” Christmas is about…Jesus’ Birthday,
giving to others,
reindeer, and Santa!”
This little essay came home in our first grader’s schoolwork folder last Friday. Our youngest, Levi, is only six years old. Just about the most adorable thing ever, right? Doesn’t seeing a child remember the true meaning of Christmas want to melt your heart?
It wasn’t until later, Saturday evening, just three weeks from the excitement of Christmas Eve, that he showed me his assignment. In school, the class was asked to complete the following prompt: “Christmas is about…” Essays are to be reprinted in our local paper, The Morgan Messenger, and posted in the hallways at the school.
NOTE ON BLUE WRITING: The blue ink on the paper was done by Levi after he brought the paper home. I attempted to explain this in a comment below. Indeed those added words in blue were done by a six year old. The black marking out of “Jesus Birtday” was done by an adult.
What you see above, is exactly how his paper was returned home. However, I can barely bring myself to relay what an adult has added to his paper. You see… something…, something very disturbing happened to the creation of my child’s heartfelt telling of what Christmas is to him. Something has been removed from my six year old’s words as he simply expressed his feelings of what Christmas is about. He managed to capture the essence of the true meaning of Christmas amongst all the commercialism, the decorations, the hoop-la-la! Levi stated simply the heart and soul of the season in his first thoughts. As a parent, it is hard work to compete with Santa-side of this holy time of year, isn’t it? The fact that he begins by remembering Jesus’ birthday makes this mama so proud. However, you will be surprised to discover what happened to his words, “Jesus’ Birthday”.
They were edited out – by the school.
Levi’s paper was sent home with the words “Jesus’ Birthday” marked through with several thick, black, lines. Not a note from the teacher. Not an explanation. Not a comment.
Levi was devastated. So was I.
Explain that to a child!
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11
Now, a Monday evening after a long day at school, my brave little six year old sits curled up on my lap. After body slamming his brother off the couch and throwing books at his sister, Levi surprisingly steals a moment to climb on my lap and cuddle – just the two of us.
It’s been quite a day for my little man. Back to school after expressing his joy that Christmas is about Jesus’ birthday, Levi found himself in the principal’s office with the two other little guys that expressed the same. What began as a fearful trip down the hall, Levi wondered once more if he was in trouble for his words. Just as Friday at school, he wondered if he had done something wrong. Although we assured Levi he did no wrong, this walk to the Principal’s Office terrified my little man.
Fortunately, unknown to him, some adult conversations had taken place. The first graders were told that they would be able to re-write the assignment AND they would be allowed to write about Jesus. Levi’s words to me were that “he has to do it over.”
Hummmm. I know. Not exactly the joy I had hoped for. Doesn’t seem fair, does it, if I look at it from his perspective. For now though, I think I will just sit here and hold him in my lap as long as possible (or, as long as he’ll let me – or, before he no longer fits).
Fortunately, this can be a learning opportunity for us all: Levi, me, the school, and of course, the individual that censored a child’s Christmas paper. It is not my intent to generate hard feelings at all; because I truely believe God has a plan in everything, right? A tough lesson for my little boy, perhaps by hearing about it, you too can be aware of the issues at hand. Remember, it is our constitutional right to free speech (even when you’re only six). Also, it is one of our most basic civil liberties to be able to worship as we choose. Cherish that, please, and don’t ever let your kids forget it.
As for a lesson, well…sometimes adults make mistakes too. In the meantime, I thought that I would share the following publication: just in case you find yourself in a similar situation. (I hope you don’t)!
link: freedomforum.org/publications/first/teachersguide/teachersguide.pdf
Copyright © Angie Hott, Moms of Faith, All Rights Reserved
Tweet
About Angie Hott
Thank you for sharing your story. While this has not ever happened to one of my children I think your story and the way you have presented it are very encouraging. I believe that one of the things we as a church need to do is support our fellow moms who have kids in school. To help us to be watchful, to know our rights, to know how to minister to our babies. All wonderful gifts to give each other. Thanks again!
Tell Levi that Aunt Cindy is VERY proud of him. And it IS Jesus’ birthday!
I just have a question. I’m fine with the story and I totally agree that the kids should be able to express themselves about Christ and Christmas. However, I can’t help but noting that the writing in blue is not what would be expected from a teacher. First, it looks like a child’s writing. Second, the word “total” is spelled “totel” (sic). Among other things, I’m just wondering why this part of the paper is the way that it is. Again, I’m very happy he was able to do it over, I’m just slightly concerned by this extra writing that doesn’t seem to be addressed by you. Thanks.
