It's the Best I Could Do With What Little Logic There is Behind Either Side...

We sit intently on the couch, watching. We wait with impatience as the names scroll across the bottom of the screen; each character leading us closer to the impending victory. One by one the names scroll by; it seems like the goal we wish to achieve is impossible; just out of our grasp. Then, we see it. Just six letters in and we know our wish has been granted: another snow day. But wait; didn’t we just have one? And another just a few weeks prior? And how could you forget the two cancellations we had just one day into week two of the second semester? The one that spawned over 300 comments on your Facebook page after a refusal to cancel for a third day? With only four snow days built in to our schools schedule, this could present quiet the dilemma. The question will undoubtedly arise of how to make up the omitted days.  Viable options encompass everything from adding on days at the end of the year, effecting our summer release date, to attending school on Saturdays, a practice already in effect in many cities across the eastern seaboard. The best option would appear to be to allow an exception for these days, for two reasons: many student’s families have already made plans for summer vacations that could be effected by these extra days, and if we were to go to school on Saturdays, it would interfere with your student’s and faculty’s religious obligations.

School is by far the most important thing we will ever attend, and succeeding in school is invaluable for our life’s pursuits. Should a vacation really get in the way of school’s importance? And why should religions far less popular than (in the US) Christianity get in the way of our students education? While these seem like minute things in the grand scheme of our school year, they are both very important repercussions of a decision to extend our time in school.

The Caribbean: alluring, breathtakingly clear seas, enthralling, white sand beaches, beautiful, bronzed bodies, and a prevalent vacation spot among families and children in our schools. Along with being sunny and warm, it’s also an expensive place to visit. As of 7:27 on 13 February 2011, the cheapest flight package for a family of four was 352 dollars per person from Kansas City International to Nassau International in the Bahamas. The flight would leave on 24 May 2011, and return on 01 June 2011. If you’re staying in a foreign country, you’ll probably need facilities to stay at. The absolute cheapest hotel I could find was 87 dollars a night for a room with two double beds, and not much else. The total price, before you even get in to any attractions, activities, and dining, is 2,191 dollars. Not including money for clothes, if need be, or a passport, which is absolutely necessary to travel to the Bahamas. Even if you could cancel, you would most likely have to pay an airfare cancellation fee, or it could even be nonrefundable, or you already put down a deposit on your flight. We all know about the hassles with big airlines, their lack of customer service, etc, etc. Would you really want to ruin a families well thought out and meticulously planned vacation, or take away their money in fees for a trip they never even went on; money that could contribute to the taxes and donations that fund your education system? But I don’t think that this would eclispe the outcry for having school on Saturdays.

One of the greatest rights bestowed upon American citizens is that we have a right to freely practice whatever religion we choose. It was the reason why our ancestors came here in the first place; to escape religous persecution. In the last few years, this right has been slowly being narrowed toward followers of the Christian religion due to fear of other religions, and just by the shear number of Christians in the United States. Something that would further impede on this right is attendance of school on Saturdays. Celebrated by followers of the Jewish religion, The Sabbath is their weekly celebration, comparable to Sunday for the Christian faith. Held from sundown Friday night to sundown on Saturday night, it is a day to pray and study; a day of refrain from their daily cares. They attend a service on Saturday morning, where they read and study the portion of the Torah for the week, along with an accompanying portion taken from the Prophets. As a public institution, you cannot just cater to one religion. Despite Christianity’s popularity among Americans, there are other religions in this city. If I wanted religious days off, I would be in a private school run by a church, not a public school run by the city, county, state, and country made up of different faiths and beliefs.

There are a multitude of choices to make up our missed days, but these two listed are not reasonable in any way. If you can find a choice that would at least not interfere with religious obligations or expensive, well planned trips, then I would be more than happy to endorse it.