Spirit Week?

This week is Spirit Week at the middle school. Yesterday students were to wear pink, red, or white in honor of Valentine's Day. Tomorrow is Black vs. Neon colors, and Thursday is Harry Potter vs. Twilight. Today, however, was "Injury Day."

Now, I know that a lot of theme days are chosen by student councils, and that there is close advising. However, I can't help but think that, really, this is just trashy. And, even though this wasn't the intent, it glosses over violence that really is happening every day. While most kids were sporting ace bandages and fake slings, drawing up wild stories about being run over by buses while trying to save dogs, other girls wore dark glasses to hide their black eyes.

So. What are these types of Spirit Days telling students? Injuries are funny? Violence can be uniting? What is it telling kids who are being abused? That today is a day when they can finally not worry about covering up their bruises, because if people see them they'll think, what, the student is full of spirit?

A few weeks ago I was reading Joel Spring's "American Education," which explained that school spirit had first been used as a way of promoting patriotism. The idea was that if a student was able to take pride in his or her school, it could lead into taking pride in his or her country. There's also the understanding that many children learn most of their social behaviors in school. With all this in mind, then, it should go without saying that school behaviors matter. School actions, rallies, and beliefs should be, at the very least, thoughtfully presented. While it's hard to make sure that everybody is taken into account and included, minimally schools should be working to not take stances that condone violence, injury, and hurt. And making a spirit day one that glorifies injuries is something that I can't stand behind.