I write this column the day after St. Patrick’s Day. I spent
Sunday making dozens of cupcakes decorated with green sprinkles and
baking three Irish soda breads. My daughter baked her own Irish
soda bread; it makes her feel connected to her Irish heritage.
I write this column the day after St. Patrick’s Day. I spent Sunday making dozens of cupcakes decorated with green sprinkles and baking three Irish soda breads. My daughter baked her own Irish soda bread; it makes her feel connected to her Irish heritage.
She is eagerly awaiting a summer trip to Ireland with her cousins, her uncle and her grandmother. In our house, we celebrate many holidays and traditions due to the fact that our ancestry is rich and varied. Each adds something to the whole, and all are valued.
On St. Patrick’s Day, the Gilroy Unified School District makes the mistake of attempting to throw a bone to the Irish among us. This year, they had a special breakfast of green eggs and ham.
Now I don’t know whose idea this was, but it has nothing to do with Ireland and everything to do with Dr. Seuss. Green eggs and ham is a fun idea, but it has no cultural connection with the celebration of Irish heritage.
In the GUSD strategic plan for diversity, it states that “we will create an environment within which students and staff accept and respect diversity.” It also says that “our cultural inheritance is the well spring of our values.” I believe the district is committed to diversity, but they do an abysmal job of communicating that message to the general population. Here is a related example:
In December, Brownell held a band and choir concert with a holiday theme. The choir sang an assortment of secular songs, and then a Hanukkah song. After this, some students lit a menorah the way one would light a birthday cake, and proceeded to blow out the candles on the menorah when the song ended.
This is an affront to Jewish tradition, in which the flames are to be kept burning. Then the choir took a short break, we were told, “so that we can roll out the manger.” I nearly fell out of my chair. My youngest daughter looked at me and said “I thought Brownell was a public school.” She loves the manger; she just knows that its place is in the home or inside a church. I believe they briefly mentioned Kwanzaa, but didn’t quite get around to mangling the kinara.
Our schools are full of children from many different ethnic and religious belief systems.
If we are to celebrate them all, let’s do it right. If we don’t know how to do it, ask for help. Some of our teachers are ignorant even when it comes to current history. My daughter wears a shirt that says PEACE on it. One of her teachers questioned her position on the impending war with Iraq.
When she said she was opposed, he informed her that Iraq had bombed the World Trade Center. She tells me “don’t worry mom, he is clueless.” I am relieved that he is not her history teacher.
Next year, when planning something for St. Patrick’s Day, I have a few suggestions. For younger students, read the story of Finn McCool or a selection of Irish folktales. For high school students, perhaps a guest speaker on the “Starving” (previously known as the Potato Famine) might be in order. Green eggs and leprechauns are an insulting way to honor Irish heritage.
