Jesus’ Birthday Censored?
” 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
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