WOW! I would have been very angry…and very proud. What a wise little man you have. I wonder what they would do at Easter if someone brought up the resurrection?
So who wrote “totel [sic] mess-up”? Did the teacher or a teacher’s assistant blot out the “Jesus’s birthday” portion? What explanation were you given? What other steps were taken to correct the un-identified “adult” who blotted out the words? “Christ mass” would seem to be enough to settle the issue…unless the adult is stupid enough to thinks a child’s mentions of his religion is illegal or something.
We had a similar situation during “interpreting” a painting called “the scream” last year. It was 3rd grade and around Halloween. My kid had nightmares! So sad!
Dustin, I don’t know who wrote “totel mess up” on the paper, but unfortunately there are a lot of teachers out there who cannot spell, or write, for beans. Sad but true.
Thank you for posting this. I really can’t believe these words were crossed out. I also can’t believe an adult/teacher wrote the comment in blue. While everyone, including teachers, makes mistakes in spelling at times, the writing appears to be that of a child…not a teacher.
That was not an adult handwriting that wrote “totel mess up.” It is definitely a child that did it. I’d like to understand how that happened before I pass judgement on the teacher.
I sent Angie a message. She will answer your question when she gets is I am certain. :)
Hello and Merry Christmas!
Thanks so much for sharing with me about Levi’s essay. Here is what happened to his paper that you see above: The black markings were done by an adult at the elementary school. On Saturday evening, Levi was showing us his papers. While trying to decipher who would mark out “Jesus Birthday” some serious “sleuthing” was going on with Levi’s siblings, Violet and Isaac. It was Violet that noticed that there was also an “h” added to his word birthday because Levi originally spelled it “birtday”. If you look closely, it can be seen under the black lines. Levi was embarassed that he spelled birthday wrong and added the ink scribbles to his paper, that he “messed-up” the spelling. Oh well, he is just six. The black lines are from the school and the blue ink is from Levi.
So, I apologize that I did not clarify that in the column. I hope that it is more clear now. I guess I should have included an explanation of the edit from the adult and subsequent edit from Levi.
To update on the assignment, all the children in Levi’s class were allowed to add Jesus to their stories and they will be included in the local paper among several others! So, the misunderstanding has been resolved – Praise God!
love, a
Years ago, when one of my sons was about 8 or 9, we were sponsoring a child in India through Christian Children’s Fund. The little girl was about the same age as my sons and the children had exchanged letters and pictures. One day, my son asked if he could take some of the letters from our child in India for “show and tell” at school. I agreed and helped him collect a packet of letters from our girl in India so he could take them to school. When he returned home that evening, he burst into tears almost as soon as he saw me and tossed down the packet of letters from our child in India – which he had collected so carefully the day before. I asked him what was wrong because, by the time that they are 8 or 9, little boys are VERY reluctant to burst into tears around anyone – including Mom! My son tearfully explained that the teacher would NOT allow him to show the letters from our little girl in India because the name of the organization which was helping us to sponsor the child was called the CHRISTIAN Children’s Fund! I told him not to worry about it. The following Sunday, I arranged with his SUNDAY school teacher to allow him to do his “show and tell” presentation for his Sunday school class. His Sunday school teacher was delighted and he told his SUNDAY School classmates all about the girl in India whom we were sponsoring through CHRISTIAN Children’s Fund. The other children were impressed and they all decided to write letters to our little girl in India. At the end of the SUNDAY school class period, my son had a collection of fine letters from his SUNDAY School classmates, which we eventually sent to our sponsored child in India. After discussing the matter with some of the other Sunday school teachers, we were all appalled at the number of times which something of this sort had happened to their children at school. In one class, when the children were studying about foreign languages, one of the teachers related that her son had taken a Spanish translation of an easy reader Bible story from the American Bible Society to show to his teacher. He was told that it was fine for him to show the easy reader story to his teacher, but he should NOT show the story to any of his classmates, because it was a Bible story. (Since the majority of the little boy’s classmates could NOT, obviously, read Spanish – it would be hard to guess how the other children would be able to realize that this was a BIBLE story!) After some discussion among our church’s SUNDAY School teachers and the pastor, our church decided to initiate a “show and tell” time during our SUNDAY School classes. For the most part, the children brought in projects which they had originally taken to the public school for “show and tell” – but had been told by teachers – or others in authority – that they would NOT be allowed to make their “show and tell” presentations because the presentations mentioned Jesus, God or the Bible. We were overwhelmed by the number of children who brought lovely little “show and tell” presentations to share with their SUNDAY school classes – after they had been told that they could NOT make that same presentation in front of their class at the PUBLIC school! If you become aware of the history of SUNDAY SCHOOLS – you soon learn that SUNDAY SCHOOLS were originally started in inner-city churches because the children who were arriving in the Sunday Schools could NOT read, even though the Public Schools which the children attended were passing the children from grade to grade. The original reason for SUNDAY SCHOOLS was to make sure that children could read well enough to be able to read the Bible for themselves, since, especially in Protestant churches, being able to read the Bible for yourself was an important foundation for building faith! Perhaps it is time for Sunday Schools all over the country to begin reclaiming that original mission of the Sunday School program and begin including in Sunday School curriculum ways in which parents and Sunday School volunteers can supply many of the important essentials of good education which are, increasingly, sadly lacking in our PUBLIC schools. An interesting side note – the CHRISTIAN Children’s Fund has, since that time, officially changed their name. We could not help but wonder if the reason for that change was because the organization was receiving too much flak because they had identified themselves as a CHRISTIAN organization!
