Recently, the New York City Council voted to recognize two Muslim holidays, Id al-Fitr and Id al-Adha, as school holidays. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is threatening to veto the motion. He argues that the school year is too short already, and the one Council Member who voted against it sees it as a slippery slope to excessive holidays for every religious group. Although there are those who see this as a divide-and-conquer tactic, with Mayor Bloomberg attempting to get Jewish votes by disenfranchising Muslims, such an opinion shows no knowledge of the dynamics of the NY Jewish community, who overwhelming support the motion, or the Mayor’s outreach to the Muslim community in NY.
Although many Muslims and Muslim-American groups are lobbying for this, I think Mayor Bloomberg is absolutely right. The holidays are on a lunar schedule, meaning they shift about 11 solar days a year. As a teacher, I do not need the hassle of re-jigging my syllabus every year. In addition, because the holidays are based on moon sightings, you automatically privilege one community of Muslims over others, depending on how they sight the moon or calculate months.
As a student in a NY public school, I had to arrange for all three Ids off—yes there is a third Id, Id-e Ghadir, that many Muslims celebrate. Now, NYC wants to decide which Islam is a good Islam and which is not. However, it was a bonding experience for all the Muslim students at my school. Fighting the admittedly accommodating administration was a way we created community. It set us apart from other students.
Mayor Bloomberg claims he is ready to make unpopular decisions. Let him. Deny the Id holidays, and take a stand for the first amendment. Deny all religious holidays. Stop days off for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Christmas, and Easter. Either extend the school year, move to a quarter system, or move school vacation away from holy-days. If Mayor Bloomberg is willing to take this stand, then he is proving what a leader he is, and while it might be a bitter pill, no one will argue that he is not principled. Anything else just reeks of politics.
Tags: eid al-adha, eid al-fitr, holidays, id al-adha, id al-fitr, islam, mayor bloomberg, new york, new york city
The equitable and appropriate multi-cultural solution is to refuse to endorse universal religious holidays. Jewish holidays should be removed from the calendar, as they including them is a form of racist privilege. The abomination of Christmas, too, should be excluded and the myth that it is "secular." But of course, that wouldn't be good for commerce.
One of the reasons that religious groups fight for recognition of their holidays in the school calendar is because of the burden that it places on children who otherwise miss regular school time. There needs to be a middle ground. Remove religion-based holidays from the school calendar, but protect children who take those days off as "personal days" from tests, quizzes or other grade-affecting assignments. Offer make up classes when children who do take off for those days can cover material that they missed in class.
The equitable and appropriate multi-cultural solution is to refuse to endorse universal religious holidays.
When I was a kid, I did not expect the entire school to close down during the Jewish High Holy Days, when I chose to stay home and worship with my family. My school taught me, thank God, the importance of the separation of church and state. No religious holidays should be recognized by schools; all that need be done is allow students to stay home on important holidays, and make sure they are not penalized for it, such as by having those absences count against a maximum number of allowed absences. Mayor Bloomberg needs to go one step further and abolish all school holidays based on religion.
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