PC Police Sucking the Joy Out of Childhood

October 18, 2019

by Rob Roper

Edmunds Elementary School in Burlington, so reports WPTZ, has decided to cancel its annual Halloween parade. Sadly, I doubt anybody is surprised by this. The letter sent home to parents alerting them to the cancelation read, “After serious consideration the faculty of EES has decided that in recognition of BSD’s [Burlington School District] standard, that ‘All Are Welcome’, we will be having a Harvest Celebration at the end of the month…”

So, “all are welcome”… except those who want to celebrate Halloween. Screw those jerks! How did the faculty conclude that a Harvest Festival with all that kale wasn’t offensive to anyone? But I digress…

For those who want to get into the Halloween spirit informally, the school district provided an extensive list of guidelines, and here are some highlights:

One of the most important mandates is that costumes shall not be demeaning to any person or group based on age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, nationality, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or to any individual staff or student at the school. Costumes should be respectful and culturally sensitive, (e.g., students should not wear religious articles such as a hijab, turban, yarmulke, kimono, that could be viewed as culturally insensitive or as contributing to cultural appropriation).

I mean, good grief. This idiotic concept of “cultural appropriation” has got to go away. The entire purpose of putting on a costume is to “appropriate” another identity and, by doing so, learn something about that identity as well as yourself. Yes, don’t engage in mean-spirited stereotyping, but to condemn as racist or somehow culturally insensitive a little boy who happens to be white and wants to be a ninja or LeBron James for a night is absolutely asinine. The person offended by this kind of costume is the one with the problem, not the kid.

No weapons of any type may be part of a costume.

Hmm… I wonder if superpowers are considered weapons under this guideline? Just spitballin’, Aquaman.

Costumes should not include blood or imply any type of violence.

Oh, come on now! Scary is THE overarching theme of Halloween. Axes buried heads…. Eyeballs dangling from empty sockets…. Rotting flesh…. But, no scary costumes says the school that probably  has no problem teaching these same children that they’re all going to die in eleven years in a fiery, famine filled, mass extinction if David Blittersdorf doesn’t get a taxpayer funded subsidy for his seven mile train project between Barre and Montpelier.

And in conclusion…

…but in reality, no school should be holding an event in which all students cannot participate because of religious or cultural beliefs.

Really! Like LGBTQ themed classes and events that conflict with the religious beliefs of Christian or Muslim students? What about anti-Second Amendment events offensive to Vermont’s long standing hunting culture?

Once again, this is just another case in point for giving comprehensive school choice to all children in Vermont. If you don’t want your kid exposed to someone dressed up as a zombie with human brains dripping from its teeth, fine. Pick a school that doesn’t celebrate the holiday. If you’re cool with Halloween, but don’t think celebrating it should intrude on classroom time, I can respect that. There should be a choice for you too. And, if you think that Halloween is a joyous time that makes for some of the most precious childhood memories and you want your school to have a role in fostering those experiences, there should be a choice for you too.

We may not all be able to agree on the best way for a school to handle Halloween, but we can agree on this: a one-size-fits-all system fails the majority of the kids and families stuck inside it.

Rob Roper is president of the Ethan Allen Institute. 

{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

brian smith October 18, 2019 at 9:36 pm

Rob, I hate to say it but I believe I will start encouraging our youth to leave this state as fast as they can. For their own good and well being! I dont know what anyone in their right mind can do to prevent all of the PC foolishness. Any ideas?

Reply

Rob October 18, 2019 at 10:29 pm

Keep winning elections, Brian! Keep up the good work.

Reply

William Hays October 19, 2019 at 7:14 am

A “Harvest Celebration” a few weeks before the Thanksgiving Holiday? They should celebrate the elimination of common sense in Vermont. Thanks, UFT, NEA, and all the Progressive loons on the school boards. Simply sick…

Reply

A October 19, 2019 at 10:05 am

I constantly wonder how stupid ideas like this get any support. Recently I read an article from a mom saying she won’t be dressing her daughters as Mulan or Moana because of “cultural appropriation”. This is having the exact opposite effect. I’m hispanic, if I see kids dressed up like characters from Coco, I’m like “Heck yes!” because it tells me they loved a movie that taught them about another culture. This isn’t about making sure everyone is happy and safe, this is about destroying American culture and calling it cultural sensitivity.

Reply

Rob October 19, 2019 at 12:48 pm

Spot on!

Reply

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post:

About Us

The Ethan Allen Institute is Vermont’s free-market public policy research and education organization. Founded in 1993, we are one of fifty-plus similar but independent state-level, public policy organizations around the country which exchange ideas and information through the State Policy Network.
Read more...

Latest News

VT Left Wing Media Bias Unmasks Itself

July 24, 2020 By Rob Roper Dave Gram was a long time reporter for the Associated Press, is currently the host of what’s billed on WDEV as a...

Using Guns for Self Defense – 3 Recent Examples

July 24, 2020 By John McClaughry  The Heritage Foundation’s Daily Signal last week published eleven news stories about citizens using a firearm to stop a crime. Here are...

FERC ruling on solar subsidies could help Vermont ratepayers

July 21, 2020 By John McClaughry Last Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission finalized its updates to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), in what the majority...

The Moderate Left’s Stand for Free Speech

July 17, 2020 By David Flemming Harper’s Magazine, a long-running monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, is hardly what you would call a ‘politically...

Trump’s Regulatory Bill of Rights

July 16, 2020 by John McClaughry “President Trump [last May] issued an executive order entitled  ‘Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery.’ The executive order includes a regulatory bill...

Video