Editor’s Note: This piece is one-half of a duo debating whether or not Parker should cancel classes on Jewish Holidays. The sister-article which argues in opposition can be found here.

Happy New Year! It’s 5779!

We should take off school for the Jewish holidays. We already have a break dedicated to Christmas, get the international New Years off, and get other holidays off of school, such as Columbus Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Presidents Day. A large portion of students each year miss school to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement for the Jewish people.

The Jewish holidays pull a significant number of students out of class. Meanwhile, the majority of classes have a free day of sorts to ensure that those missing class are not at a disadvantage. From what I have been told by students who are not Jewish, most classes turn into a review day, a movie day, or a day of games. Some classes, though, ignore the fact that it’s a holiday. From this, a normal lesson is taught: effectively punishing students for missing class to engage with their religion.

It is important to cancel class for the Jewish holidays because they fall during the first few weeks of school, when it is hard for students to miss class. Because the holidays fall in the first few weeks of September, it is disruptive to teachers to have classes where they are expected to not teach any new material. Everyone would be better off if we took the day off of school, as classes wouldn’t be disrupted.

Other schools in the Independent School League such as The Latin School of Chicago and North Shore Country Day, take school off for the Jewish Holidays because both schools have a large Jewish student population, similar to Parker. To be noted, no school in the ISL cancels school for Diwali, which this year is on Wednesday, November 7th. Some people will argue that we should have holidays such as Diwali off, but I do not think that we need to take off school for other religious holidays because these holiday do not impact a significant portion of the schools population and are not as disruptive to classes as the Jewish holidays are.

We already get off for the major Christian holiday of Christmas. The winter break that students have across the world is in existence due to Christmas being on December 25th. So why can’t the Jewish students at Parker have a break for their holidays as well?

In order to minimize the disruption of classes throughout all grades and to ensure that Jewish students, like myself, are able to celebrate their holidays, we should not have school at all. Classes are not disrupted majorly by Diwali, Good Friday, or other holidays.

If there is worry about having so much class off, why not just give high school the day off of school? High School students face greater academic repercussions for missing class and can quickly fall behind if teachers choose to proceed with lessons or homework without their presence.

So, we should have the Jewish holidays off! If we don’t, there should be guidelines put out for teachers regarding how much new material they are allowed to teach on the two days where Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur fall.