An incident that occurs frequently in the school setting is the celebration of dominant culture Christian holidays. Last year, I observed a teacher celebrating Christmas, Easter, and Valentines Day with her class of diverse students. Three of her students followed jehovah's witness beliefs and were unable to participate in the celebrations. During the celebrations these students were sent to another classroom of students who were not celebrating at the time. This was example of institutional oppression and exclusion. These incidents sent the message to students, "if you're not one of us you're an outsider."
This message dimished equity of those students because the celebration was in recognition of traditions of some students while excluding others who do not recognize the dominant culture traditions.
For me, I remember feeling a sense of unfairness and sadness for the excluded students because they received a message "you are different and we don't completly accept you for your beliefs/traditions." I felt as though the teacher could have turned these celebratory traditions into educational opportunities for the students to exchange/share cultures rather than exclude students who "didn't fit." By creating an environment where students learn and share cultural beliefs and traditions all cultures become accepted and welcomed; therefore, all students are equal with no dominant culture influence.
I agree that situations like the one you described can be used as opportunities to learn about different cultures. In the eight grade, I attended a Catholic school and although I was being raised Catholic, my mother was Jewish. When we were reading Anne Frank and learning about the holocaust, one of my teachers asked if I would help lead the class in a Sedar. I did, and my classmates learned alot form the experience. It led to some great class discussions on religion and oppression.
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