NYC Public Schools to Close on 2 Muslim Holidays

[gryphus]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/mayor-nyc-public-schools-close-muslim-holidays-29381715

The nation's largest public school system will observe the two most important Muslim holidays starting next fall, a policy change hailed Wednesday by Islamic leaders in New York City.

Under the new policy, the city's 1.1 million-pupil public school system will close on Sept. 24 for Eid al-Adha, which is also known as the Festival of Sacrifice. The holiday of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, will be observed during summer school in 2016.

"Hundreds of thousands of Muslim families will no longer have to choose between honoring the most sacred days on their calendar or attending school," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in his announcement.

Ha! All the religious nuts wanted MORE religion in schools!!! You've got it! This pill is probably more bitter than they expected though. As someone who wants more separation between church and state, I'm just excited to see them get what they wished for... and now we can try to have NO religion in our children's schools.

 

[trenchfoot]

I would have preferred that the holiday be legally observed without penalty for those of the muslim faith while the public schools remained open for all the other students.

So now they'll have all of the other religions wanting, justifiably so, equal treatment for their own special days of celebration with even more holidays piled onto the school calendar.

 

[finglobes]

Meanwhile - Egypt just closed 27,000 mosques - with Egypt's president calling for reform of Islam. NYC is run by kooks bending over to grab their ankles while Muslims help turn world into a house filled with gas waiting for a match. As dumb as NYC is to include these holidays Bloomberg took the cake calling for "immigrants" to avoid dangers of crossing border physically and just getting a visa and overstaying. This in a city that had two enormous building knocked own by visa scofflaws. These people are like the aristocratic twits in Rococo France before they went to guillotine.


"It's inconceivable that the thinking that we hold most sacred should cause the entire umma (multinational community of Muslim believers) to be a source of anxiety, danger, killing and destruction for the rest of the world. Impossible! That thinking - I am not saying 'religion' but 'thinking' - that corpus of texts and ideas that we have sacralized over the years, to the point that departing from them has become almost impossible, is antagonizing the entire world. It's antagonizing the entire world!

"Is it possible that 1.6 billion [Muslims] should want to kill the rest of the world's inhabitants - that is 7 billion-so that they themselves may live? Impossible! … I say and repeat again that we are in need of a religious revolution. You, imams, are responsible before Allah. The entire world, I say it again, the entire world is waiting for your next move… because this umma is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost - and it is being lost by our own hands."

Egypt President Al-Sisi

http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/08/egypts-al-sisi-wants-an-islamic-revolution-the-good-kind/

 

[fskimospy]

I would have preferred that the holiday be legally observed without penalty for those of the muslim faith while the public schools remained open for all the other students.

So now they'll have all of the other religions wanting, justifiably so, equal treatment for their own special days of celebration with even more holidays piled onto the school calendar.

That's how they had it before. The kids aren't penalized outright, but classes move on and they miss work, learning, etc. so they are penalized all the same. While I'm fine with having no religious holidays off, if you're doing it for one religion you need to do it for at least all the ones that make up a decent percentage of your student body.

I'm actually all for more holidays in the school calendar too. The number of school days per year stays the same, they just shorten summer break, which studies show is too long anyway.

 

[brycejones]

Meanwhile - Egypt just closed 27,000 mosques - with Egypt's president calling for reform of Islam. NYC is run by kooks bending over to grab their ankles while Muslims help turn world into a house filled with gas waiting for a match. As dumb as NYC is to include these holidays Bloomberg took the cake calling for "immigrants" to avoid dangers of crossing border physically and just getting a visa and overstaying. This in a city that had two enormous building knocked own by visa scofflaws. These people are like the aristocratic twits in Rococo France before they went to guillotine.


"It's inconceivable that the thinking that we hold most sacred should cause the entire umma (multinational community of Muslim believers) to be a source of anxiety, danger, killing and destruction for the rest of the world. Impossible! That thinking - I am not saying 'religion' but 'thinking' - that corpus of texts and ideas that we have sacralized over the years, to the point that departing from them has become almost impossible, is antagonizing the entire world. It's antagonizing the entire world!

"Is it possible that 1.6 billion [Muslims] should want to kill the rest of the world's inhabitants - that is 7 billion-so that they themselves may live? Impossible! … I say and repeat again that we are in need of a religious revolution. You, imams, are responsible before Allah. The entire world, I say it again, the entire world is waiting for your next move… because this umma is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost - and it is being lost by our own hands."

