What a great idea! Public schools teach about the "historical" aspects of Thanksgiving, yet omit the religious connotations of the holiday's origins.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland public school students are free to thank anyone they want while learning about the 17th century celebration of Thanksgiving (search) — as long as it's not God.
And that is how it should be, administrators say.
"We teach about Thanksgiving from a purely historical perspective, not from a religious perspective," said Charles Ridgell, St. Mary's County Public Schools curriculum and instruction director.
School administrators statewide agree, saying religion never coincides with how they teach Thanksgiving to students.
This is political correctness teetering over the abyss of insanity. Do these "educators" have even a shred of knowledge about Thanksgiving?
Too much censorship can compromise a strong curriculum, some educators said.
"Schools don't want to do anything that would influence or act against the religious preferences of their students," said Lissa Brown, Maryland State Teacher's Association assistant executive director. "But the whole subject of religious toleration is a part of our history and needs to be taught."
Mentioning that the Pilgrims were Puritan is about as close as most administrators are willing to step to integrate religion into their curriculums.
"We mention they were Puritan but students usually just understand that they had a belief system and not much more than that," said Carol Williamson, Queen Anne's County Schools' associate superintendent.
Thanksgiving is usually taught as a part of social studies and emphasizes cultural immersion.
"The Pilgrim Story is read in Spanish and English," said Alfreda Adams, principal at Mills-Parole Elementary School in Anne Arundel County where 70 Hispanic students attend. "We make sure that we celebrate all cultures."
How does one discuss the historical story of Thanksgiving, without so much as a mention of Christianity?
The Pilgrims were a Christian denomination. They put together the inaugural Thanksgiving dinner as a way of showing gratitude to God for helping them through all sorts of trials and tribulations, and to fellowship with each other and the Indians. It was their Christian beliefs that led them to such a decision. If anyone doubts this, please read William Bradford's On Plymouth Plantation. Over a century later, George Washington called upon the nation to celebrate a day of Thanksgiving, as a means of honoring God for pulling the country through the war with England. For years afterward, states celebrated their own individual Thanksgiving festivities--all within a religious context. Finally, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln instituted Thanksgiving as a national holiday, to be recognized each year. His reasons also pointed toward a recognition of God's hand in the affairs of this country. The idea that Thanksgiving may be divorced from its religious connotations is asinine, rendering the holiday meaningless. Not to mention that this flies in the face of historical fact.
That the public schools and the teachers' unions that run them can call themselves "educators" is an absolute joke. They ignore the historical raison d'etre for Thanksgiving, then claim their teaching is strictly historical. They speak of a "strong curriculum," but leave out the most integral information. They wring their hands in worry about Censorship and religious toleration--all the while excising from the story any hint of its real religious meaning. Isn't that censorship? Isn't that intolerant?
And did you catch that "celebrating all cultures" line? It's clear that the hollow halls of "education" are feeding our children sugar-coated cyanide capsules. If you really want to celebrate all cultures, don't be half-hearted about it. Just have each student draw a picture of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, George Washington, Mohammed, Jesus, communists of all sorts, capitalists, and Nazis all holding hands and playing ring-around-the-rosies in a field of buttercups. Or maybe depict them skipping down the yellow-brick road, arm-in-arm.
I like my ironies complete and fully-formed.
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