Technolandy

Day 37 (of 2026/27) Friday is for: Option 7 – celebrating hypocrisy! Happy All Hallows Eve Eve…

Schools are creatures of habits – both good and bad…

.

But we are often bastions of saying one thing and doing another… and I’m okay with it as long as we all know we are…

Bill C35 is about safe social media, but I haven’t seen other schools/districts giving notice that they are going to discontinue their social media accounts (Facebook, YouTube, instagram etc) – again, I’m fine being a hypocrite because I do believe that the social medias are worth a study and IF we had taught them better earlier, there may be better habits today…

.

But this is about all hallows eve…

.

.

A conflicting one is the cultural? religious? Celebration of all hallows eve as “Hallowe’en” – 

.

The hypocrisy buffet  🍬 healthy food choices… ?

We don’t promote religion. Except when we do.

We won’t teach religion, but we might decorate the school with ghosts, witches, skeletons and symbols connected to a religiously complicated holiday. We might call it cultural. Or seasonal. Or just fun.

The provocation: When does a religious tradition become sufficiently commercialized that we stop recognizing its religious roots?

.

Some traditions are more equal than others.

Halloween. Christmas concerts. Easter eggs. Valentine’s Day. The Pledge of Allegiance (in some jurisdictions…) Land acknowledgements. Remembrance Day.

Schools are remarkably capable of distinguishing between a tradition and a religious practice, depending on which tradition we’re discussing.

The provocation: Is it the religious content that determines what is permitted, or how familiar and comfortable the majority finds it?

.

Come as you are. But preferably as we are.

Team costumes. Spirit days. The expectation that everyone joins in. The assumption that a child who doesn’t dress up is missing out, or that a colleague who opts out is being difficult.

The provocation: When does community-building become compulsory belonging?

.

The other hypocrisies hiding in the staff room

.

Choice, except when we want compliance. We celebrate student voice, then get frustrated when students choose differently from what we expected.

Be yourself, within the dress code. We celebrate individuality, provided it doesn’t make anyone ‘uncomfortable’.

Inclusion, provided everyone participates the same way. We accommodate differences in theory, then organize activities that assume everyone has the same beliefs, resources, family circumstances and enthusiasm.

Critical thinking, unless it questions our traditions. We ask students to challenge assumptions, but how often do adults examine the assumptions behind their own school rituals?

We celebrate diversity, but we love a theme. We invite students to bring their whole selves to school, then sometimes flatten cultural practices into decorations, costumes or a single multicultural celebration.

.

.

Schools are museums that think they’re laboratories

.

Schools are expected to innovate. To personalize learning. To prepare students for a changing world. To embrace diversity, inclusion and new ideas.

Yet they’re also extraordinarily good at preserving rituals simply because they’ve always existed.

We inherit the calendar. The assemblies. The theme days. The bells. The costumes. The ceremonies. The ways we recognize achievement and the ways we define appropriate behaviour.

And then we call them school culture.

But tradition isn’t proof of value. Nor is age proof of harm. Some traditions create belonging, joy and shared memories. Others quietly tell certain people that the institution wasn’t designed with them in mind.

.

The question isn’t whether we should keep traditions. It’s whether we’re willing to examine them.

F’r instance:

A) Why do we try to budge some traditions into ‘secular’ even though they are often considered ‘religious’?

B) when does participation stop being voluntary?

C) why do we preserve things simply because we’ve always done it (looking at you: assemblies, bells, ceremonies, dress codes, calendars)

D) Are we teaching critical thinking? Or compliance? As what matters most…

E) Can schools celebrate traditions without making it universal? 

.

Halloween discussions are a doorway, not a destination… after all Diwali is coming up next weekend…  both have cultural components to them…