Oh, What Next?

School Costume Event Draws Church Ire
by The Associated Press

Posted: April 7, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET

(Reedsburg, Wisconsin) An elementary-school event in which kids were encouraged to dress as members of the opposite gender drew the ire of a Christian radio group, whose angry broadcast prompted outraged calls to the district office.

Students at Pineview Elementary in Reedsburg had been dressing in costume all last week as part of an annual school tradition called Wacky Week.

On Friday, students were encouraged to dress either as senior citizens or as members of the opposite sex.

A local resident informed the Voice of Christian Youth America on Friday.

The Milwaukee-based radio network responded by interrupting its morning programming for a special broadcast that aired on nine radio stations throughout Wisconsin.

The broadcast criticized the dress-up day and accused the district of promoting alternative lifestyles.

``We believe it's the wrong message to send to elementary students,'' said Jim Schneider, the network's program director. ``Our station is one that promotes traditional family values.

``It concerns us when a school district strikes at the heart and core of the Biblical values. To promote this to elementary-school students is a great error.''

Schneider co-hosts ``Crosstalk,'' a nationally syndicated call-in Christian radio show.

After the program aired, both the school and Reedsburg School District office were flooded with calls complaining about the event.

The response surprised Principal Tammy Hayes, who said no-one had raised any objections beforehand.

She said a flier detailing Wacky Week had been sent home with children the prior week, and an announcement was also included in teacher newsletters.

The dress-up day was not an attempt to promote cross-dressing, homosexuality or alternative gender roles, district administrator Tom Benson said.

``The promotion of transgenderism _ that was not our purpose,'' Benson told the Baraboo News Republic. ``Our purpose was to have a Wacky Week, mixing in a bit of silliness with our reading, writing and arithmetic.''

This is a prime example of what is wrong with the world today.

Completely missing the point that it is "WACKY WEEK" at the school, some moron could only see that the kids were encouraged to dress as someone of the opposite sex.

They ignored the dressing as someone elderly option.
They ignored that this was in the spirit of fun.
They ignored that this makes the kids use their minds and be creative.

Why?

They are ignorant!

So now a whole brouhaha has erupted from some innocent fun.

I suppose the same people who are aghast at this were adversely affected by Jack Benny, Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Harvey Korman, Dustin Hoffman, Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo, Wesley Snipes and Robin Williams dressing as women as well. We can see how dressing as women led to those actors' slippery slopes towards Hell.

Why can't these righteous, pompously pious, I-must-stick-my-nose-into-someone-else's-business "Christians" (I quote that because we all know they are not) keep their "family values" to themselves?

If they never want to experience any fun at all, that's fine by me. The school here is just trying to get the kids to engage in an activity that exercises their creativity. Disguised as fun, (which being creative is) this helps to exercise a part of the kids' minds that is unfortunately neglected in today's world of standardized tests and budgetary constraints. Art and music education aids children in learning how to "think outside the box" and develop problem-solving skills they need for math and science.

Oh, I forgot...fundamentalist Christians don't want those kind of "smart (aleck) kids"...