Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Christmas around the world. My son goes to second grade. The first week of December my son's teacher started a short unit on Christmas around the world. As part of this unit, she asked each child to bring some type of food from a country for a Christmas celebration at school. She assigned the countries to the children and sent notes to children's homes in their communication folders. As a parent I do not have a problem with any of this. Here is what is puzzling to me. I immigrated to the US about 15 years ago from France. My wife is from Romania. My son was born in the US but he has strong French and Romanian cultural roots. I believe his teacher knows about my son's cultural background. However, my son was assigned to bring German food for the Christmas celebration. As a parent, I cannot understand why he was not assigned to bring French or Romanian food. What could be the teacher's reasoning? Should I be upset about this? Wouldn't it be better for my son to represent a part of his heritage in the classroom? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I'm surprised to hear of that idea. In today's increasingly culturally diverse classrooms, I'm always hearing to be sensitive to those who don't celebrate Christmas. I am always hearing about it's a "holiday season" or "holiday break" not Christmas. Christmas, I thought, was practically banned in public schools and replaced by "holidays" to incorporate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and not alienate any religious groups. Anyways, I wouldn't be upset. Perhaps the teacher's reasoning had to do with your son learning about a different culture (German) and being exposed to new knowledge rather than the cultural roots he is already familiar with. I don't think the teacher's assignment was done maliciously, but to further your son's appreciation for other cultures and yes, he should be proud of his fine heritage!