I love Christmas time, the snow on the ground, baking cookies, and decorating the Christmas tree. But Christmas is a religion specific holiday. So how do schools decorate for the holiday season when students and staff celebrate so many different holidays based on religion or beliefs? Well the answer is most schools just don’t.

But I believe that schools should decorate for holidays. From the perspective of a student, many students are more likely to participate when school is engaging and fun, and decorations can help add that element. But there should be diversity in the decorations, there should be traditional decorations from Christmas, Kwanzaa, Diwali and all the other holidays students and staff celebrate. It is important that students know they can have their own beliefs. But it’s also important that they are exposed to and learn about different cultures and traditions. This can also help to prevent discrimination against people with different beliefs than them because they will be more educated and

Many people think that schools should not have decorations for different holidays because it can offend people that don’t celebrate that holiday, or make kids feel like their traditions are being left out and less important. For example, in an opinion article by an anonymous teacher, she argues that while it won’t hurt students who don’t celebrate Christmas to look at Christmas trees in the classroom, they are already constantly reminded that their beliefs are not the culturally dominant ones in this country. She also argues that you cannot celebrate holidays meaningfully in a school setting.

While there is a possibility that kids or teachers might feel this way, there is a solution. There can be after school clubs where kids can get together and plan decorations for their holiday. Or teachers can create a club and offer for students to join, or even just decorate their classroom or office space. If students feel like their religion is not being represented they can take action and decorate in support of their holiday or religious beliefs. This would help kids learn to take action regarding their beliefs in a positive way and do something if they are not feeling represented. So overall exposing students to new things and giving them the chance to learn about different traditions people celebrate will create well rounded students for a better school community.