Hey, there! Log in / Register
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Are there really enough
Are there really enough Muslims living in Cambridge and attending public schools to justify this? Or is Cambridge simply bending over backwards to show that it is the Politically Correct capital of the East Coast?
I'm guessing probably the
I'm guessing probably the former, either way I love it
I've worked in a computer
I've worked in a computer learning center in a housing development in Cambridge. It has a diverse population which includes a large Muslim community.
The flood of cretinous
The flood of cretinous comments on boston.com is too predictable.
Pandering to Muslims can be a problem (look at how much of Europe is getting screwed by non-integrating Muslim immigrants), but they're just talking about 1 day a year, for parity with the Christians and the Jews.
Christmas has been a federal holiday for 140 years
Christmas has been a federal holiday since 1870 when President U.S. Grant signed it into law. Less than a month after 9/11, is Cambridge really trying to put some Muslim holiday, unknown to most Americans, on par with federal law? As legendary Boston City Councilor Albert L. "Dapper" O'Neil would rightly say, "Makes ya sick!"
9/11 was 9 years ago
not a month ago. Also, if the holiday is "unknown to most Americans", isn't one job of a school system to correct that?
It is a holiday known to a LOT of Americans
Ever been to Dearborn, MI?
People there observe the faith, yet they are FOURTH, FIFTH, SIXTH plus generation AMERICAN Muslims.
Ever been to Arlington National Cemetery? Count the Muslim emblems on the headstones - all AMERICANS who, you know, gave up something kind of important to protect the AMERICAN way of life?
I'm trying to figure out how you call yourself an AMERICAN with those attitudes. Then again, you probably think Good Friday is a federal holiday. Cambridge closes for that day, even though it is an explicitly religious day.
Re: a LOT of Americans isn't most Americans
@SwirlyGrrl: It may be known to a lot of Americans, maybe even the .6% of Americans identified as Muslims. My point remains, it is unknown to most Americans. The fact that Cambridge is leading the charge on this speaks for itself. ps - Can't wait til the Buddhists, Wiccans etc. demand their day. A full week of school will be but a distant memory.
http://religions.pewforum.org/reports
Most Americans can't find
Most Americans can't find Switzerland on a map, or name the capital of Kentucky, so should we somehow not recognize them because of this?
But, maybe you have a point insofar as opening the floodgates on special interest holidays-- in the of equality and freedom, I would be 100% behind a law that forbid public schools and offices from having any non-secular holidays off. That goes for Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, Passover, Rosh Hashanah, you name it. Let's not pick and choose.
Thats part of it pierce.
If you took away Christmas as a holiday, then probably 2/3rds of the teachers would use a personal day (most contracts allow 3), and 75% of the students in Cambridge wouldn't be in school either.
And what would the Jews do on Christmas?
http://www.hulu.com/watch/1373/saturday-night-live...
Pete, you should know...
A lot of fields, like yours, don't have automagical days off.
When I've worked in hospitals and residential programs, we had to take vacation days for everything. We got more of them than 9-5 programs do to make up for the lack of holidays, of course.
Yes, the programs were minimally staffed on Xmas, but they weren't abandoned. The people who had religious obligations on Xmas made a written request to take it off for religious reasons, stating their sincerely held religious beliefs. Others who liked to do secular/cultural things on the Christian holidays would negotiate with someone to cover their shift on Xmas if they'd cover someone else's on New Year's or Thanksgiving or whatever.
At one hospital where I worked, Xmas day was mostly staffed by Jews and Muslims and pagans and whoever else, but there were always a few Christian staff who made a point of working on Xmas so that the residents who celebrated Xmas would have a proper celebration shared with staff who were genuine in celebrating it. They'd do their family's celebration in the evening or first thing in the morning or whatnot to accommodate this, or they'd bring their families in to help sing carols and bake cookies with the folks.
You do realize Moslems died in 9/11, too, no?
But this is a red herring.
Re: You do realize Moslems died in 9/11 too, no?
Absolutely. At least 19 of them.
That's really disrespectful
Not that that seems to matter to you in general.
Never Forget
That there were enough observant folk that the WTC management kept a space on one floor of one of the towers so they could pray in accordance with their faith.
As for those 19 being observant and faithful, well, that depends on who you ask. If you want to make this into an US vs THEM, I think your radical divisive "right/wrong" right-wing birther spew puts you closer to those 19 than it does to the rest of the country.
