A Most Thoughtful Pause
Vodkamom has a post about being a teacher this time of year.
We did this in a friendly, thoughtful and caring way, through discussions that came up in our rooms. They weren’t directed by any policies, mandates, or outlined in any directive by the school district. They happened naturally and beautifully.
That passage in particular made me cry. We’ve over-PC’d our children right out of the most amazing experience of discovering new and exciting things about other people and other cultures because we aren’t allowed to share stories organically, but rather are forced to present lessons on other cultures and traditions and religions. Give a child a chance to be fascinated by someone else’s stories and their curiosity will be piqued. Make them sit and listen to a “lesson on culture” and you lose their interest.
My wish for teachers everywhere is to be able to go back to the days when you could have Christmas and Hanukkah decorations in the classrooms, could take the time to sit and listen to the children share, and when it was okay to hand the teacher a bottle of vodka for their first dinner cocktail of Christmas break.
Merry Christmas, teachers! Y’all rock!