In my daughter’s backpack yesterday came this notice…
Dear Families,
Happy Spring! Hopefully you will have lovely weather this special weekend. This year, we have decided not to make special gifts for Mother’s and Father’s Day. The composition of families has changed over the past few years. In order to be sensitive to the needs of all children, we have decided to forego a formal acknowledgement of these upcoming holidays.
We hope that every day brings you the love of family and friends. Wishing you our best,
First Grade Teachers
What are these new family compositions? Are there that many kids being raised by wolves these days? Divorce rates have been high for generations. Single parent families are nothing new. Relatives and grandparents raising children is nothing new. For those few children not being raised by even a single parent or relative, why couldn’t they make something special for whoever it is that is raising them? Let’s diminish the role of parents and change the rules for the vast majority of children to accomodate the rare exceptions. All this worry about offending the few offends the many.
I expect these educators will be consistent with this policy and its implementation. Next holiday coming up is Memorial Day. They won’t be celebrating war will they? We have to Give Peace a Chance. Columbus Day…how could they celebrate that mass murderer! Good thing July 4 is during the summer vacation. There might be students with British relatives who are still bitter over the way things turned out. Wouldn’t want to offend them, if they’re out there. Certainly, there will be no mention of Halloween at school for that could, potentially, someday, maybe, offend a practicing Wicca. Christmas, forget about it. Thanksgiving? Wouldn’t want to offend any American Indian students. President’s Day? With all the war crimes they have committed over the years, from Truman to Bush. No way.
Who doesn’t love political correctness?