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Should Halloween be celebrated in schools?

6K views 34 replies 31 participants last post by  Baron Samedi 
#1 ·
Andrea Hermitt, the Education Examiner, has great insight into whether or not this holiday should be celebrated in schools. She says, "The fact that they had children to get dressed up to collect candy didn’t bother me within itself, but the fact that Christmas was relegated to Santa Claus and on top of it made me simmer.

"Fast forward several years, and it seems that Halloween is under attack in public schools. Perhaps the reason is just what I stated. If Christian Holidays are not welcome in school, why should any. In some cases this may be true, but you would be surprised to find out some of the reasons Halloween is banned in school."

Read more here.
 
#5 ·
well personally i think its fine mostly because most think of it as a fun holiday not about its true backround but dude i think it would be fine
if people have a problem with it then they can talk to the board but come on learning the orgin of halloween is FUNN of course im not a normal 15 year old but heck with it ;)
 
#6 ·
I remember as a child we would dress up at school on Halloween, do a costume parade, and have a lil party. Now My sons school doesn't celebrate Halloween at all. I guess because some people celebrate and some don't. They don't really even celebrate any holiday. Kinda sad actually.:(
 
#7 ·
Same here. I think it's a real shame that certain religious extremists have forced out Halloween from the school, and yet they still do Christmas.

Either ALL holidays should be banned, or none of them.
 
#9 ·
I think any holiday is fine as long as religion is kept out of it. Halloween is not a religious holiday IN MY OPINION, so I think it should be allowed. Some of my best memories of elementary school were all the different holiday parties. Someone is going to be offended no matter what religion they practice, or choose not to practice at all. The fun really gets sucked out of life when everything has to go through the political correctness meat grinder first.
 
#10 ·
When I was a kid, it was lots of fun to have the costume parade and a party.

My boys have had the same, only they chose not to participate in the costume parade at about grade 8.

It still is a big night here - thank goodness. The religious zealots haven't taken over. My youngest son still has a christmas party and christmas concert at his school. At my eldest son's school it is a little different - it is very multi cultural so a bit of everything is recognized.

Down with the no fun zealots I say!!!
 
#11 ·
Okay, I'm going to throw my 2 cents in here.

I think this is all a bunch of bunk...busy bodies who have nothing better to do with their time. They're messing with a date on the calendar (Halloween is not an official Holiday)

I'm a Christian, that being said, some of the biggest bigots and hypercrits have gone to the same churches I have.
Okay, so now people want to complain about Halloween so here's my rebuttal.

1. It is not and has never been about devil worship...read up and find out before you pass judgment!
2. Fix your own Holidays first.... a) Easter is really about the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ....so what's with the eggs and bunnies - huh? b) Christmas - celebration of the birth of Christ - i. Dec. 25 is not the true birthday, ii. Santa Clause - enough said
3. So the religious holidays are being distorted from what they really mean so we can "Not offend" anyone and to commercialize it.
4. Halloween is not part of any religion and even if it was, this country was founded on freedom of religion, speech etc.
5. I don't tell you how to spend your time and what days to celebrate and not to celebrate. I don't try to change when or how you celebrate. I expect the same treatment.

Okay, I ready to go to court over this...(can you see the steam?)

Why are we losing more and more of our freedom to the concept of having to make everyone happy?

I wish there was still some unexplored territory that we could all move to and start the "United Halloween Confederation" or something.
 
#12 ·
The biggest problem I have with school taking these things away from our kids. Is there are a lot of kids, that never get the chances, or have parties at home. I have seen so many kids where their parents will not even give them lunch money. So taking away a chance for them to cut out pumpkins, witches , Santa, or what ever, and having teachers and some parents bring in snacks. To teach these kids about social life and give them some enjoyment. Just showing them some one dose care. It is nothing short of criminal, in my opinion. Our family quit going to church, because they kept wanting to to do these kind of things. Plus they started suiting each other for control of the church?



Life is short, enjoy every moment.
 
#13 ·
:) Heck, some of the best memories I had of school was decorating the
classroom for Halloween! We always had a party and the kids were able to
wear their costumes! It was a lot of fun! And to my knowledge, not once
did the devil ever show up! All though there was one teacher.....
 
#14 ·
it's the Whiners that are doing it

When did the PC movement cross the lines of rationality….
The main cause behind the holidays being distorted is not the people changing the rules but the people demanding the rules be changed to accommodate every personal view that could possibly exist.

Halloween gets the brunt of the attacks simply because it is not a national holiday, which is kind of stupid when you look at how long it’s been celebrated in the US and how popular it is in sales figures.

