NJ's schools to ban teaching about holidays??
 

WTF? If you're going to not teach about the holiday, then IMO if it isn't worth the time to discuss, it isn't worth the time to call a holiday.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/01....ap/index.html


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TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- For World War II veteran Sam Stia, a legislative proposal that would cease requiring New Jersey schools to teach about Veterans Day and Memorial Day can be summed up in two words.

"That's wrong," Stia, 83, said Thursday from his Hamilton home, where he flies an American flag at half-staff to honor fallen soldiers. "We're just giving our flag away and our patriotism away."

Stia and other veterans are steamed about the proposal, which the state lawmakers unanimously passed last month and now awaits action by the governor. It was included as part of a larger measure designed to help control property taxes, mostly by abolishing some laws on school purchasing and public hearings.

Other holidays about which schools no longer would be required to teach include Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, Arbor Day and Commodore Barry Day, which commemorates Revolutionary War hero John Barry.

New Jersey schools must observe the holidays under a 1967 law designed to promote "the development of a higher spirit of patriotism." Florida, Nebraska and Washington are among states with similar laws.

New Jersey American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars groups have asked Governor Jon S. Corzine to veto the bill so schools still have to teach about Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

"It's not right. They're not going to know the sacrifices that were made so they can enjoy the protections that they have," said Hank Adams, New Jersey VFW adjutant and an Army and Coast Guard veteran.

The governor hasn't decided how to proceed. "We're reviewing that bill," Corzine spokesman Anthony Coley said.

The law wouldn't ban schools from holding holiday commemorations. But requiring schools to honor the days guarantees children would learn about veterans, said Ray Zawacki, department adjutant for the American Legion of New Jersey.

"If it wasn't for veterans, we wouldn't have been able to maintain the freedoms the Constitution provided to us," said Zawacki, a Vietnam War Navy veteran.

Zawacki said schools frequently ask his and other veterans groups to send speakers into schools before the holidays.

But state Senator John Adler, a sponsor of the bill, cited a 2004 report by a state commission that recommended giving schools more flexibility to decide holiday observations. He questioned whether schools even bother to recognize the holidays.

"I don't believe that most schools fulfill the spirit of the law and the mandate," he said.

Adler said he understood and respected the veterans' concerns, but argued curriculum, not state mandates, should drive instruction.

"I don't think the state should be in the business of telling districts to do every single thing," he said.

New Jersey school officials support the bill.

"It's simply time and flexibility," said Mike Yaple, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association. "There's nothing in the legislation that can undermine the amount of pride and honor a community feels toward their veterans."

I heard about this yesterday. Are they saying the schools shouldn't observe the holiday or they they shouldn't teach about the holidays? Why not just ban teaching American History and while they're at it, lose the flag. :confused:

L - exactly!! Just more of the "we don't really need an identity because identities upset people" approach to everything in the US. I think this is symbolic of a larger issue, one in which in an effort to "define ourselves" we lose all appreciation for how/why you are where you are. You would think when your country is in a war the last thing legislatures would be discussing is how to avoid discussing Veterans and Memorial day. I'm curious what the reaction would have been had they offered to ignore Martin Luther King Jr. Day, just a thought.

Wonder where Eric will take this one :rofl:
:popcorn:

From reading the article (I don't have other sources), they are saying neither. They are saying that the state shouldn't dictate curriculum. That is the opposite tact to banning teaching history. They seem to want the school boards to fulfill their mandate to decide curriculum.

Just my $0.02

My people will never let them stop teaching about Columbus Day in Jersey!

The way I read the article is that the bill removes the mandatory requirement. It doesn't prohibit the teaching about Veterans Day. IMO, the regional school boards should dictate curriculum not state laws. Do you have a state law to say trigonometry has to be taught?

LOL ...