People should not consider teachers who assign homework and give tests during Rosh Hashanah perpetrators of an act of disrespect. One of the founding principles of the United States is the separation of church and state, and that means separation of synagogue and state as well.
Teachers should not be obligated to consider students’s religious practices when planning their lessons. Students at Berkeley High School attend a public school and religion should not play a role in government institutions. Students should expect and understand that.
If teachers are expected to keep Jewish holidays in mind when planning their lessons, where does it end? A teacher who assigns no homework and gives no tests during the month of Ramadan is not going to become the new desired norm… at least, hopefully not. A light academic load for all students, including those who don’t observe Ramadan, for an entire month would be absurd.
Berkeley is famous —or infamous, depending on one’s point of view — for concerning itself with the treatment of minorities of all kinds. Generally speaking, this, of course, is good. Once in awhile though, Berkeley tends to work itself up over something minor. This isn’t the first year an article like this has appeared in the Jacket, and it probably won’t be the last. Teachers who assign homework and give tests during holidays such as Rosh Hashanah are not discriminatory, anti-Semitic or disrespectful in any way!
School holidays already encompass Christian holidays because when the western world established school calendars, it only considered Christianity worthy of reconsideration. Although the separation of church and state stands enshrined in the founding of the United States, Christian students experience a privilege in this regard that students of other religions do not. Some might argue that simply slightly rearranging the American school system’s calendar of school holidays would fix this inequity, end of story. While true, this disregards how broken the American education system’s entire school calendar is, not just in regard to what religious holidays fall under off days. The American education system was not created for life in modern times, yet Americans of today have not changed this outdated system.
Americans formed their education system’s calendar for an agrarian society. Many parents wanted their children out of school during the summer in order to help with a busy time on the farm. In the 21st century, this model no longer applies at all. Students simply forget much of the material they learned the prior school year over their three month summer vacation.
In many European countries students enjoy a shorter summer break and more one-week and two-week breaks during the school year. Students forget far less during a one month summer vacation than a three month summer vacation.
If Americans reform their education system to better serve the people of the present, as they should, then forming a calendar for a post-industrial America should be their focus. However, they should also remedy the inequitable distribution of breaks regarding religious holidays.
Many Jewish students who observe Rosh Hashanah feel marginalized during the holiday — and they are. Some Jewish teachers use up off days or sick days in order to honor their religion, which observant Christian teachers never have to do. In addition, students tend to learn less from substitutes than their permanent teachers. However, the frustration that Jewish students and teachers feel should be directed at a school system that cares about Christian holidays exclusively, instead of at individual teachers who simply operate within that system.
All things considered, if a Jewish student asks a teacher for an extension on a short term assignment because of Rosh Hashanah, that teacher should accommodate that student as best they can. Giving a student another day or two to complete an assignment should not pose a huge challenge or inconvenience to teachers, and students observing Rosh Hashanah often bend over backwards to turn in their homework on time during the holiday. However, if the teacher truly cannot accommodate a student’s request regarding the academic load during Rosh Hashanah without disrupting the lesson plan for other students, that teacher should not face flack for exercising their right to refuse a student’s request. Rescheduling a test, for example, affects the entire class. Teachers should not feel obligated to disrupt the entire class for a reason concerning religion. This violates the principle of separation of religion and government institutions, and disservices students and teachers. Reforming the school system to give time off for holidays that require followers rest instead of work would resolve the issue at hand.