“I believe!”
A principal at an elementary school where a
teacher denied the existence of Santa
The French philosopher Voltaire once
remarked that belief in God was so psychologically important for mankind that,
even if we could prove that God didn’t exist, it would be better to pretend
that he did.
It occurred to me today that Western
societies seem to have made the same judgement about Santa Claus. Of course every smart person and even a few
French philosophers know that Santa Claus is real. But there are some cynical people who choose
not to believe in him. Society, quite
rightly, harshly punishes these people.
This month a substitute teacher working in
New Jersey in America told a class of six and seven year olds that Santa did
not exist. The school principal told
parents that she was “troubled and disheartened” by the incident. The teacher was told that she could never
work in the school again.
I heard of a school in Japan where parents
were summoned to a meeting with their children’s teacher. The teacher scolded them for allowing their
kids to believe in Santa when they were old enough to go to elementary
school. She had done a survey of class
beliefs and had been furious when over half the class reported that they
believed in Santa.
What made this teacher angry, and what made
the American substitute teacher try to burst the bubble of wonder the children
had built around Santa? My guess is that
they have been deeply disappointed by their own lives. They experience no wonder in their lives, no
magic. So they feel jealous when they
see the joy and excitement in the children’s faces, and want to crush their
dreams. This is a worrying attitude for
a teacher of young children to have, and so it is right that they should be
banned from teaching.
I used to get very excited before Christmas. My dad would help us to leave out a glass of
whiskey and some salted nuts for Santa – either Santa or the reindeer shared
very similar tastes in late-night snacks with my dad. Then I would barely sleep before rushing out
of bed at 5 o’clock in the morning to see if Santa had come.
Life contains enough hard realities. If there were no fat postman delivering toys
to children around the world, using a team of faster than light reindeer, then
we would have to invent him.
If you have to go outside on Christmas Eve
this year, don’t forget to put on a hat.
More than a few people have had their Christmas ruined when they were
hit on the head by reindeer droppings.
Vocabulary:
a principal – a head-teacher
cynical – tending to see a dark or selfish
reason for human actions; distrustful of things which appear innocent or pure
to scold someone – to angrily tell someone off for
their bad behaviour
furious – very angry
to be ruined – to be spoiled; to go very
badly
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