- Joined
- Feb 16, 2008
- Messages
- 10,443
- Reaction score
- 4,479
- Location
- Western NY and Geneva, CH
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Other
The break isn't for Christmas exactly though. Not now anyway. We can justify the Christmas break from the very fact that there are going to be a number of students and staff that are simply not going to come to school on Christmas. But if you only have one or two students or staff out of a 300 student school not coming in because of some other holiday, then it would be pointless to close school to accommodate such a small percentage of those at the school. It would be a waste of time. It doesn't matter what the religion was the holiday was important to.
If I plan to keep my kids home from school on "Talk Like a Pirate Day", should the school shutdown on that day just because I personally feel that it is important to my religious beliefs? But what if half the school was going to do this and told the school as such beforehand? Then should the school be shutdown? Having a small percentage of students not in class would only mean ensuring those few students are filled in. But having half the class or more absent means that there is a very good chance that the teacher will have to reteach the entire day anyway just to ensure the class doesn't fall behind.
Publish a syllabus, announce the schedule for any and all tests, homework assignments, and term papers at the beginning of the academic year, hold students responsible for assimilating content whether they're in school or not, and then you won't need to worry about cancelling classes because of mass absenteeism.