Halloween Humdrum

I clicked on an article entitled, Trick or treat? Trend to ban Halloween is mixed bag for educators, parents, thinking I might be in for a thoughtful discussion from both sides of the aisle. When political discourse can rarely be said to be "thoughtful," I don't know why I expected more from this article. (Is there an emoticon that suggests an eye-roll? Imagine one right here.)

From the article:

... said Skokie, Ill., District 69 Superintendent Quintin Shepherd, in a letter to parents. “Many students cannot afford costumes and there is an economic disparity. We also have students that are unable to participate for religious or cultural reasons.”

...“Why suck the fun out of school?” one student posted online on the school's website. “Halloween isn't a religious or political holiday; it's only about having fun.”

“It’s the best part of the school year,” posted another student. “Everyone dresses up and gives out candy. How can that be bad?”.

...Administrators say school is not the place for Halloween, and at least a few parents in Skokie agree.

“We'll take a personal day with my children away from school expressing ourselves through costume and possible Satan worshipping,” wrote one poster on the District 69 website.

(Did the author of this article NOT see the sarcasm here?!?!)

The article then goes on to blame high-stakes testing, political correctness, and the banning of everything from Christmas to the Pledge of Allegience. However, the fundamental question seems to be, Will we still get candy?

Here are some of my questions and thoughts--which may or may not be any more intelligent than anything I quoted above...

When a school district "bans" Halloween, what exactly does that mean? Is it the same as banning books? When a school bans a book, or a holiday, is it really preventing people from reading said book, or celebrating said holiday?

Do holiday celebrations serve an educational purpose? If so, in what ways? And if so, wouldn't trick-or-treating also serve an educational purpose? (In other words, are we being redundant?) If there is no educational purpose, do I need to finish asking this question?

And finally, is there anyone left in the world who thinks that candy is good for children's brains?

You can probably tell what my bias is here. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to start crusading against school parties. I'm just suggesting that this argument is yet another distraction from the real purpose of schooling and education.