it or leave it since I'm not an Indian, hate football, but love turkey.
Columbus Day=?. Explain to me again...why do we have a holiday celebrating the LAST guy to find this side of the planet? He got here by accident, he never set foot on what would eventually be US soil, and they didn't even name the place after him. They reserved that honor for...
America=Amerigo Vespucci. Two continents named after a lying pornographer. Honestly, it seems kinda appropriate at times...
Heaven help you if you have brown skin.
The first europeans to come to the continent of "America" were not Italians or Spanish, but Norsemen from Scandinavia in the 10th century; and even before Columbus there was a Norman-Scot (Sinclair) following the same Icelandic/Greenland route, or even a Welsh monk doing the same.
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