Egypt President Al-Sisi

http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/08/egypts-al-sisi-wants-an-islamic-revolution-the-good-kind/

No meds again today?

 

[boomerang]

No meds again today?

n/m

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Good on them. It's only fair to have holidays for all the different religions.

Reminds me of working in Indonesia, they recognize the special days from all the major religions.

 

[inachu]

Everything else is forced on Americans. Israel represents itself by over 40% on American TV while they are just under 3% of USA population.

I wish TVland would better represent actual race system in America.

 

[PokerGuy]

Good on them. It's only fair to have holidays for all the different religions.

Reminds me of working in Indonesia, they recognize the special days from all the major religions.

With literally thousands (if not millions) of 'religions', you'd have no days of school left if you observe all of their "special days".

This is just another example of the country heading downhill, it's just stupidity. There are certain days that are essentially woven int he fabric of the country over time, and those are generally recognized by everyone regardless of whether they personally adhere to that religion or not (like Christmas). Now we're adding days to suit one particular religion.

After decades of pushing Christian religion out of schools (a good thing by the way IMO, public schools should be secular), now we take a step in the opposite direction in the name of political correctness. :thumbsdown:

 

[HomerJS]

With literally thousands (if not millions) of 'religions', you'd have no days of school left if you observe all of their "special days".

This is just another example of the country heading downhill, it's just stupidity. There are certain days that are essentially woven int he fabric of the country over time, and those are generally recognized by everyone regardless of whether they personally adhere to that religion or not (like Christmas). Now we're adding days to suit one particular religion.

After decades of pushing Christian religion out of schools (a good thing by the way IMO, public schools should be secular), now we take a step in the opposite direction in the name of political correctness. :thumbsdown:

Odd, when Christmas was originally added it was to suit one particular religion.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Let's see what holidays that would need to be recognized

Christian holidays.
Christmas Eve/Christmas Day
Good Friday

Jewish Holidays
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur

Muslim Holidays
Eid al-Fitr
Eid al-Adha

Buddhist Holiday
Wesak or Buddha Day

Hindu
Ugadi or Hindu New Year

Doesn't look like that many to me. Maybe they should do away with all religious holidays though I'm sure that will have Christians and Jews pissing/moaning over the loss of their holidays.

 

[fskimospy]

With literally thousands (if not millions) of 'religions', you'd have no days of school left if you observe all of their "special days".

This is just another example of the country heading downhill, it's just stupidity. There are certain days that are essentially woven int he fabric of the country over time, and those are generally recognized by everyone regardless of whether they personally adhere to that religion or not (like Christmas). Now we're adding days to suit one particular religion.

After decades of pushing Christian religion out of schools (a good thing by the way IMO, public schools should be secular), now we take a step in the opposite direction in the name of political correctness. :thumbsdown:

NYC and many east coast schools close down for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as well as Christmas. Muslim students represent more than 10% of the students in NYC schools, and within certain individual schools a much higher percentage than that. This is a higher percentage than Jewish students, but the schools already take off Jewish holidays.

While I would also agree that the best solution would be no religious holidays at all, since that's not going to happen the next best thing is to accommodate all religions that have a substantial representation. And again, any days we can take out of the summer break are good ones IMO.

 

[Genx87]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/mayor-nyc-public-schools-close-muslim-holidays-29381715



Ha! All the religious nuts wanted MORE religion in schools!!! You've got it! This pill is probably more bitter than they expected though. As someone who wants more separation between church and state, I'm just excited to see them get what they wished for... and now we can try to have NO religion in our children's schools.

Reminds me of OK where they passed a law that allows religious monuments in the state capital so the ultra christians can display the 10 commandments. Then a satanic group submitted their statue and the Christians went crazy.

 

[sportage]

Muslim families should have some role models on TV.
Then maybe people wouldn't freak out and assume all Muslim people are terrorist.
Or terrorist in the making.
A bit of a stereotype and lack of educating if you ask me, the way Muslim's are thought of over here.
TV, and a holiday or two is a good start.
Everything doesn't have to be mistletoe and ho ho ho and presents for pretty girls.

 

[HomerJS]

Muslim families should have some role models on TV.
Then maybe people wouldn't freak out and assume all Muslim people are terrorist.
Or terrorist in the making.
A bit of a stereotype and lack of educating if you ask me, the way Muslim's are thought of over here.
TV, and a holiday or two is a good start.
Everything doesn't have to be mistletoe and ho ho ho and presents for pretty girls.

