Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year… Should teachers recognize it in the classroom?

Today we are seeing more teachers take a multicultural approach to teaching children. Some teachers have opted to include honoring certain religious holidays throughout the year. As long as it is integrated into a county or state approved curriculum, this is considered student learning and is not an infringement of the Establishment clause. But, is it okay to teach watered down versions of a faith.. or does that destroy the very essence of what a faith is?

Thanks for your thoughtful answers.

Top 4 Answers

A few days ago

Andy J

Favorite Answer

If you teach about “x” religion, people of a, b, c, etc religions will complain about being excluded. Even a year long religious studies class can barely scratch the surface on world religions. There’s just no time for it in public K thru 12. They can’t teach each religion equally, so they exclude each religion equally.

A few days ago

locusfire

See, in music we sing religious music all the time, and the argument, which has been very effective nationally is that there is very little music written before the 20th century for choirs that isn’t religious. The excuse has become that if it serves a cultural value, it’s ok, and if some people choose not to do it because of its religious value, that’s ok too.

As to watered down versions, most everything we teach is watered down. We don’t create knowledge in children, we create prior knowledge in them so when they become 20 years old, and interested, they have starting points to learn from. You won’t truly be able to teach Rosh Hashana to someone who doesn’t already know it, you’ll only be able to help the kids know that it exists, and maybe a couple of facts about it which most will forget till they need to know it. But you still make it part of their reality that it does exist, and that is 3/4ths of a teachers job.

A few days ago

Pinwheel_Lightning

I actually do believe that Rosh Hashana should be taught in the classroom such as Chinese New Year is taught. It can show many aspects of others religions and it can be a great lesson for children of all races and religions. Also, it is okay to teach watered down versions of the faith, as long as you teach the basics and the ground religion. This is a very good idea!

A few days ago

Meredith C

As an educator- I’ve seen it swing both ways- had a radical right Christian mom change the way we plan for example- Now its “Happy Fall Ya’ll” instead of Halloween parties because SHE believed Halloween was evil!

Where does it stop? We have kids who come to school with no coat, no breakfast, no has looked at their homework and now you want me to worry about another religious holiday? Faith is practiced at home by the family- it comes to school in bits and pieces just like it goes to work- let it alone and let the kids learn math, science, language, art, music, technology, geography, history etc. at public school…

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Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year… Should teachers recognize it in the classroom?

Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year… Should teachers recognize it in the classroom?

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