As I prepped my lesson for the day before break, one that included a Land Acknowledgement, actions students could follow up on, and a serious examination of how they'd celebrate the holiday, the history, and why it was important to teach it and the horrific stereotypes associated with it, I had issues.
It got me thinking about all the ways we signal to our students and our families that they matter or don't in our school communities.
Last Friday, my school held a "Thanksgiving Meal" with an extended lunch period. We have an 87% Chican@ and 7% Native population. There was no context for this, no acknowledgement, nothing that problematized or contextualized this.
Public school calendars are woefully out of date. They are often horrific examples of biased local control.
When I taught in Brooklyn the calendar recognized Muslim, Jewish, and Christian holidays.
When I taught in NC we got Christian holidays off.
Here in New Mexico it is mostly Christian holidays, although we do get a Vernal Holiday in the spring that centers Native celebrations
What does this tell our students?
First, it normalizes Anglo Christianity and privileges it, granting it authority.
This then skews everything else.
It marks everything else, everyone else, as on the margins, not included.
I took a look at a sampling of public school calendars, in places I'd taught, and others. If you look at them below, you'll notice that most of them have the same issues.
Changing school calendars is a fraught issue because they are within local control, and therefore are often seen as personal attacks of the people and their beliefs.
Arguing for change is not new, yet somehow we can't seem to make any progress on this issue.
But I propose that changing school calendars is a single move that could radically reorient how we teach and what we value.
Here's what I think school calendars should include:
- All religious holidays off. This not only decenters Anglo Christianity as the norm, but it opens up the school to teaching about WHY we have those days off, exposing students to different cultures and religions, which studies have shown have impacts on how students then construct marginalized groups and impacts racism.
- Invite community leaders in during these times, increase community engagement, teach your students to expand their horizons by presenting the opportunities to.
- Schools will not longer schedule their "Winter" and "Spring" breaks around Christmas and Easter. Yes, given Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter Monday off (see above) but that's it. No more scheduling week long breaks around them. Schools that need "Winter" breaks do not need them in December, most bad winter weather that results in school cultures occur during January or February, so schedule accordingly.
- Schools should be year round, with appropriate breaks. There is no logical reason to give students three months off, it disproportionately affects lower and working class families who then struggle for child-care. Schools should have a summer break of a couple of weeks, a long fall and spring breaks, winter breaks, but the schools should also partner with their communities to off busing and on-sight enrichment/school activities to help working parents.
- While tangential to the calendar issue, schools should change their operating times. Elementary schools should align more with working parents' schedules, 8a-4p, then like the above, offer enrichment until parents are off work. Middle schoolers could follow the same. High schoolers should start later, as studies show they need it. Most of you would probably be horrified to learn that it is high school athletic schedules that set high school schedules. Students need to be out by a certain time for practices and games. This should absolutely not be what determines learning.
These are not big changes. But the perspective shift, the culture shift that would occur would be radical, and have large, lasting consequences.
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