Religion

Each year at this time, teachers are faced with a dilemma: How to balance the holidays to create the most inclusive environment?

As Hanukkah comes to a close and Christmas approaches, many teachers will decorate with candy canes, glittered Christmas trees and construction-papered dreidels.

But there are more holidays being celebrated this month. 

Yesterday, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly appeared on the television show The View. There, he got into a heated discussion about building a mosque in lower Manhattan near Ground Zero with Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar. They eventually walked off the set in disgust.

This morning on Fox & Friends, host Brian Kilmeade decided to weigh in on the matter, predictably calling Goldberg and Behar cowards. He then added, “Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.”  Later, on his radio show, Kilmeade said that this was simply a “fact.”

“Will we be learning history from a biblical or counter-biblical perspective?” James asked.

I could see an intense honesty in his eyes, one that I’m pretty sure only teachers know. It was another one of those moments when my mind searched at hyper-speed for the right words. I wanted to make sure that this student felt I had given a genuine answer. I wanted him to remain connected to me and to the course.

Last week, Teaching Tolerance ran a post from an assistant principal in Illinois. Lamenting the recent spate of anti-Islamic incidents and the rising anti-Muslim rhetoric, she wrote:

I immediately wondered how to tackle this head-on as an educator. What would I say to my teachers about how to approach the subject in our history classes? How could I be a participant in a difficult conversation in which some of our Muslim students are directly affected?

In recent weeks, our country has been treated to an ugly reflection of itself. The controversy over the Islamic community center in New York City has been followed by a spate of anti-Muslim acts. They include the stabbing of a Muslim cabbie, attempted arson at a mosque in Tennessee and teens harassing Muslims at worship in upstate New York.

Among the baby pictures, reports on summer activities and other news reported by my many former students on Facebook, I saw this status update about a week ago: “… it’s good to see fear-mongers called out for spreading misinformation …” 

Last night, two children, Max and Sarah, vacationing at their grandparents’ home in Boca Raton, Florida, traveled far, far away from there. They landed in Piwniczna, a town small enough to be summed up in a single sentence on Wikipedia:

“Piwniczna-Zdrój [pivˈnit​͡ʂna ˈzdrui̯] (until 1999 Piwniczna) is a town in Nowy Sacz County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland, near the border with Slovakia, with 5,744 inhabitants (2004).”

I once had an elementary school teacher who tried a multicultural approach to the holiday season. She told my class about Hanukkah, which she described as being a kind of “Jewish Christmas.” This fascinated us until we discovered that the gift-giving aspect of Hanukkah was spread out over several days. As fans of Santa Claus, we couldn’t help thinking that Jewish kids must have it tough.