Religion Carleen McGillick Carleen McGillick carleen.mcgillick@asu.edu Carleen McGillick

With the schools of the city of Tempe as a microcosm for the nation at large, this investigative article covers the inclusion or exclusion of religious holidays in elementary school curriculum and activities. The article includes voices from the local public school district, a local non-religiously-affiliated private school and a local parochial school to round out the perspective.

TEMPE – Religious holidays like Easter and Passover are silent as lambs at public and private elementary schools unaffiliated with a religion in Tempe, Ariz., but they are loud as lions at local private parochial schools. Private elementary schools affiliated with a religion immerse students in information and activities based on that religion’s holidays. But these holidays slip by virtually without mention at unaffiliated private and public schools. Twenty years ago, schools “did holiday crafts” and called winter break “Christmas break,” said Suzanne Woodford, principal at Dobson Montessori Elementary and Junior High School, a Tempe private school unaffiliated with any religion. “That was how things were done,” Woodford said in an e-mail. “But I soon came to realize that children come from a wide variety of different backgrounds with different religions and beliefs.” Dobson Montessori School and the public schools in the Tempe Elementary School District do not officially recognize or commemorate any religious holidays, school and district officials said. But students are excused from school without penalty to observe religious holidays as defined by their parents. Classes “have celebratory activities related to seasons” like spring and winter instead of religious holidays like Easter or Passover and Eid al-Adha or Christmas, said Gary Aungst, the director of community affairs and marketing for Tempe Elementary School District. While “cultural awareness is an important part of learning,” religious holidays are not presented in Tempe public schools’ curriculum even for educational purposes, Aungst said in an e-mail. “Many schools do have multicultural fairs, but they are not religiously based.” In a stark contrast, parochial schools trumpet their religion’s holidays. “Since we are a private Christian school, we teach the children the Christian beliefs about Christmas, Easter and Passover,” said Jeanine Simpkins, principal of Bethany Christian School. The school is closed on Good Friday and calls “the break in December ‘Christmas break,’” Simpkins said in an e-mail. Teachers are free to incorporate both religious and secular elements of holidays in class lessons and crafts at this elementary school in Tempe. “We allow both religious – specifically, Christian – and secular observances of holidays – hiding eggs, decorating Christmas trees and talk of Santa,” Simpkins added. Holiday celebrations include religious services, Bible class instruction, caroling, theatrical performances and a concert in December, Simpkins said. “Some classes have Easter egg hunts.” Conversely, unaffiliated Dobson Montessori School also holds a school-wide concert in December for which “students present songs and musical numbers, but none of these are Christmas songs,” Woodford said. About 78 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christian. Of the remaining Americans, 1.7 percent identify themselves as Jewish; 4 percent belong to all other religions, including Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and others, each constituting less than 1 percent. The remaining 16 percent do not identify themselves with a particular religion, according to 2007 estimates by the CIA World Factbook. Still, schools in the Tempe Elementary School District do not acknowledge any religious-based holidays, Aungst said. The same is true for private unaffiliated schools like Dobson Montessori School. Although “no religious holidays are celebrated,” curriculum does “include the study of religions as part of our cultural studies,” Woodford said. Through “world tours,” literature studies, research projects and guest speakers, students learn “the culture, holidays and religion of the countries presented.” These “cultural studies teach tolerance, understanding and respect for those who may be different from ourselves,” she said. “We do not have Christmas trees or Easter bunnies unless these are presented with a lesson on symbols or icons of religious beliefs, in which case you’d find Shiva, a menorah, a dream catcher, a yin yang and a smiling Buddha on display, too,” Woodford added. She believes the practice of honoring certain holidays and not others doesn’t belong in modern multicultural schools. “What does it say to a six-year-old Hindu child to have to make a Christmas tree ornament for his mom to fulfill his school assignments?” Woodford said. “How could adults force one holiday celebration on a child when we are supposed to be exposing children to facts, not opinions?” 2009-04-19 20:12:09 UTC 2010-02-07 04:33:28 UTC