Do You Hear What I Hear?

For several years running, my middle school hosted the Solo and Ensemble Festival for our southeastern Michigan region, always held on the first Saturday in December. That meant that thousands of middle school musicians, plus their parents, piano accompanists and indulgent grandmothers descended on my middle school for a day of nervous renditions of "Little Fugue."

There are more than 40 middle schools in the region, so that also meant hanging with a volunteer workforce of a few dozen orchestra and band teachers, pulling 12-hour shifts on a Saturday. Every year, at least one of them would express surprise at the wreath hanging on the counselor's door, the (ugly, scrawny) Christmas tree in the office--and the marching lineups and drum assignments for the annual Fantasy of Lights parade posted in the band room. 

"How do you get away with that?" I was often asked. At many schools in nearby Oakland County, the student population is much more ethnically and spiritually diverse. Many of my counterparts were doing winter concerts where the musical literature was tightly scrutinized for religious imbalance and stealth piety. Ironically, many of them were selecting literature based on mildly schizophrenic policies that allowed them to play masterworks--such as For Unto Us a Child is Born--on the theory that they were "educational," but forbade secular tunes like Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas because--duh!--the word "Christmas" was in the title.

Most school policy on Christmas music--and performance of other traditional and ethnic holiday compositions--falls somewhere between muddled and nonexistent; a fair number of directives get added when someone complains at a school board meeting. And a large segment of school personnel and the general population profoundly misunderstand the elasticity, purpose and intent of the First Amendment. It's not about boldly defying the separation of church and state (although some people want to fight that specious battle endlessly). Charles Haynes, First Amendment scholar, expresses this beautifully in a must-read article:

The First Amendment solution is stunningly simple: Schools should plan holiday programs that are educational in purpose and balanced in content. Nothing in the First Amendment prohibits public schools from educating students about music, religious and secular, as part of a comprehensive music program that exposes students to a variety of traditions and cultures.

Haynes also notes that one Merry Hyatt of California is now collecting signatures to put a referendum on the November 2010 ballot requiring all public schools in California to include Christmas music in classroom activities, every December. Haynes thinks that even if the referendum passed (and I get a little queasy thinking about the mileage Bill O' Reilly could get out of that one), it would be overturned on constitutional grounds.

Really--does this need to be a fight? We're a diverse country. Teaching children to appreciate the range and beauty of cultural traditions is something we ought to be endorsing in every public school, no matter which holidays a majority of students celebrate. Most people who hail each other in this season, whether they say "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas"--or any other greeting--are not proclaiming religious fervor. They're trying to be friendly and social. Good cheer in dark times.

There is not and never has never been a "War on Christmas." Everyone in America gets Christmas, for weeks, whether they want it or not. The First Amendment lets us sort this out, school by school, keeping educational integrity uppermost. School leaders can serve as models of inclusive and respectful citizenship--a more admirable goal than majority domination.

For those who insist that all middle school bands play Christmas music, I propose a mandatory winter holiday parade. A few years marching in sleet ought to make any "War on Christmas" zealot think twice.

Comments

[TeachMoore]

Thank for this reminder of how we are so easily caught up in strawman, media created battles in this country. There are those who are opposed to public Christmas celebrations, but they are not leading our public schools, and from what I can tell that group does not include most teachers in America. There is, however, an active misinformation campaign that is trying to convince Christian parents that all public schoolteachers are part of a huge conspiracy to corrupt our children. It would be laughable, if there weren't so many people being taken in by these tales.
Merry Christmas!

[KirstenDW]

I could argue for a long time about the historical knowledge of writing, but will recognize that the order an essay service could create the greatest custom term paper at all time. Is that right?

[Jennifer Muller]

Knowledge of great music, as well as great literature, is one of the traditional markers of a great education - I was a student at the Nova schools in Florida (funded in large part by a grant from the Ford foundation) back in the '60s. I was required to study foreign language, math, science, history, English, and art or technical subjects, along with music, every year in order to graduate. We sang Vivaldi, read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and had to pass Physics to gain that diploma. I feel I am a better-rounded human for all of it - especially the music we learned, which included African and Asian melodies and rhythms, and learning (phonetically) languages from Russian to Swahili.
For the times and place (the South), our school was racially and religiously diverse - our holiday (NOT Christmas) programs presented music from several religious traditions as well as secular "X-mas" music. This is a long way to say that education should be the means of teaching people HOW to think, not WHAT to think - and beautiful music can be a large part of that process. My singing now is limited to Church choir, but I still love "the classics" mixed in with pieces from other times and traditions - these all enrich our worship experience as well as our lives.

[Nancy Flanagan]

@Renee--you are so right. I remember reading a disbelieving commentary on a survey of public school teachers, who on average self-identified as somewhat right of center, politically. The pundit thought that the surveyed teachers were lying, because everyone "knows" that public school educators are flaming lefties. Not.

Teachers cover the range of political beliefs--and most of them go into teaching with a desire to do good, including introducing children to positive knowledge and cultural traditions. And--teachers often live in or near the communities where they teach. They're experiencing the same cultural aspects as their students--entertainment, worship, politics, media, commerce. No conspiracy.

@Jennifer--welcome to a Strange Land, and thanks for your comment. How to think, not what to think, indeed--and that's what lies beneath a lot of parent anxiety over what's happening in schools. If we tell kids what they *should* think, there will inevitably come a time when they look around and discover a world full of alternative ideas. That's not the school's fault. Better to introduce the facts of history, literature and culture, and help kids sort through the possibilities.