Elementary Schools Put The Lame in Halloween

October 30, 2009 - 3:00 pm By Hillary - Columbia

Pretty sure hot dogs are scarier than a zombie.

Elementary school sure has changed since we were kids. Today, recess is getting shorter, cafeterias are getting healthier, and Halloween is getting much, much less fun.

Around the country, teachers and parents are crusading to make sure that kids celebrating Halloween aren’t dressing up in scary costumes in school. As Tom Hernandez of Plainfield, Illinois says in the article, “Some people thought Halloween was a Satanic ritual. Well, let’s not say Satanic — let’s say they were not comfortable with what it represents.”

As a result, students in Plainfield “are being encouraged to dress up as historical characters or delicious food items rather than vampires or zombies.” Because what little kid wouldn’t love dressing up as stalk of asparagus or Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, instead of as a zombie or a bloodsucking fiend?

It’s absolutely ridiculous that scary Halloween costumes have gone the way of snap bracelets and Pogs. The adults behind this silly campaign are probably all the type of buzzkills who hand out toothbrushes and shiny red apples when trick-or-treaters ring their doorbells.

“We established the guidelines of ‘positive costumes’ from the beginning,” says Texas principal Erin Tite, “knowing what we might see if we chose not to establish boundaries.” But what exactly is she referring to? What mother or father would let their child go to school in a costume that’s overtly grotesque or inappropriate and offensive in the first place? Why don’t these administrators have any faith in their pupils or their parents?

Either way, the people quoted in this article have entirely missed the point of Halloween. Scary costumes are to October 31 as turkey, valentines, and poor decisions are to Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, and New Year’s Eve, respectively. I think someone needs to TP all of their houses to teach them a lesson about having proper respect for a holiday.

Dia says:
Fri, 30th Oct 20093:28 pm

poor kids, first they make kindergarten all day now this? they arent letting kids be kids anymore. What child will recognize a Betsy Ross costume? Kill joys

S. says:
Fri, 30th Oct 20097:26 pm

When I was in middle school, we weren’t allowed to wear costumes on Halloween at all. (The school board felt it was disrespectful to the handful of Jehovah Witnesses in our school.) If we wanted to celebrate Halloween at school that day we could only do so by wearing orange and black.

Beks says:
Fri, 30th Oct 200911:55 pm

While I agree with the point that they are taking the fun out of Halloween, I disagree with this part, “What mother or father would let their child go to school in a costume that’s overtly grotesque or inappropriate and offensive in the first place? Why don’t these administrators have any faith in their pupils or their parents?” They have no faith in the pupils and parents because parenting these days is seriously going down the drain. Look at the little kids costumes in the stores, they sell little girl versions of sexy Leg Avenue costumes, and little boys parents would likely buy them the scariest thing they saw. a lot of it is probably “kids parenting kids” Kids ARE growing up too quickly, and NOT in a good, mature, way. But going after Halloween doesn’t fix anything.

Tawny says:
Mon, 9th Nov 20098:18 pm

It has been about a decade since I was in elementary school and even back then we were limited to what we coud wear. If I wanted to dress up for Halloween at school I had to find a character in a book and have it approved by faculty. It was pretty lame. I think one year I happened to have a bunny costume and went as Peter Cottontail.