religion complaint |
I am extremley offended by the prejudicial remarks and treatment i have faced at summit throught by expeirience so far. I am a Jewish student attending summit high school and ever since I have started here all I have encountered so far are cruel Jewish jokes and remarks because of my religion. Not only am I offended by the students here but also by the teachers. Simple things like saying "christmas break" instead of "winter break" makes me and people of religions other than christianity at this school feel like outsiders. Being of another religion other than christianity makes it hard at this school not only during the holiday season but all year long, just within the last few weeks I have heard some horrible remarks mainly projected towards the Jewish people. One comment came from a kid while talking with a group of others disscusing religion saying "I don't necisarily mind Jews, but Gypseys, man they freak me out". Or a joke I was told a few weeks ago, "What's the difference between Jews and a pizza? Pizzas don't scream when you put them in the oven." These two comments alone show how close minded and uneducated people not only in this school but city are. These kids will grow up to be close minded and uneducated adults because of the fact that they are not taught about other religions and holidays. They are taught to always say "Merry Christmas" and "Christmas Break" without even realizing there are other people in this world besides people that celebrating christmas. I don't want to feel uncomfterable during the holiday season at school because i am a different religion other that Christain and I shouldn't. I shouldn't have to sing christmas songs or even listen to them at school. Christmas plays, assemblys need to stop. It's not called the "Holiday Season" just because christmas is this month. There are also holidays like Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Divali and Ramadan. I am positive that there are kids in this school that celebrate these holidays and it's not fair to them and me that during school hours we have to partake in Christams activites. Its not about merley mentioning these holidays or adding activites thats going to make things fair. But the people in this school need to be educated, and taught that it's not okay to pass judgment on people because of their religion. Even if we don't have to watch the plays or listen to the choir playing the Christmas music it's ridiculous that the only thing theses people can come up with are Christams themed things. It's because of the teachers and faculty members don't teach the kids about this and they need to because these close minded uneducated kids will grow up to be close minded and uneducated. You can say you can't stop the "Merry Christmas" and I understand that it's not about that stopping its about people understanding that there are other holidays and other religions and the need to respect that fact. They need to learn it's not okay to laugh when someone says I'm not Christain I'm ____. What ever it might be people dont have to agree with it they just need to respect it. You cant change the worlds veiws on this but you can educate these students and action needs to be taken. |