Hi Hope!
Thanks so much for your comment. You are absolutely right — I am encouraged by the support from other moms both on Moms of Faith as well as my church. In fact, another mom called me concerned about her child’s essay with the exact same “edits”. Fortunately, our small community was very supportive and understanding. I’ve been praying for others that may not have a chance to re-write as our children did.
Merry Christmas to you,
love, a
Dear Dustin, Sarahw, Jennifer, Lisa, and Kristie:
Thank you all so much for your comment and bringing up the question over the “blue” writing on Levi’s school paper. I am very grateful for all of you and am thankful that you brought it up. The blue ink on the paper was done by Levi after he brought the paper home. I attempted to explain this in a comment above. Please also let me apologize for not addressing that in the column… I really should have clarified what Levi did later as a result of being teased by Violet for mispelling “birthday”. Indeed those added words in blue were done by a six year old. The black marking out of “Jesus Birtday” was done by an adult.
Again, you all are awesome! Thanks for your questions and comments!
Merry Christmas to you all!
love, a
Dear Sarahw,
You asked what explanation was given. Well, that is actually a very loooong story. I had an immediate response from the adult even over the weekend. Eventually, after many phone calls, our pastor spoke with the school on a Sunday evening. All was well first thing Monday morning! It was a misunderstanding and has since been corrected. Praise God!
Maybe I can post Levi’s essay when it comes out in this week’s local paper! Well… we all know what it says already!
Merry Christmas!
love, a
Dear Joy…. Oooooh yes, I am so proud! Thank you for your comments! Hummmm,… I never thought about Easter essays! I’ll keep you posted.
Merry Christmas!
love, a
Dear Lois:
I know exactly how you feel! Thank you so much for telling me your story too! I was wondering if something like this would happen in my little world if it happens elsewhere. Wow, how sad! And even sadder is how we moms have to watch our little guys (or gals) be crushed when they celebrate their faith. Isn’t that so hard? You know, when Levi first showed us his essay, he scrunched up his paper. He later told me that he thought he was in trouble for writing “Jesus Birthday” Another mom’s little guy was so upset that he threw out his paper in the trash. First graders try so hard to impress adults that seeing their work edited like that was crushing… especially when they are sharing Jesus’ love!
As a substitute teacher, I am aware of the origins of our school system too (as well as sensitive issues over religion in the schools). You have some great ideas about Sunday Schools! How exciting for the students to share.
I am hoping that is NOT why the organization changed their name! Goodness! What does that teach our children????
Merry Christmas to you!
love, a
Another great article Angie. Merry Christmas to the Hott Family!
God bless you Levi and your family who have taught you correctly. You may also turn it around on the amoral nonbelievers who teach Levi and tell them that the Jesus (Heyzeus) that was written about was a a poor little hispanic child then everything would be PC. Merry CHRISTMAS
Hi!
I’m not a “mom”-I’m a “dad”, but I like this post; it proves once again (“quand eram demonstrandum”) what kind of “education” is given to children in public schools. I tried to print it, but I cannot print the 2-nd half–Why is that? Please answer this question!
Thank you, moms,
Peter
Dear sfcpete:
Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas to you!
love, a
Angie, it is not clear to me as to WHY the teacher crossed out the words “Jesus’ birthday.” What did the teacher give as her reasoning?
