On the last day before Thanksgiving break, we had a community hour session where we listened to Ms. Davis talk about Thanksgiving: what it is, why we celebrate it, and its history. 

In terms of respecting others’ traditions and cultures, as Thanksgiving is a mainly American holiday, it is, of course, important for all of us to be a little familiar with Thanksgiving as we should any holiday that a student at this school celebrates. However, with an international student population as large as ours, it does not make it an important enough topic to need to be taught to students in a mandatory event. There are many topics (such as Heritage Month, Black History Month, Pride Month, etc.) that deserve the hour. Not only are they topics of more cultural importance to the students, but they are also more relatable to the whole student body. Yet, these are only acknowledged in the short time that is morning meetings or in PEAK sessions that seem to minimize these events’ actual significance. Additionally, this leads to a lack of interest in the students which is not fair to either us or the teachers, like Ms. Davis, who take their time to create these sessions

All in all, I believe that a topic like Thanksgiving, in a school like ours, especially considering the range of subjects that could hold more potential relevance and engagement student participation-wise, should stay as a one-time history class discussion and not a mandatory community hour lesson.