Watching the Halloween parade this year, I couldn’t help but reminisce on my own time walking through Parker’s hallways, decked out in my Halloween costume. Each year I looked forward to making my appearance (as Cinderella, Supergirl, a referee, a spider witch, and a peppermint) for the “big kids,” teachers, and administration. Marching through the school with my classmates, I felt important.

This year, though, as I observed the parade, I noted, with a tinge of sadness, a perceived lack of enthusiasm from every party involved. Perhaps it was the lack of dressed-up Upper School students or the fact that the long, snake-like line was constantly breaking apart, forcing students to run in their heavy morphsuits or cardboard box costumes to catch up with their peers. But in my mind, the most likely explanation was the gradual decay of yet another Parker tradition.

Corinthians. Piece of the House. County Fair. The Halloween Parade. The Thanksgiving Morning Ex. Twelve Days. School years at Parker, it seems, are landmarked by the various traditions observed by the school community throughout the year. If the Blue Calendar were to be completely erased save for traditions, which have been in place for twenty or more years, the majority of the calendar would remain intact.

However, as an institution that labels itself seemingly relentlessly as “progressive,” Parker must continually make an important choice: sacrifice the preservation of tradition in the interest of keeping up with evolving politics and ideas, or keep these traditions unchanged at the expense of its progressive identity.

Evidence of this decision is reflected in the school’s day-to-day operations and in the gradual shifts of tradition over the years. Some changes are simply implemented because they are logical and parallel societal development, such as the increase of videos in the Thanksgiving and Twelve Days Morning Ex. Some are the result of heightened political consciousness and correctness: the introduction of other religious passages into the Corinthians Morning Ex, the elimination of various County Fair booths, and the repeated shutdown of Senior Pranks for the past few years.

Changes to traditions within the walls of 330 W. Webster are met with varying degrees of resistance from students. As a thirteenth-year Parker student, I miss the various traditions that have been reduced to memories for my classmates and me, who’ve spent our weekdays at Parker since Junior Kindergarten, and I’m willing to admit that I’ve been guilty of grumbling on more than one occasion when a teacher or administrator announces the removal of a tradition intertwined with my upbringing.

But more recently, my perspective has begun to shift. Awareness of the less-than-innocuous origins or histories of certain Parker traditions—whether or not the school’s intentions themselves were pure—is undoubtedly important in the community, and it is something we lacked for a long time.

Don’t get me wrong—I identify myself as a Parker tradition-lover through and through. Even as the novelty wears away with my age, I still find myself smiling and participating in the majority of our traditions, however unconventional.

The only change is my heightened consciousness of the cultural appropriateness of the traditions as they pertain to an ever-changing society. And while I do think that the administration has become too sensitive as it pertains to certain traditions—both those I participated in and those I looked forward to—I maintain that there is beneficiality in discussion of the background of traditions in our community.

In recent years, the discussion surrounding our school’s traditions has become too polar, seeming more and more like a war between the students and the administration. Although reconciliation may not be possible, both parties should attempt to more effectively communicate their points of view so that they can reach a mutual understanding.

Parker’s progressive mission does not need to be undermined by the school’s various traditions and vice versa. Through open conversation, perhaps we can find a middle ground between the complete abandonment of traditions for the sake of political correctness, and the preservation of traditions at the expense of cultural appropriation.