The Inequality of Religious Exemptions in Public School
Across the United States, public schools take days off for Christian holidays such as Christmas, Easter, and Good Friday, allowing families to celebrate. Students are given approximately two weeks off for Christmas break and are normally given an additional week leading up to Easter. Although some counties are renaming “Christmas break” to “winter break” in order to detach it from the religion, it doesn’t take away from the fact that certain people are given the time off to celebrate without consideration of other religions and cultures. While this is beneficial because about 70.6% of Americans are Christian and celebrate these holidays, other faiths are excluded from having the same courtesy. I talked to Mira Walter, a student at Dunwoody High school. She explained that although they used to get one day off for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, she doesn’t think that they get any days off this year. Schools should be responsible for accommodating days off for holidays that other students and staff celebrate or observe.
Recognizing other religious holidays is an important aspect in respecting America’s diverse communities. Although having a broader range of holidays can make it harder to fit inside school schedules, society has progressed to the point where it should be a goal to give other cultures days off, or at least recognize them. Not only is there a biased construct of inequality towards religious holidays, but students feel pressure to choose between school and their religion in some circumstances. When I asked Mira about this, she explained that sometimes she thinks, “Maybe I should just go to school cause it's not worth it.” Even though many schools accept religious holidays as an excused absence, students are frequently unable to observe their religion’s holiday due to obligations in school. If it is not a day off for the whole school, they risk missing important information and classes, causing them to do make-up work and fall behind. This often happens to Mira, “Teachers aren't willing to re-explain it and I have to catch myself up.” She explained that this was especially a struggle during the big group of jewish holidays in september. The increase of workload, in turn, increases the stress students already feel. This puts them at a disadvantage for simply wanting to celebrate their faith.
The solution to this problem is not clear, as too many holidays will mean not as many school days, but for schools that close at the sight of a single snowflake, it's senseless not to assign more days off for religious absences.