Angie, I want to compliment you for handling this with grace and kindness. I am so sorry this happened to your son. Thank you for sharing this with us, we need to know the challenges our children and grandchildren are facing everyday. Many reasons for standing together in prayer, and speaking the truth with gentleness and respect. Blessed Christmas to you!
Hi Marie:
I contacted the teacher and expressed my concern over the edits to Levi’s paper. She responded right away. It was a complete misunderstanding. She thought that the students were not allowed to include Jesus in the assignment and was planning to have them redo the paper Monday morning after explaining that writing about Jesus wasn’t allowed. She was afraid that she would get in trouble if the students included Jesus in the prompt. Before that happened, the principal met with her and explained otherwise. Praise God! In the end, she was soooo happy that Jesus could be included! :-)
Thanks for reading the story.
love, a
Angie, you’re Christian patience, grace and courage is shown in your kind but firm handling of the situation. I am saddened that such poor judgement is being used by professional educators in my District. Our American system is based on fundamental rights. Freedom of speech is the very first Admendment, hence establishing it’s predominance in our culture. Freedom of thought is theoretically the foundation of learning. I’m concerned that any of our teachers would feel (from Administration?) that they should diminish either. Political correctness is contained in neither fundamental principle. This reinforces the importance of “the family” in providing true education to young minds!
Angie, thanks for clearing that up. I’m surprised that teacher would be concerned at all about the children including Jesus in their writings. Pretty harmless, I think. And after all, it is the children’s personal viewpoints. She must have gotten confused. It’s against the Constitution for public school teachers to preach religious belief as fact to students (thank goodness!), but certainly does not mean the students themselves can’t express their own views.
Hi Angie, sadly this isn’t uncommon…it only gets worse into college…and to think…us christians over-pay for this so-called “education”.
The teacher claims it was a misunderstanding…where did she get her understanding from? What source led her to believe that Jesus was not allowed? Who told her it was not allowed to include the word “Jesus”? Or, where was that documented for her to read? Newspaper rules? School rules? The Principal’s rules? Did other teachers have the same “misunderstanding”? Did you ask other parents in other classrooms if this was the rule?
My son had to turn a T-shirt inside-out one day in the 8th grade at Hedgesvile Middle School because it had a *GASP!* Christian message on it. It took a letter from a lawyer at the Rutherford Institute to have them cease and desist…only then did they admit that it was a “misunderstanding”.
These teachers are supposedly well-educated college graduates…what part of “free speech” did they not learn? Did Morgan County provide training on this issue so that it doesn’t happen again? Make sure they get training on this subject and successfully pass a test or no J-O-B. Will new teachers be given orientation to prevent this from happening again? Once trained, the easy excuse of “misunderstanding” is no longer plausible and their true intent is revealed.
Dear Senator Barnes:
Thank you for reading the column and sharing your thoughts. I am grateful for your comment! We, too, certainly were surprised to see Levi’s paper with these edits. Unfortunately, the individual was frightful that there would be negative consequences if she allowed the students to include “Jesus” in the essay. She, in no way, disagrees with celebrating Jesus’ birthday. Gratefully, the situation was resolved in a respectful and timely manner by both school and teacher. She completely misunderstood what was permitted and is glad to now know otherwise. I would be interested to know your thoughts on rule 4373 recently adopted by the WV Deptartment of Education. Can you share?
Merry CHRISTmas to you!
love, a
Tom:
You know what?… I really don’t know what source lead the teacher to believe that she was not allowed to have the first graders (or any student) write about Jesus. Although I was curious about the basis of her misinformation, ultimately I was more concerned that my child understood that he is not only allowed to share his religious beliefs but it is a cool right that he has to do this! My energies have been more to console his confusion. Only a first grader, he was pretty puzzled why his paper got an edit.
Oh no! How awful for your son! Good to hear it was resolved… and it sounds as if it was with much more turmoil than our situation. Have you learned of rule 4373? I would be curious to hear your opinion.
Merry CHRISTmas to you,
love, a
@Angie, I haven’t read that policy yet…I just pulled it up and scanned it quickly…seems they did a pretty good job on defining bullying (many schools include peer pressure or joking as bullying). I have moved out of WV and have not kept up with WV stuff; not even sure how I ended up on this site :)
Once I read it I will come back and let you know my thoughts.
I also had a daughter come home from school in tears one day…she was told that her answers on a test about dinosaurs were all wrong; she was the straight “A” student (I taught her that dinosaurs existed at the same time as humans and that a world-wide flood destroyed the dinosaurs)…she was ridiculed by the teacher and classmates…it seems to be a major negative influence on her these passed 15 years :(