Nothing has Changed...

...politicians, beauracrats and social in-activists are still trying to sanitize the world to meet their personalities; ie: no choc. milk in schools, etc.

Comment: How the Toronto school board sterilized Halloween


Posted: October 29, 2008, 3:43 PM by Rob Roberts

Comment by David Menzies

Forget about the War on Christmas. The mavens of political correctness have a new target in their crosshairs: Halloween.

A case in point: the Toronto District School Board has several “concerns” with respect to the imagery – and even the foodstuffs – associated with All Hallow’s Eve. In fact, some schools in Toronto and elsewhere now refer to Halloween as “Black and Orange Day,” fearing the H-word itself will be as potentially offensive to certain groups as Christmas may be for some non-Christians. The TDSB’s Halloween policy is outlined in its 2008 Teaching Resource for Dealing with Controversial and Sensitive Issues in Toronto District School Board Classrooms. This document, dripping with spine-tingling bureaucratese, outlines six reasons why Halloween isn’t as fun as you might think.

For instance:

1. “Halloween is a religious day of significance for Wiccans and therefore should be treated respectfully.”

According to Kurt MacIntosh, the TDSB’s supervising principal of equity and inner city, nobody knows how many students of the Wiccan faith attend Toronto schools. Nor have complaints been quantified.

2. “Peer and social/media consumer pressures target all children and their families as consumers of costumes, makeup, food products, etc. Many students and their families can feel this socio-economic marginalization keenly.”

The TDSB is on to something here. Indeed, my six-year-old son, Sean, was planning on dressing up as Iron Man this year. But since money is too tight to mention, Sean realized Dad wouldn’t be able to afford repulsor ray gloves or a pair of jet-propulsion boots. “Daddy, forget about buying me a costume this year,” Sean said the other day. “I just realized social/media consumer pressures are fueling my desire to dress-up as a superhero. I’ll stay at home on Black and Orange Day this year so that you don’t feel any socio-economic marginalization, keenly or otherwise.”

3. “The images and icons associated with consumer-oriented Halloween can come into conflict with some students’ and their families’ religious beliefs.”

Does dressing up as a zombie mock the resurrection of Christ? In any event, the TSDB’s MacIntosh notes that “tombstones, the trivialization of death, and gore” are offensive to both Christians and Muslims. Still, if a devout [fill in religion here] student was offended by Halloween celebrations – or, more accurately, if the parents of that student were offended – wouldn’t it make more sense for that pupil to stay home on Oct. 31 rather than alter Halloween celebrations for the entire student body?

4. “The food products that are marketed heavily during the Halloween period can come into conflict with students’ and their families’ dietary habits.”

Certainly this is the biggest red herring put forth by the anti-Halloween camp. Since “offensive” food products are marketed all year long, surely it is within the bailiwick of parents to control such foodstuffs. Besides, Halloween fun at our strictly peanut-free schools involves dressing up, not consuming copious quantities of conflicting candies.

5. “Some students have had first-hand traumatic experiences of violence that make talking about death, ghosts, etc., extremely alienating.”

The TDSB has no tangible evidence to support the position that a rubber werewolf mask might “alienate” or “traumatize” a child who has previously experienced violence. Are we to assume children who have experienced trauma are forever incapable of embracing make-believe fun on Halloween?

6. “Many recently arrived students in our schools share no background cultural knowledge of trick-or-treating or the commercialization of death as ‘fun.’”

Forget Halloween. Surely “recently arrived students” have no cultural knowledge of Canadian history, the lyrics to the national anthem, or for that matter, the delayed offside rule in hockey. Isn’t it incumbent upon teachers to, well, teach the kids about Canadian culture?

Halloween is all about kids from all cultures and faiths dressing up and having fun. The TDSB appears to be basing its policy paper more on phantom concerns than quantifiable complaints.

Happy Black and Orange Day, nevertheless.

COMMENTS

READ MORE: Toronto schools chief defends board’s Halloween sensitivity policy.