There is always another political correctness story coming out of New England. This holiday season, the town of Medway, Massachusetts, located southwest of Boston, has a middle school making the news:
MEDWAY — Some parents are scratching their heads after school administrators insisted students call a Christmas tree a “magical tree,” the color red was removed from green and red elf hats, and songs from “Jesus Christ Superstar,” were pulled from a winter concert.
Parent Tracy Goldrick said she has spoken to at least 20 parents who are, at the least, mildly annoyed at “the watering down of Christmas.”
Goldrick’s daughter, Tess, 11, said some of her peers were upset they lost their solos in the “Jesus Christ Superstar,” songs.
In addition, Tess said she was confused when her teachers said the Christmas tree that was part of the scenery for the play would be called a “magical tree.”
“About a week ago, we had to call it a magical tree,” Tess said. “And they changed our red and green elf hats to green and white. I think they didn’t want them to have anything to do with Christmas colors.”
Peter
Lynnfield High School Grinched — Christmas Removed
Perhaps you heard about the school in Medway, Massachusetts where Christmas has been removed to the outrage of parents and students alike. I recently attended a “Holiday Concert” with a performance by the Lynnfield High School chamber singers, of which I used to be a member, and noticed that only 1/7 of the performance were actual Christmas songs. I approached the choir director afterward and what he told me was similar to what the school in Medway did.
It’s censorship of all Christian references from all the music. Granted, it wasn’t all the music, but it’s getting there. Evidently a Jewish Lynnfield High School student (and I’m sorry to say that I’m a Lynnfield High School alumnus) initiated a petition to get rid of all Christian references from all songs in all the concerts, in an effort to instate more “balance” in the concert. The result? Only 1/7 of the songs performed by Lynnfield High at the winter concert I attended were Christmas songs.
I approached the choir director after the concert, and I had known him for a long while, having been in that chorus, and I asked why. And he told me about the petition for “balance.” He told me, then, that the chorus was under certain “constraints.”
But only one out of seven songs being Christmas songs at a “Holiday Concert”? Give me a break. And it never was that way. Just because a minority of people at the school who don’t happen to share the tradition of most in this culture doesn’t mean that we have to change our cultures. I mean, why can’t they understand that other cultures exist and like to sing about their traditions? Because merely singing songs about Christmas or even Christ isn’t establishment of religion. (If you want to learn more about what the law says about singing religious songs in schools, visit http://www.aclj.org. School administrators don’t seem to know it that well.)
This is censorship pure and simple. A minority wants to obliterate all references to something just because they don’t happen to share the same traditions.
I asked the principal of the school why there had been less Christmas music — only that 1/7, and he confirmed that it was indeed a conscious effort, as he responded that maybe I thought the old balance of Christmas songs was fine, but that others didn’t. And that’s absurd, because we always did sing Chanukah songs as well — in fact, we sang a greater percentage of Chanukah songs always than there actually are Jewish students. And the real Jewish students love to see their Christian brothers and sisters celebrating Christmas, as we appreciate their practices.
This is an assault on Christianity, the last minority it’s okay to discriminate against. Lynnfield High School, and Medway, it’s got to end now.
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