You've likely heard of this by now, but schools in Scotland have banned students from making Father's Day Cards. Read the article
here. The reason the school states is that Father's Day is insensitive to children who live with a single-mother or lesbian family. Yet Mother's Day is still A-OK.
I just have a few questions:
1. Really?
2. Why isn't Mother's Day insensitive to children who live in single-father families (hey, it happens) and children who live with gay parents?
3. Is it insensitive to children who do have fathers not to be able to make something for them?
4. Is the Principal a single mom?
5. Should these children who live with two mommies not be allowed to make two Mother's Day cards because it would be insensitive to kids with one mommy?
6. Would a "Parent's Day" be out of the question since some children are orphans and live in foster homes?
7. Why do we ban things in the first place? Remember tamagotchis, pokemon cards, pogs and currently silly bands? Honestly, kids will just find something else. Why restrict?
On a serious note, wouldn't it be terrible to be a dad and be told that your kid wasn't allowed to make a card for you? If we accommodate every, minuscule minority, we'll end up not being able to do anything. If we are to have a pluralistic society, (which we affirm that we have) differing view points are to be heard, not suppressed. Insensitivity becomes less insensitive when everyone is permitted their "insensitive" opinion.
Do you think it's insensitive to make Father's Day cards? Why do you think Mother's Day is exempt from this? How much should political-correctness restrain daily activities?
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Comments (12)
If I were a dad...or a mom, my child would no longer be attending that school.
I hadn't heard about it but that is crazy for every reason you stated.
Then again maybe Scotland should get get rid of Father's Day altogether and have 2 Mother's
Days instead. It wouldn't be much of a stretch since Scottish men are known for wearing
skirts anyway. :P
Just kidding.
who cares? it's a Hallmark holiday.
This is just so silly. I live in a single-parent family, I don't see how this is insensitive. And it's so fucking one-sided, what about those who have lost their moms instead of dads???
When my mom was a (Sunday school) teacher, she made sure to remind the kids that they could make the cards for an uncle or grandfather or other man in their life. I think it's appropriate to honor father-figures, which the authorities tell us are vital to the healthy development of kids. Single mom, lesbian family, or not, kids need a good male role model.
@too_pretty_to_die@xanga - don't look into it any deeper than that either.
This is going a bit too far. There are better ways to show sensitivity. As another commenter pointed out, perhaps have the kids make cards for another male figure in their lives. I was surprised as well when I read how Christian references are removed from festive cards. It seems that kids are just being thought to disassociate themselves from everything, instead of maybe being thought to appreciate some of those differences.
This is ridiculous. Under the guise of being more respectful or sensitive to one group of people, we are being disrespectful and insensitive to another. Though single parenthood is very common, the dads who stick around and raise their kids have the right to be honored on a national holiday created for them. And it's a lame double standard to say we can celebrate mothers' day but not fathers' day, because fathers have a crucial role in their children's lives, just like mothers do. Should we abolish Valentine's Day for the sake of the single people, and all religious holidays for the sake of those who don't celebrate them? It's stupid to refuse to let one group celebrate something simply because another group of people either cannot or chooses not to participate. If we really are a society that accepts and celebrates differences, we should stop trying to erase them.
@Suhijaquerida - I couldn't have said it better myself!
As someone persueing a career in teaching (headed back to university for it next year) perhaps I can shed some light on how this works. Teachers are already paranoid about being politically correct, as if they offend a student or a parent the parents can cause a big stir. Add to this the public paranoia about what teachers are teaching the kids and what happens when their kid goes to school and they're 'alone' with the teacher and you get a right mess.
Teaching has to be one of the most underappreciated jobs out there, and on top of public opinion and the possibility of parental meddling you get the government putting in their two cents. In the article it looked like it was something decided by the education council at the city level, this means the mayor and his government helpers/advisors are weighing in on things that they should really be keeping out of.
Instead of issueing a ban, they could have avoided all the negative press by issueing a statement to teachers reminding them to be flexible and suggest other male figures to recieve a card as suggested in comments above, or to remind them that there is indeed a parents day that could be celebrated instead of the seperate father/mother days.
If people really care so much about what is being taught to their kid that they ban father's day cards due to the number of kids without fathers they should home-school their kids. Public school will never be perfect, but it's not meant to be. It's meant to be a reflection of society and a reasonably positive learning environment where kids not only learn knowledge but how to interact in society. This includes dealing with insensitivities and other non-pc problems. Even if teacher is PC and perfectly careful, other kids will still bully and pressure and be un-pc with other kids.
Essentially this boils down to an overswing in our society in the PC department. This happens with many things in our culture and it will level out eventually. One can see it in the feminist movement and how court cases turn out for single fathers (my girlfriend's close friend had to fight tooth and nail to look after his baby girl when the court wanted to give it to his prostitute drug using ex) or the backlash against religion, or many other areas to see how the pendulum is swinging too far in the other direction.
Personally I hope things will balance out someday and we can all remember to breath and accept that not everyone is perfect, not everyone is the same (all men are bad parents, all religions are for fools, etc), and learn to accept each other and each person's beliefs and qualities are their own and do not belong to a larger group.
This is another reason why I was happy to teach a lesson on stereotypes to my ESL class. lol
Sorry for the long post, and thanks for the great article StephanieP
Appaling. This is an anti-male policy designed to marginaize men and trivialize fatherhood. Yet another example of the anti-male sentiment our society has.
If the children were banned from making mother's day cards (but could still make father's day cards) there would have been a public outcry.
Shame on any teacher who did not allow their children to make fathers day cards. Shame on the city officials in Scotland and those in the Scottish political arena who permitted these schools to employ such a ban. Shame on all the mother's and father's with children at these schools that did not speak up against this.