Steve Malzberg
Tuesday, May 8, 2001

I too am very proud. The card is the first thing he has ever made by himself (with a little help from mommy). It's an 8-by-10 sheet of blue paper, with various colors painted on. In the middle is Robert's picture. The letters spell out, "Happy Mother's day." I tell my wife that we must hang it up in a prominent spot. She agrees, and I head downstairs to read the newspapers.

Imagine my surprise and shock when I read the front page of the New York Post, which boldly announces, "School Kills Mother's Day." The small print went on to explain, "Gay parents force principal to ban cards."

I immediately turned to the story by Post columnist Andrea Peyser. As she reports it, the students who attend Rodeph Sholom Day School on Manhattan's Upper West Side came home from school last Friday with a note. The note was penned by Cindi Samson, the school's director of the lower elementary division. "I am writing this letter to inform you that after much thought and discussion this past year, we will not be celebrating Mother's and Father's day," said the opening of the letter. One of the reasons given for the decision: "families in our society are now diverse and varied."

There was more. "We are a school with many different family makeups, and we need to recognize the emotional well-being of all children in our school. Holidays that serve no educational purpose and are not vital to the children's education need to be evaluated in terms of their importance in a school setting, as the recognition of these holidays in a social setting may not be a positive experience for all children."

Translation: Some kids have two "mommies" and some have two "daddies," and they might feel a bit uneasy about their situation. So in order to cater to them, we will ignore those who have one mommy and one daddy. We will ignore the fact that there is a Mother's Day and a Father's Day and deny all the children the pleasure of making their parent a card or handmade gift, so as not to hurt the feelings of those who come from "alternative lifestyle" homes. We will ignore the biblical commandment that instructs us to "Honor thy father and mother" because some have two of one and none of the other. We will soak ourselves in political correctness at the cost of saying so long to a cherished American tradition.

It should be noted that Ms. Peyser reports that this new policy went into effect after a man - who adopted his son with a male partner - boasted that he had met with school administrators and persuaded them to remove the holidays from the school's holiday list. I also want to point out that most of the parents interviewed by Peyser disagreed with the change in policy, but feared that speaking out would adversely affect their child, and asked not to be identified. Keep in mind that these frightened parents actually pay $15,000 to $20,000 in tuition for the privilege of running scared.

There are many questions to ponder as a result of this innovative move by the folks at the Rodeph Sholom school. First, will this move be limited to this school, or can we expect other private and public schools to follow? Will this become an issue at the top of the radical gay agenda? Is it a first move in an attempt to rid the schools of any gender identification at all? Shouldn't gay couples who adopt children be proud of their situation and teach their children that they too should be proud? Where was the sensitivity to those who have lost a parent through death or divorce? What have they done for all these years of celebrating these holidays in school?

Finally, perhaps the most important question is what will be the next holiday to be taken off the school's schedule? Thanksgiving? You know, the Pilgrims killed all those Indians and stole their land.

As I look at the card that my young son made for his mom I am grateful that he is growing up in the best nation on the face of the earth. At the same time I fear for his future in a nation where to a great many, being politically correct is more important than being just plain correct. Every time correctness loses, a little bit of this nation dies.

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