Posted on 12/26/2005 8:11:14 AM PST by Conservatrix
To the Editor:
"Last week I substituted at a local elementary school in Lebanon County. The lesson plan required me to read the 1882 poem “The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore to two classes of students. While I can appreciate the poem for its literary value, the subject matter is offensive to me, and the reading of this poem to the children imposed values upon me which are against my deeply held religious beliefs. I could not in good conscience present the notion of Santa Claus as a truth to the children, and stated so.
No public school teacher should be required to teach a belief, or custom, or religion that he or she believes to be false, or be required to pass those purported falsehoods onto impressionable children, without the right to state a disclaimer. Furthermore, freedom of speech and religion, no matter how unpopular the speech or against cultural norms the religion, are protected rights under the Constitution of the United States. A secular public school should not be propagating any kind of religion. The belief in Santa Claus as a divine, magical, omniscient, powerful, giving, loving father-figure, to which children are taught to make supplications and requests, is a religion indeed-- a distorted substitute for the Judeo-Christian God; a false form of Christianity; a zealously-protected American idol.
In presenting the poem, I gave the children quick historical background about the Santa Claus myth-- its evolution from the historic Nickolaus, Bishop of Myrna in Asia Minor, who died in 343 A.D., to its amalgamation with ancient Western pagan traditions of German, Scandinavian and Dutch origins, to the current manifestation in the secular Christmas culture of today. (Dutch children, for example, would put their wooden shoes out at night for “Sante Klaus” to fill with candies.)
The current Santa Claus figure was popularized in the late 19th Century by artist Thomas Nast of Harper’s Weekly Magazine, who depicted “Saint Nick,” not as an elf, but a rotund, pipe-smoking man in a red and white suit. This is the deity to which countless public school children today are taught to make supplications, and about whom they sing their many songs at annual public school Christmas programs.
If people are upset about the revelation to children that Santa Claus is a myth-- which all children who are taught this lie find or figure out eventually-- perhaps it is because Santa is that zealously-guarded idol of their own modern religion. Therefore, as a religion, let Santa be kept out of the public school classroom (no more “Dear Santa” letters to line those school hallways)--or perhaps, in the interest of “diversity,” make his mythical, oversized personage share equal representation in literature, and song, and Christmas programs, with the other Person of the season: the Lord Jesus Christ, God made flesh, God with us."
Santa Claus pervades our culture--in advertising, songs, and those wonderful Rankin-Bass Christmas specials we all grew up on. Our country is also a predominately Christian culture.
This doesn't mean everyone has to practice the tradition of Santa Claus in their families--non Christians do not, and some Christians who seek to keep Christmas "pure" do not either.
This is a family decision and I have no problem with you no matter which way you come down on it.
But this "teacher" is imposing her religious beliefs on children in a public school. This is wrong, even if you agree with those beliefs. You would not want a Jewish or Muslim or even atheist teacher disabusing the children of the "myth" in their own personal view, of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Nor do we need "teachers" like this woman disabusing the children of the "myth" of Santa Claus. Simply put, it's none of her business!
My family celebrates the birth of Christ. We concentrate during Advent on the coming of our Lord. We do more Christmas celebrating between Christmas and Epiphany than before Christmas like the rest of society does.
But yes, Santa Claus does visit our home. I have never directly insisted to my children that Santa is a "real person", but the belief in Santa is the belief in unselfish and anonymous giving. We teach that Santa brings presents and we exchange gifts because Jesus is so special and important that His is the only birthday on which everyone receives gifts (as mere humans, we receive gifts on our birthday but no one else does). That is my decision and while I know there are children as young as five or six who revel in letting the other kids in on the secret that "Santa is your parents", they do not need to hear it from a so-called "authority figure" in a classroom setting.
This is a poem, for goodness' sake, not a history textbook! I would have been livid, had my child been in this class.
I stand beside you and her.
Free speech is about unpopular words.
This has nothing to do with free speech. Are you going to talk about abortion in front of 6 year olds?
Are you going to talk about immigration in front of 6 year olds?
The teacher should have voiced her complaints to adults, and she should have kept quiet in the classroom in front of the kids. Period.
She was wrong!!!!
To put it bluntly, no one forced her to take the job. If she didn't want to do the poem, she could have stopped working.
The teacher did follow the lesson plan. She read the poem to the children. She also explained the cultural significance and effect of the poem on modern society.
I can see, however, how some might get upset because she told children the truth about this cultural myth called, Saint Nicolas.
Stick with Santa for the toys and electronic goodies.
Stick with Jesus for the eternal Gifts. ;-)
Are they Christian saints as in Saint Christopher?
"cultural significance and effect of the poem on modern society."
To KINDERGARTENERS??
She is not only rotten, but stupid.
Ah, but did the lesson plan specifically forbid her from discussing the myth behind Saint Nicholas?
Are you the children's regular teacher?
SHE chose NOT to follow the teacher's exact instruction...to read the poem..period.
And what were the teacher's EXACT instructions. Please post them here for all to read.
Conclusion: Memo to principal: Strike her name from your substitute list and note that she is officious and unreliable in following instructions.
Are you the regular teacher for whom she substituted?
If not, then how do you know she didn't follow the instructions?
You're bored, so she has to leave?
Who died and willed this site to you?
IOW, "How dare you tell the truth about Saint Nicholas to my kids after I've been lying to them for their entire lives?"
Kids can't either. This is why we need to be careful when presenting a fable as fact, such as the fable surrounding Saint Nicholas.
Abortion is real. Saint Nicholas is not.
Are you going to talk about immigration in front of 6 year olds?
I will discuss, in terms a 6-year-old can understand, about illegal immigration as it relates to right and wrong and about how breaking the rules is wrong and why.
The teacher should have voiced her complaints to adults, and she should have kept quiet in the classroom in front of the kids. Period.
In your opinion.
She was wrong!!!!
Again, in your opinion.
To put it bluntly, no one forced her to take the job. If she didn't want to do the poem, she could have stopped working.
She did read the poem. She also put it into perspective, explaining it's mythical underpinnings.
How is reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" lying to kids?
All she had to do is say this is a poem that was written over 100 years ago, and it is very famous. Period. It doesn't present the poem as true. It doesn't present the poem as false.
And you're welcome to this opinion.
I don't happen to share it.
You really are going to talk to a 6 year old about abortion because it is real? I'm sorry but you are a sick person.
This is a straw-man argument.
Let's turn this around.
You're a substitute teacher. You've been given an assignment to present abortion as a normal way of family-planning (or homosexuality as a natural alternative to normal heterosexual relationships).
Do you:
1) Follow the lesson plan without question?
2) Follow the lesson plan, but explain the truth (about abortion or homosexuality)?
3) Quit.
wikipedia is not a bad place to start.
Fragment is a link to a page showing the fragment of papyrus that may be a key.
Just Google "Number of the beast 616" for other links. Most of them go to blogs, but the discussions might be of interest to you.
They don't talk about sex in kindergarten or first grade.
If I have a real problem with it, I would bring it up with the administration. I would also talk to the parents to let them know what is going on. However, I would not talk about it in the classroom.
But, I notice this fact didn't stop you from throwing up the 'abortion' strawman, did it?
Until you're ready to discuss this with even a modicum of intellectual honesty, then there's really no point in continuing.
FRegards,
Intellectual honesty???? There seems to be a group of posters that want to throw a group of kids into the middle of adult topics. The kids should not be in the middle of this period. This should have been handled out of the classroom, just like other disputes about curriculum. This is a matter between the parents and the adults that are running the school. Curriculum disputes need to be handled at the adult level, period. Kids should not be involved, especially 6 year olds.
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