Did you all hear/read the "controversy" about some school systems no longer having Good Friday as a day off? Rather than having to then close on all the main Jewish and Muslim holy days in fairness, some of the school systems have just said, basically, fuck it. We hold school and if your religious beliefs don't allow you to attend on that particular day, we won't penalize you. Which, to me, seems like the best course of action if you don't want the actual school year to extend into July.
However, one Boston area school system which tried that plan out for two or three years has gone back to not holding classes on Good Friday. Why? you ask. Well, it seems that last year 60% of the teachers took the day off.
Excuse me. If 60% of the teachers in that town are devout Catholics who actually spent Good Friday afternoon at Stations of the Cross, I will eat my friggin' keyboard.
So I guess we're back to my favorite rant about how no one has any sense of responsibility any more. You don't feel like going to work and dealing with the little brats? Oooo, all of a sudden, you're religious. You're pissed because that always used to be a day off and now it isn't? Oooo, I feel a conversion coming on.
I'd have made them all bring a note from their priest if I were running things.
xoxo
3 comments:
Do Protestants not do the Good Friday thing?
You Christians have such weird rituals I can never keep track of who does what when.
When I went to Greece in August, the first day I was there everything was closed... Turns out it was the Feast of the Assumption, which in Greece they apparently take about as seriously as Christmas and Easter, with everyone heading back to their home villages and every store shut down.
(According to Wikipedia Eastern Orthodox actually celebrate the Dormition of the Theotokos, which is religiously different from an Assumption, but it still relates to Mary's death and they happen to celebrate it on the same day, which works out fine for the Greeks.)
I wonder if it wasn't even that the teachers were just pissed they no longer had the day off, but rather that they were used to having that day to drive to the grandparents for Easter, and that had been pulled out from under them so they took it anyway?
In Brookline and, I think, Newton, they definitely have days off for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and they may also have a couple other Jewish holidays off (like the beginning of Passover)... and I'm sure they have the standard Christian holidays off. Doesn't seem to do them any harm, nor does the school year seem to go any longer there than anywhere else...
You know, if those of you in Massachusetts just got rid of your bizarre school Winter Vacation this wouldn't be a problem at all. ;) But frankly, I think your "school is held, not penalized for not showing up" is the preferred approach. Worked fine for me when I was in school.
1.) I don't think Protestants do Stations of the Cross, though I'm willing to be corrected on that.
And the last time I went to Stations of the Cross (7-8 years ago--my niece was playing Jesus :-)) it was at night anyways. I think they don't even do it (or only do it) at the traditional hour any more, b/c they realize *people gotta work and they can't attend in the daytime.*
Now, theologically, at least in the Catholic tradition, you are supposed to spend the hours between 12 and 3 on Good Friday, if not at church, at least in quiet contemplation. So, y'know, theoretically they could dismiss school at 11:30 like they do the day before Thanksgiving and not offend anyone's religious beliefs. So the kids and teachers could all go home and quietly pray and meditate. Um, yeah.
2.)Easter isn't a big travel holiday. People who want to visit the grandparents out of state wait till April vacation(which of course may or may not correlate w/ Easter or Passover on any given year.)
3.)Peabody has the Jewish holidays off too. They do go a little later in the year than neighboring schools.
The sacred cow would be Christmas, and Good Friday's just the warm-up.
Religion is a dangerous topic about which to have opinions, (just ask Mr. Obama's spiritual advisor), and the *right* answer (which is to ban the fuck out of all of them) is the one that'll never be adopted here. Until then, separation and fairness doctrines would seem to suggest not observing any of the holidays is the right middle ground, lest we all be celebrating Festivus.
The RIGHT holiday to insist everyone celebrate is Patriots Day, which is not "Patriot" day without the "s" the way Dubya abominated it in absence of his dictionary which would have explained to him the difference between patriots and martyrs and just some random folks at work at the wrong place at the wrong time.
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood"...
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