Winter break includes Christmas, Chanukah and New Years, Spring break includes Passover and Easter (in most cases) and Thanksgiving gets it’s one 3-4 day weekend. Plus they get some other key ‘holidays’ off during the year, in most areas

My Idea:
If you don’t want them celebrating in school, make it a national holiday and give them the day off.
The PC people will be happy because it’s no longer in schools.
Kids will be happy cause it’s a day off.
And (about half ) the parents will be happy because they have more time to get their kids and everything else ready for the holiday.



And to answer about the Eggs and Bunnies on Easter : It’s taken from pagan rituals for celebrating spring and fertility. Christianity adopted it to help convert more people by saying ‘Hey, you can be Christian and continue your normal celebration.”
Anyhow would you really want your kid eating a chocolate Jesus?
 
#17 ·
See, this is what really makes me CrAzy o_O

When did the PC movement cross the lines of rationality….
The main cause behind the holidays being distorted is not the people changing the rules but the people demanding the rules be changed to accommodate every personal view that could possibly exist.

Halloween gets the brunt of the attacks simply because it is not a national holiday, which is kind of stupid when you look at how long it’s been celebrated in the US and how popular it is in sales figures.

Winter break includes Christmas, Chanukah and New Years, Spring break includes Passover and Easter (in most cases) and Thanksgiving gets it’s one 3-4 day weekend. Plus they get some other key ‘holidays’ off during the year, in most areas

My Idea:
If you don’t want them celebrating in school, make it a national holiday and give them the day off.
The PC people will be happy because it’s no longer in schools.
Kids will be happy cause it’s a day off.
And (about half ) the parents will be happy because they have more time to get their kids and everything else ready for the holiday.



And to answer about the Eggs and Bunnies on Easter : It’s taken from pagan rituals for celebrating spring and fertility. Christianity adopted it to help convert more people by saying ‘Hey, you can be Christian and continue your normal celebration.”
Anyhow would you really want your kid eating a chocolate Jesus?

DM, See, great minds do think alike ;)
I agree with you on all points.
When I attended elementary school, back in the 19....day, we were allowed to decorate the classrooms, wear our little costumes, and have our little Halloween parties. And the devil never once showed up, either. LOL. Well, except that one teacher...

Wow, it never ceases to amaze me how much this country has changed in the last....um....several years from when I attended school. Geez, like Dogman said, make it a national holiday already.
Everyone will be happy, both for and against *booo*hiss*you suck*get a life*booo*hissss*go bug someone else*hisssssss*
 
#16 ·
Where I live, the schools do not acknowledge Halloween. A few years ago, a poor unsuspecting new kid showed up to school in costume and got suspended! I think that's a tad bit harsh for a misunderstanding. I kind of laugh because in an effort to appease the large number of extreme right religious people who live in this area, the schools also have season parties. Celebrating seasons is a pagan thing isn't it?

I had an issue today because a person representing a local church came down my street and passed out Halloween coloring books to the kids. The story in the book was about little Timmy who didn't go to church and went trick or treating & got hit by a car & went to hell and his parents were very sad for the rest of their lives. That cooked my gourd!:mad:

To the person who doesn't eat chocolate Jesus dolls. I won't eat chocolate crosses either.
 
#22 ·
To me, Halloween is something that is celebrated for fun, so, yes, I think schools should allow it. The world is a gloomy enough place already, so why make it unnecessarily moreso?:confused: If people truly cared about children like they claim, they'd let them have a little joy in their lives, not try to rip it away.

I had an issue today because a person representing a local church came down my street and passed out Halloween coloring books to the kids. The story in the book was about little Timmy who didn't go to church and went trick or treating & got hit by a car & went to hell and his parents were very sad for the rest of their lives. That cooked my gourd!:mad:
If that's not a hypocrite, I don't know what is. How would that moron like it if someone came into their church and passed out coloring books encouraging atheism and stating reasons why there's no such thing as God? Why can't people just respect others and their beliefs (or lack of), instead of turning it into a case of who's right and who's wrong?
 
#19 ·
I can always remember being told as a child that "halloween is a silly American custom, it'll never catch on in the UK"....I was one of those kids who found this hugly amusing, and made a point of memorising passages from the encyclopaedia (yes, one of those kids) to recite to them.

My mum used to stand back and just grin as I started to rant. She'd only get involved if they shut the door on me LOL. I think the world needs more of my mother :)

I don't ever remember it being a part of school life though, except for when we lived on Army camps, who had families from all over the globe and got involved in everything to keep everyone happy. It was great, and had a nice community spirit.
 
#21 ·
" The Dogman", you are so right! Having studied many religions I can tell you that many symbols in Christianity are of pagan origin (lord forbid you tell them that!). As i'm sure many followers of this forum are aware of. I think those busy bodies need to stay the hell away from my rights and freedom!