Nice reference! I still watch every year.

This decision helps with a problem many European counties have, integrating Muslims in society.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

NYC and many east coast schools close down for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as well as Christmas. Muslim students represent more than 10% of the students in NYC schools, and within certain individual schools a much higher percentage than that. This is a higher percentage than Jewish students, but the schools already take off Jewish holidays.

While I would also agree that the best solution would be no religious holidays at all, since that's not going to happen the next best thing is to accommodate all religions that have a substantial representation. And again, any days we can take out of the summer break are good ones IMO.

I am fine with giving religious holidays off not because of respect for religion but because of pure pragmatism. Given that the school year is going to have the same number of in-classroom days per year anyway it makes sense to have days off when a sizable percentage of students won't show up. But there has to be some cut off for the minimum percentage of students and teachers of a particular religion for the city to alter the schedule. IMO the 10-11% that Muslim students represent is close but still a bit too low to justify this accommodation. I'd say 15-20% should be the cutoff.

But no matter where you set the cutoff the first group below the cutoff will always claim that it's unfair and they are being discriminated against. The part of this that bothers me is that I've heard public officials spewing this PC nonsense about how this is so important because of diversity and having everyone learn about the Muslim faith. These decisions should be made pragmatically based on demographics and logistics and nothing else.

 

[1prophet]

Muslim families should have some role models on TV.
Then maybe people wouldn't freak out and assume all Muslim people are terrorist.
Or terrorist in the making.
A bit of a stereotype and lack of educating if you ask me, the way Muslim's are thought of over here.
TV, and a holiday or two is a good start.
Everything doesn't have to be mistletoe and ho ho ho and presents for pretty girls.

Role models on tv, are you kidding, like an equivalent Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus, sponsored by commercials telling you what to buy with little or no money down, just charge it.

Sorry but TV in America is about sex, violence, and sensationalism pushing some product that uses that to sell itself, not about role models.

if you truly want to see any type of role model you need to go back a few decades when this country was more CONSERVATIVE.,

As for stereotypes,

Sorry but Muslims bring the problems on themselves, whether it is blowing up buildings, killing children at marathons, wanting blasphemy laws (hate speech)to protect their prophet /deity from criticism,

just like Christians when they have creationism being pushed in schools, or telling a women who controls her body and a gay whom to marry.

Separation of religion from state, freedom of speech, equal rights for women, ability to choose ones own religion or no religion at all without being threatened/murdered, ability to choose whom you want to marry, etc.,

you so called liberals have no problem criticizing Christians who go against these very basic human rights principles,

How about instead of being such apologists, hold Muslims to the same standards and stop worrying about hurt feelings since you never do when other religions run afoul of secular laws and principles.

 

[HomerJS]

Role models on tv, are you kidding, like an equivalent Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus, sponsored by commercials telling you what to buy with little or no money down, just charge it.

Sorry but TV in America is about sex, violence, and sensationalism pushing some product that uses that to sell itself, not about role models.

if you truly want to see any type of role model you need to go back a few decades when this country was more CONSERVATIVE.,

As for stereotypes,

Sorry but Muslims bring the problems on themselves, whether it is blowing up buildings, killing children at marathons, wanting blasphemy laws (hate speech)to protect their prophet /deity from criticism,

just like Christians when they have creationism being pushed in schools, or telling a women who controls her body and a gay whom to marry.

Separation of religion from state, freedom of speech, equal rights for women, ability to choose ones own religion or no religion at all without being threatened/murdered, ability to choose whom you want to marry, etc.,

you so called liberals have no problem criticizing Christians who go against these very basic human rights principles,

How about instead of being such apologists, hold Muslims to the same standards and stop worrying about hurt feelings since you never do when other religions run afoul of secular laws and principles.

Conservative wet dream. Go back to the days of Leave It To Beaver where black people didn't exist.

 

[PokerGuy]

Odd, when Christmas was originally added it was to suit one particular religion.

I specifically explained how certain days are woven into the fabric of the country outside of specific religions (as the supreme court indicated as well).

Let's see what holidays that would need to be recognized

Christian holidays.
Christmas Eve/Christmas Day
Good Friday

Jewish Holidays
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur

Muslim Holidays
Eid al-Fitr
Eid al-Adha

Buddhist Holiday
Wesak or Buddha Day

Hindu
Ugadi or Hindu New Year

Doesn't look like that many to me.

