political communication

[adrian_turtle]

The question before the committee was about when local* public schools should close: only on federal holidays, or also on Yom Kippur, Lunar New Year, Eid, and Good Friday. I think the specific person who said this is less important than the political context that inspired it.

Observing only federal holidays “would eliminate the hypothetical arguments over who is or who is not observing holidays, as well as opportunities for favoritism, virtue-signaling and misperceptions and accusations over diversity, equity and inclusion,”

I should not** get tangled up in logic but I am provoked beyond bearing.
If everyone gets the day off for YK, that AVOIDS the hypothetical arguments about who is or who is not observing the holiday. If some students are trying to be excused from classes on the day of Yom Kippur, with their parents writing notes, and trying to convince their teachers that it's important and no they can't attend class online either, and the school has to decide on a case-by-case basis whether to allow it or whether to enforce the Very Important Rules against truancy? This is how you avoid any hint of favoritism. This is how you avoid arguments about synagogues scheduling short little children's services for kids under 7 and whether it's worth missing school for something that lasts less than an hour. Or to remove the Jewish context, some Christians take Good Friday off and others (perhaps their teachers) say "It's only Good Friday, what's the big deal?"

The core problem is very sad and not logical.
The arguments are only hypothetical, yet already chilling.
The school should be careful to avoid equity or inclusion, lest they get in trouble.
Maybe I should say it's scary, more than sad.


*Nearby Boston suburb. To a casual glance, it's much whiter than most of the Boston area, but >25% of the population is Jewish.

**I have been known to garble my own logic when speaking to a hostile audience under time pressure. Or even when speaking to people who love me, are are willing to wait patiently while I backtrack a couple of times.

Comments

[conuly]

Tell them that you'll revisit the argument when kids are coming to school on Christmas.

[adrian_turtle]

Christmas is a federal holiday. Most businesses close, so the town doesn't run into the problem of "what will we do with all these little kids when the schools are closed and their parents are at work?" The fact that K-12 schools customarily take that whole week off also simplifies matters. It's not as easy a decision as the question of taking off for Easter or the Fourth of July, but pretty close.

[conuly]

Christmas is a federal holiday.

It certainly is!

[silveradept]

Federal holidays are definitely determined by all those things the speaker said observing only federal holidays would avoid, so no, that doesn't wash. If you want an effective and not favoritism solution, you allocate students sufficient religious/personal holiday days and you let them/their caregivers decide which days those are. And then you don't give anyone shit for using them.