National Network for Child Care's Connections Newsletter
Wendy C. Horikoshi, M.S.
4-H Youth Program Coordinator
University of California Cooperative Extension
Recently, I was reminded of the need to constantly reflect on
our philosophy of education. Our 4-H community club circulated
and approved a calendar for its monthly meetings of volunteers
and parents. I didn't notice that any meetings conflicted with
any celebrations. However, our regular council meeting, scheduled
for the first Tuesday in October, fell on the eve of Yom Kippur,
one of the High Holy Days in the Jewish religion.
Yom Kippur concludes a 10-day celebration of harvest time. Yom
Kippur means "day of atonement," and is a solemn time
when Jews try to cleanse themselves of sin. Sometimes they fast
from sunset to sunset. For Jews, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah,
which begins the 10-day celebration, are a time to remember the
past and to hope for the future (Polan & Cantwell, 1983).
Not knowing that Yom Kippur begins at sundown of the preceding
day, we had goofed. Again, I realized that we must always be aware
of people's cultural, religious and social beliefs. With this
awareness, we can help each other to begin accepting and respecting
each other as human beings.
Our scheduling error also made me think about all the different
holidays that are celebrated throughout the year. For example,
in November and December not only are Thanksgiving and Christmas
celebrated, but so are Hanukkah and Kwaanza. Hanukkah is an eight-day
celebration of the "Festival of the Lights." It commemorates
the freeing of Jewish slaves over 2,000 years ago. Kwaanza, also
a festival of lights, is observed over seven days beginning December
26, and celebrates the harvest and the African cultural family
heritage.
Unfortunately, our society tends to focus only on Thanksgiving
and Christmas during November and December. From our own perspectives,
these two holidays may have real meaning. However, as educators,
we often fail to teach that many of the ideas behind these celebrations
are one-sided.
For example, if you teach a version of the first Thanksgiving
that tells how "they served pumpkins and turkeys and corn
and squash. The Indians had never seen such a feast" (Dorris,
1991, p. 13), you would be passing along an inaccurate picture.
This account fails to recognize feasting as an important Native
American cultural tradition. Although there may have been a Thanksgiving
feast with Pilgrims and Native Americans eating together, it is
most likely that the Native Americans prepared the meal; pumpkins,
turkey, corn and squash originated in the Americas.
The Native Americans introduced many of this continent's indigenous
foods to the Pilgrims and to the French fur traders before them.
However, the exchanges between the Native Americans and the Europeans
were not to the Native Americans' advantage. The Indian Nations
greatly decreased in size as they became exposed to many new life-threatening
diseases, and had their lands taken from them. Eventually, many
lost their religion and their language. Our youth need to be given
broader perspectives when examining our country's history and
its relationship to the rest of the world.
Dressing up as "Indians," wearing feathers, sending
greeting cards with persons in "Indian" costumes, speaking
one- or two-word thoughts, and reading stereotypical stories about
Thanksgiving tend to lessen the contributions Native Americans
have made to our society. The more in-depth teaching of the everyday
lives of Native Americans is generally not included in textbooks,
T.V., or children's storybooks.
In an article entitled, *Why I'm Not Thankful For Thanksgiving*,
Michael Dorris writes, "Thanksgiving, like much of American
history, is complex, multifaceted and will not bear too close
a scrutiny without revealing a less than heroic aspect. Knowing
the truth about Thanksgiving, both of its proud and its shameful
motivations and history, might well benefit contemporary children.
But the glib retelling of an ethnocentric and self-serving falsehood
does not do one any good" (Dorris, 1991, p.13).
Similarly, our traditional Christmas celebrations tend to be one-sided.
Christmas is a Christian holiday commemorating the birth of Christ.
When we use terms like Christmas vacation, hold Christmas parties,
and exchange gifts in our educational programs, we are forcing
people of other religions and cultures to acknowledge and accept
our traditions.
At the same time, we are neglecting the other religious holidays
that are important to people who have different faiths and beliefs.
For example, while we teach the history of the Thanksgiving and
Christmas celebrations, do we also teach the history of other
cultural and religious holidays? Are they presented with the same
respect, tolerance, and understanding? And, are the daily lives
of communities of people who celebrate these "other"
holidays taught throughout the year? Unfortunately, all too often,
the culture of the dominant society is taught as the norm. If
other cultures are discussed, they tend to be "visited" for the day, and are seen as different and therefore, somehow
inferior.
I see our responsibility as public educators to take note of our
role in teaching our children some basic beliefs about society.
Therefore, we have removed all graphics and artwork of traditional
holidays from our program newsletter. I do not think that multicultural
educators are suggesting that we quit teaching about Thanksgiving,
or about how people celebrate Christmas. However, we need to realize
that our young people have been taught very little about other
cultures and traditions. We need to teach them how different people
look at the same historical event; from the Native Americans'
perspective, the colonization of the Americas was not an entirely
noble event.
As educators, we need to encourage each other to look at our projects
and materials. Our educational philosophies need to be more culturally
sensitive. We also need to be more global in our approach, and
more direct in challenging the critical thinking skills of our
youth.
Dorris, M. (1991). Why I'm not thankful for Thanksgiving: Rethinking Columbus. In D. Levine, R. Lowe, B. Peterson, & R. Tenorio (Eds.), *Rethinking Schools*. Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools, Ltd. For further information contact: Rethinking Schools, 1001 E. Keefe Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53212. (414) 964-9646
Polan, L., & Cantwell, A. (1983). *Whole Earth Holiday Book*. Good Year Books.
Reprinted with permission from the National Network for Child
Care - NNCC. Horikoshi, W. C. (1993). Food for thought: Fall celebrations.
In Todd, C.M. (Ed.), *School-age connections*, 3(2), pp. 1-3. Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service.
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