Today is Martin Luther King Day. We were supposed to be off school today for the holiday. However, since we had a snow day before Christmas, we had to come to school today as a make-up day. I don't mind making up days...I completely understand the need to be in school for the required number of days, etc. What really burns me up is that the first day we "lose" is Martin Luther King Day.
The idea behind today is to celebrate the life and contributions to society of a great man...a man whose legacy is equality for everyone. I (for one) am trying to teach my students the importance of treating everyone equally (and I know I'm not the only teacher who is doing so). I'm trying to expose the kids here in this small, predominately white community to other cultures and the struggles other people have had to endure. Granted, I know that if we were off today, our students probably wouldn't be doing any activities related to honoring and celebrating Dr. King's life.... I just think it's a bad idea to take away this holiday. It's almost as if we're telling the kids that this is an "OPTIONAL HOLIDAY", that it isn't as important as other days. Probably this thought has never entered the minds of the powers that be. Who knows? I just think I'd rather make up days at the end of the year...
Well, at least I was able to do several activites today that (hopefully) taught my kids how important Dr. King was to the Civil Rights Movement. I just remember that when I was a student here growing up, no one ever taught me about the struggles that African-Americans had to face even after the Civil War ended and slavery was abolished. When I left here and moved to a bigger city, and taught in predominately black schools, I learned so much...from the other teachers and even from the students. I know that I'll never completely understand the discrimination and injustice the way that my colleagues there did, but it's my goal to teach my students here about respect and tolerance...
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