Classless
Here's 32 Muslims that you should be focused on instead. A list that includes an NYPD cadet, a woman on flight 11 who was 7 months pregnant, and even a janitor whom I respect more than I do you.
Really?
If you've honestly never heard of the holiest day in the Muslim year, I'm pretty sure the problem here isn't with Islam.
You mean Eid ul-Fitr?
I'm pretty sure most Americans have never heard that word (Eid) ever.
That being said, a lot of school systems (even here in MA) do not get Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah off either. But if Cambridge has enough muslims where enough people are going to miss school and it would be a waste of time for everyone else (with added work for muslim students), then yes, they should have the day off.
Um?
I'm pretty sure most Americans have never heard that word (Eid) ever.
Seriously? Do you know a lot of people who didn't go to schools with social studies curricula and who actively avoid having any Muslim friends or coworkers or neighbors?
I know a lot of them.
I never learned about Eid in school. I only knew about it because a neighbor of mine used to have a feast on that day and invited us over.
But do you really think that more than 2% of Americans have heard of that word or day?
I'd think so
I learned about it in social studies classes in school, from neighbors, from Muslim kids in school, from Muslim classmates in college, and from the Muslim cow orkers I've had at every job except for this one odd bassackwards inbred nepotistic place I worked at. Oh, but there were Muslim kids there. Woulda been hard to miss, I'd think.
I still don't think it is that much.
You have to remember that muslims make up less than 1% of the US poplulation and Jews make up less than 2%. That means it is going to be rare that your average American is going to live near or work with either group. I bet less than 50% of the US population knows what Yom Kippur is or Roshashana is too (maybe less)
You also have to think that we were all probably taught lots of things that we don't know now (State and World capitals, math formulas, etc). I honestly don't remember learing about it in school. Maybe Ramadan, but not Eid.
I just think you are overestimating the knowlege of the American population. What percentage of Americans believe Obama is a muslin or that Israel is responsible for 9/11?
Boston is an "odd
Boston is an "odd bassackwards inbred nepotistic place".
Good Friday
I never had Good Friday off from school - or Columbus day for that matter. Good Friday is an explicitly religious holiday, and a pain in the arse to cover for if you work and your partner/spouse works and you have kids young enough to need a sitter for.
I really don't get why it is a holiday - but if it is a day off of school, then so should the high holy days be a day off of school and the end of Ramadan as well.
Otherwise, it just ain't American, damnit!
No Brainer
Pipe down all of yous. Cambridge and other cities are shortening the number of school days anyway. So they're calling one of em a Muslim holiday. Think of it as a comparitive religion ammenity and get over it.
Druids?
Since the government of the UK has ruled that Druidism is a legitimate religion and therefore entitled to tax exempt status and all the other stuff that derives from such a legal designation it must then qualify as a major religion. So no problem if I decide to take Beltaine off, right?
Why bother thinking before you write such things?
Of course there's no problem if you take it off, if you sincerely believe in its observance and are consistent in doing so.
This article is about the district closing for holidays that a sizable number of families observe, not about your already-long-established right to take a day off for a holiday you observe.
Basically what eeka said
Not that the UK is the region under discussion here, but if you're a Druid, then you should, of course, be able to take off for Beltaine. Likewise Samhain, Imbolc and Lughnasadh. If you have to take vacation or personal days to do so, well, you'd be in the same situation as many Jews are on Yom Kippur and/or Rosh Hashanah, many Muslims are on Eid al-Fitr, some Christians are on Christmas and Easter, etc.
Go for it!
Where I work, we get six of the Federal holidays, plus a sixpack of floaters. In fact, today is a floater! Some people are in the office. Floating holidays can be used on official state or Federal holidays OR religious observance days.
Many people where I work take their religious or cultural holidays as floating holidays. This means the office is half empty on Yom Kippur, but people also take Eid, Diwali, Good Friday, Orthodox Good Friday, St. Niklaus, and, yes, Beltane.
We also get the last week of the year off and the office shuts down.
When I worked for MGH, we didn't even get formal holidays - just a pack of leave time to be used however. That seemed to work well with an ethnically diverse population and a facility that needed to be staffed 24/7/365 in some departments.
(note: Cambridge still has to do 180 days of school, just like Brookline does with its numerous Jewish holidays)
Floaters, lol
OFISHL is a real floater. Just try to flush him down, he keeps popping back up.