Parents Heatedly Debate Over Halloween Celebration in Schools

Halloween, also known as the Devil's Festival, is a traditional holiday in Western countries. To participate in the festival, participants will dress up as devils with scary, spooky makeup and costumes.

This trend is also enjoyed and responded to by many young Vietnamese people. In recent years, the costume festival has also been included in the preschool and primary school curriculum, attracting the attention of students and parents.

Parents argue over Halloween celebrations in schools photo 1 — Controversial photo of a child wearing horror makeup. Photo: Internet

However, when images of students dressed up in scary, horrifying, and even somewhat haunting costumes appeared, many parents expressed their disagreement about the school organizing a Halloween festival in school.

Having a child of preschool age, Mr. Hoang Van Thai (Hoai Duc, Hanoi) was worried when the school decided to organize Halloween and called for parents to contribute and support. This caused not only Mr. Thai but also many parents to voice their opposition.

“In my opinion, Halloween is only suitable for tourism organizations, hotels, restaurants or entertainment areas with proper organization to connect and attract customers. Organizing it in schools does not bring any value and meaning to students,” Mr. Thai shared.

Sharing the same opinion, Ms. Mai Anh (Sam Son, Thanh Hoa) shared about the case at last year's festival, her daughter cried out in the middle of the night because she was haunted by the costumes of other students in the school.

“When I took my child to class, from the gate to the lobby to the classroom, there were terrifying images. My daughter was shocked and cried so much that she couldn’t sleep for a whole week when she first attended,” said Mai Anh.

Speaking to reporters, Ms. Hoang Anh, the managing teacher of Rainbow Kindergarten (Hung Yen) said that in the 13 years since its establishment, the school has never organized a costume activity for students.

According to her, dressing up in horror costumes does not bring benefits and educational goals, care or any criteria that the school aims for. Halloween does not convey positive, happy, gentle things, so the school does not organize and does not encourage it.

“This is the school’s viewpoint and direction, so there is no right or wrong, only appropriate or not. Of course, many parents will have questions, but we will explain everything thoroughly and hope that parents will understand,” Ms. Hoang Anh shared.

Parents argue over Halloween party in school photo 2 — Parents only agree if the school dresses students appropriately. Photo: NVCC

However, many schools also support the organization of Halloween for students. On the fanpage of Cam Van Kindergarten (Cam Pha, Quang Ninh), an article was posted to help parents have a gentle view of a traditional Western holiday.

“Halloween is not as weird, scary or frightening as we imagine. Halloween is magical in the way it allows our imagination to run wild, bringing curiosity, excitement and fun.

The children were very excited and happy to participate in activities with me to decorate the background, wear costumes with the theme of masquerade and enjoy drawing on their faces to dress up and take pictures.

Currently, some schools in Hanoi have decided not to organize Halloween festivals this year. Instead, schools will incorporate and encourage students to wear cute costumes from books and stories.

This decision was immediately welcomed by many parents. However, many parents believe that this is an entertainment activity and should not be banned.

Sharing this view, Ms. Tran Hoai Anh, principal of a kindergarten in Hanoi, said that the controversy in public opinion was due to the inappropriate organization of some schools.

Some schools only focus on decorating classrooms and dressing students up in the most horrifying way with bloody, creepy, and demonic images, forgetting to introduce and help students learn about the origin, story, and meaning of Halloween.

If schools organize a festival with the wrong purpose and do not understand the true meaning of a foreign tradition, it will have serious consequences and be counterproductive to children's education. Schools should only organize it when they understand it correctly and clearly, not making Halloween a costume disaster.

Nguyen Linh

Source