Here you will also find resources for special occasions such as the 100th day of school, Children's Book Week, Pi Day, and many others. Advertisement Lunar New Year, celebrated in January or February and is the biggest holiday of the year in Chinese and Korean culture. Not only does it give the days off to Muslim and Jewish students, but it brings increased awareness to the holidays celebrated by other faiths. Picower pointed to New York City schools, which this year gave students a day off for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. It also helps to ensure that public schools remain neutral and do not endorse, promote or denigrate any particular denomination or custom. MPR News Staff January 28, 2016, 9:18 AM Jan 28, 2016. Click the links below to find teaching resources for a wide variety of holidays and celebrations. 36. That figure includes 48% who feel all religious holidays should be celebrated in public schools. If compelled to balance competing claims from all religious believers (and, for the sake of fairness, nonbelievers) with practical matters such as weather, national civic holidays, […] I’m not arguing that all religious dates should be holidays for staff and students. Add religion into the mix of considerations and rational planning becomes impossible. I see many comments from people who feel that other people are pushing their religious beliefs on them. Just 17% think there should be no religious holiday celebrations in the schools… Public school administrators have to consider numerous factors when deciding when class ought to be in session. Depicting a diversity of beliefs and customs is important when teaching students about religion and culture. Should public schools celebrate holidays? At public schools across the nation, there's little consensus on which holidays should count. Decisions like that, she said, should be locally tailored to each school. The law is less clear regarding the limits on holiday celebrations in public schools, but a number of guidelines should be followed in order to ensure that our public schools can best celebrate the religious freedom upon which our nation was founded. Many people are against having prayer in school, why take out prayer, but leave in religious holidays? Religion as an Educational Lesson. Could this also be the case with holidays being celebrated in schools? Religious holidays should not be celebrated in a school (other than religious schools) because they automatically put some students on the "inside" and others on the "outside". It does mean that once families and programs have decided on what holidays to celebrate, none should be treated as if they are "unusual." School-sponsored activities should also focus on more than one religion and religious holiday. 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