#3 of 50. Birthday celebrations (and birthdays). Some religious groups do not celebrate birthdays, and are thus supposed to be “offended” by those who do. But why should children from those groups not be expected to know the language around events that most North Americans do celebrate?
Should they also not know about the origin of Presidents’ Day (the Monday nearest George Washington’s Birthday) or Martin Luther King Day (the Monday nearest his birthday)? How will that contribute to civics education?
This exclusion also presumes that groups that do not celebrate birthdays oppose those who do, a finding for which there is little evidence.
Actually, only a few people in society attempt to drive from the public square any custom they do not follow—in the words of NPR’s Scott Simon, “the kind of grumps who file lawsuits against shopping mall Santa Clauses.” How is education better off by catering to their arcane and antisocial needs? More.