First, what makes you think that's a good list of days that would need recognized? Who decides that? For example, for Christians, Easter would be more important. How exactly did you limit what religions need to be included? What about other religions?

Maybe they should do away with all religious holidays though I'm sure that will have Christians and Jews pissing/moaning over the loss of their holidays.

My preference is to have no religious holidays for public schools. There should be no "recognition" of one religion over another in public schools. If you want your particular religious days observed, go to a private schools that caters to your religious preferences.

NYC and many east coast schools close down for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as well as Christmas. Muslim students represent more than 10% of the students in NYC schools, and within certain individual schools a much higher percentage than that. This is a higher percentage than Jewish students, but the schools already take off Jewish holidays.

Two wrongs don't make a right. Just because the schools decided to 'observe' Jewish religious holidays doesn't mean you now have to make it even worse by doing the same with other religions. They should have gone the opposite way and stopped "observing" religious days.

Christmas is somewhat of a different animal because it is essentially an observed holiday throughout the country outside of just religious reasons -- as noted in several court cases (see Ganulin vs United States for example). The courts have held that observance of Christmas goes beyond it's Christian roots and that federal Christmas holidays etc do not violate the establishment clause.

While I would also agree that the best solution would be no religious holidays at all, since that's not going to happen the next best thing is to accommodate all religions that have a substantial representation. And again, any days we can take out of the summer break are good ones IMO.

What is the threshold for "substantial representation"? If I'm a student in the school, does it seem acceptable to have some religion's days "observed" while my religions days are not? What message is being sent to those students? All this dancing around for political correctness just creates more problems.

 

[Jhhnn]

oh, God! They're paving the way for SHARIA LAW! Stock up on ammo & buy more guns! Run for the Jesus bunker!

 

[preCRT]

The closing of schools on major religious holidays is not just for students, but is practical when there will be a lack of teachers because of those holidays.

My hometown used to be open on Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur even though 80% of the students took the day off. The town eventually decided to close the schools on those holidays because they couldn't find enough substitute teachers to cover for missing teachers.

 

[Oyeve]

Let's see what holidays that would need to be recognized

Christian holidays.
Christmas Eve/Christmas Day
Good Friday

Jewish Holidays
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur

Muslim Holidays
Eid al-Fitr
Eid al-Adha

Buddhist Holiday
Wesak or Buddha Day

Hindu
Ugadi or Hindu New Year

Doesn't look like that many to me. Maybe they should do away with all religious holidays though I'm sure that will have Christians and Jews pissing/moaning over the loss of their holidays.

NM

 

[Trell]

I specifically explained how certain days are woven into the fabric of the country outside of specific religions (as the supreme court indicated as well).



First, what makes you think that's a good list of days that would need recognized? Who decides that? For example, for Christians, Easter would be more important. How exactly did you limit what religions need to be included? What about other religions?

My preference is to have no religious holidays for public schools. There should be no "recognition" of one religion over another in public schools. If you want your particular religious days observed, go to a private schools that caters to your religious preferences.



Two wrongs don't make a right. Just because the schools decided to 'observe' Jewish religious holidays doesn't mean you now have to make it even worse by doing the same with other religions. They should have gone the opposite way and stopped "observing" religious days.

Christmas is somewhat of a different animal because it is essentially an observed holiday throughout the country outside of just religious reasons -- as noted in several court cases (see Ganulin vs United States for example). The courts have held that observance of Christmas goes beyond it's Christian roots and that federal Christmas holidays etc do not violate the establishment clause.

What is the threshold for "substantial representation"? If I'm a student in the school, does it seem acceptable to have some religion's days "observed" while my religions days are not? What message is being sent to those students? All this dancing around for political correctness just creates more problems.

Easter is always on a Sunday, right after Good Friday, which is always on the list.... So your example doesn't really work.

 

[PokerGuy]

Easter is always on a Sunday, right after Good Friday, which is always on the list.... So your example doesn't really work.

You missed the point. He just listed some days, I have no idea if those are the "right" days for each of those religions (you probably would have arguments about that anyway), and there's no real definition of which religions you'd need to include. So basically a mess, easily avoided by not including any specifically religious holidays. Include federal holidays only.

 

[HumblePie]

Where's my pastafarian holiday observances?????