I for one am lucky though, my children's school does let them celebrate holidays. For Halloween they have a costume party. They learn how to respect other families beliefs as well. Participation is not manditory, but pretty much every student participates.

Our kids only have so long to enjoy the simple things in life without dealing with it's harsh responsibilities. I'll be damned if anyone tries to take that away from them!!
 
#23 ·
As a parent, I've always taught my (now grown up) children respect and tolerance for all people, regardless of ethnicity, religion, sexual persuasion or anything else that makes the human race the diverse species that it is...

Unfortunately, it now seems that tolerance and respect only work one way nowadays. :(

As a family, we enjoy Christmas. I haven't heard too many people crying for it to be banned because of the amount of people injured in drunken brawls or getting themselves into huge pits of debt due to the pressure put upon them to provide expensive gifts.
 
#25 ·
Good discussion all around. I have no problem with people celebrating Halloween in school. I did as a youngster. We'd bring our favorite candy bars in snack size and put one in each halloween bucket that was decorated by us. That was the extent of it. Costumes were allowed; in fact, encouraged!

We didn't sit in a circle and call upon spirits from beyond the grave and engage in pagan rituals. At that age, none of us were ever able to sit still.

Although, I've always tried to understand all sides of an argument even if those seem unbelievable. At the end of it, instead of wiping out the entire holiday, I think parents should just decide for themselves whether or not they want their child participating. Don't write the school board and demand they stop having Halloween parties. Just keep your child home that day or something.
 
#26 ·
If I recall my history. The pilgrams came to this country running from religious persecution. They came here so they could practice their religions the way they wanted to. They did not force their beliefs on others. All of this talk is because of a small phrase that says keep religion seperate from state. No where does is say keep God seperate from state. So should we stop celebrating the 4th of July because Christians declaired our independence from England........ I am sorry that you think my impression of a witch is offensive to you. But you offend me if you think I would delibratly do something to offend another person. Too many people are self centered and think the actions of others is somehow directed at them. Some people have a problem looking at halloween haunts. I have a problem watching the move "The pation of Christ" the brutality scared the crap out of me. Good God watching the News scares the crap out of me......Some one get me my meds!!!!
 
#27 ·
Public schools are a joke nowadays anyway. Let them become the primer gray meat grinder they are, and show your kids and their friends how to properly celebrate halloween(I trust we all do that already).

My folks and I throw a halloween bash and haunted hayride each year for our Church, so we know the kiddies have a place to come trick-or-treat, carve pumpkins and get the living daylights scared out of them, and the proceeds go to the church youth program, so everybody's happy.
 
#28 ·
Halloween was tons of fun when I was in elementary school (some 30 yrs ago!). We had huge Halloween carnivals (now called fall festivals) complete with haunted houses and tons of carnival games with "halloween" prizes. We would have small halloween parties in the classroom as well. My son started school last yr and his teacher did throw a Halloween Party. Only one child stayed home (because they don't do Halloween). The rest of the kids were there and had a great time. However, his teacher this yr didn't do anything for Halloween so I guess it depends on the teacher. I think it's silly to not do halloween. What do these people think actually goes on?
 
#29 ·
Luckily, we have not yet succumbed to the level of anti-Halloween hysteria to hit the U.S.

Here are some samples of Halloween activities going on in the UK:

Belmont - Mill Hill Preparatory School - News & Events

Halloween - Facts about Halloween in England - History and Customs for Kids

Pictures from Sandaig

Halloween Horrors Craft School Workshops - Caldicot Castle & Country Park - South Wales website - E&A Details

Looking at the business figures, just under $4billion in 2005, nearly $5 billion in 2006, over $6billion in 2008, I suspect there is little chance of Halloween dying out in the US.

I am always surprised why Halloween is more popular in the US than the UK, especially when its origins are clearly European.

But as long as there are groups like us, then it shouldn't die out, unless there is an anti-Halloweenist 4th Reich in the New World Order!!
 
#30 ·
Interesting figures, Iffy.
I wonder what the corresponding spend is here in the UK?

I think what we have to bear in mind is that although the actual festival of Halloween is originally a European/Gaelic celebration, the Halloween that most of us know (and love) is clearly an American development. I also believe that much of the anti-Halloween sentiment on this side of the Atlantic is based on the unruly and anti-social behaviour of a small minority of teenagers rather than any religious fervour. (My local store will not sell flour or eggs to under 18's throughout the month of October, for example).

As for a anti-Halloweenist 4th reich..I wouldn't speak too loud if I were you. Our present government seems intent on doing away with anything that may be perceived as remotely enjoyable...:(
 
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