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11/26/2004: "Give thanks to who?"
Now this is certainly the way to improve American public education: ignore anything historical that might possibly offend anyone:
Maryland public school students are free to thank anyone they want while learning about the 17th century celebration of Thanksgiving–as long as it's not God.
And that is how it should be, administrators say.
Young students across the state read stories about the Pilgrims and Native Americans, simulate Mayflower voyages, hold mock feasts and learn about the famous meal that temporarily allied two very different groups.
But what teachers don't mention when they describe the feast is that the Pilgrims not only thanked the Native Americans for their peaceful three-day indulgence, but repeatedly thanked God.
"We teach about Thanksgiving from a purely historical perspective, not from a religious perspective," said Charles Ridgell, St. Mary's County Public Schools curriculum and instruction director.
This fellow obviously got his "historical" training from Hole-in-the-Head University ("Where Inconvenient Stuff Leaks Out"). The kind of dunce-cap educator who thinks you can teach history and just leave out the parts you don't like is going to be the death of public education yet.
"We mention they were Puritan but students usually just understand that they had a belief system and not much more than that," said Carol Williamson, Queen Anne's County Schools' associate superintendent.
So it's not especially pertinent to understanding the history of Puritan Massachusetts to know that they were Protestant Christians. They could have been Zoroastrians or Communists or utilitarians or fascists or Sophists or Confucianists or Wiccans or pirates, and it all would have been just the same, because the specifics of a "belief system" don't matter, just so long as you have one.
Thanksgiving is usually taught as a part of social studies and emphasizes cultural immersion.
"The Pilgrim Story is read in Spanish and English," said Alfreda Adams, principal at Mills-Parole Elementary School in Anne Arundel County where 70 Hispanic students attend. "We make sure that we celebrate all cultures."
We celebrate all cultures–we just don't celebrate a lot of the stuff that makes them cultures. 
(Thanks to Kathy Shaidle for the link, even if it did make my head hurt.)
