Good point. What sort of Lent guidelines do you think teachers would need in order to avoid problems with their students? How does Lent affect a typical Catholic student's school day?
As I see it, these guidelines are concerned with issues where there is a real lack of familiarity and understanding. I don't think someone should feel "left out" if another holiday isn't discussed. The obvious explanation is that there's not a similar need for guidelines about a holiday if it has less impact on student life in school hours and it's something the teachers (who are much more likely to be Catholic and have Catholic friends than to be Muslim or to have Muslim friends) would know about.
I don't think you should feel victimized or left out by these guidelines. I don't see what harm they do. If there were a real need to educate teachers about how students celebrate Christmas, it would be done.
They should have explanation of the ashes on the students' foreheads on Ash Wednesday. They should accomodate special foods at lunch.
How does Lent affect a typical Catholic student's school day?
Needing special foods at lunch.
How does Ramadan affect a typical Muslim student's school day? Other than fasting during daylight it is no different than any other month in its affect on a student's relation to school.
A better example then lent was when Catholics could only eat fish on Friday. School cafeterias all around the country provided a fish meal on that day. Even if you were not Catholic, you got fish on Friday. I don't remember people complaigning all that much, even Jews and Protestants went along with it. And while on this subject, many people know that airlines and cafeterias frequently will accomodate orthodox Jews with an alternative of kosher food. Likewise vegetarian dishes are on many menus these days. There are a host of people trying to be politically (and religiously) sensitive.
This does not mean we should be forced into this political sensitivity. (Political Correctness).
I would like to see the trend toward accomodation continue, but it should be voluntary and related to density of belief. In predominent Christian areas or lets say a school with at least 10% Christians, lets see Nativity displays and have Christmas carolling in the halls and multipurpose rooms of the schools. For all religions, lets set up a place to pray. In predominently Jewish schools, (or lets say a school with at least 10% Jews, lets have school holidays on the Jewish High Holy days. Do you see the picture? If Islam has 10% of the student body, then the school should follow the advice of the letter on this thread. It starts to make sense when you take population into account and cover ALL religious beliefs.
I draw the line on religion imposed rules that affect others however. Muslims must dress in school uniforms if school unifors are a requirement. Specific Muslim dress should be allowed in regular schools if students have no school restriction on what they wear. But statements from Muslim men that "teachers dress like whores" are out of line when western dress is the norm. If Muslims want strict adhereance to their codes in school, then the school must be a private religious school.
Finally, for those in a school that does not follow these guidelines, (because they are voluntary after all) I say GET OVER IT. Get into a religious private school or home school, but drop the lawsuits and complaints. This is a free society but we do not have to accomodate every religious aspect if we don't want to. Jews who must have kosher food have known for years to bring their own lunches and I advocate not complaining about the school cafeteria no matter how hard it is to make lunch for your kid.
We all need to step back from political extortion and realize that offense is not a protected right.