Somebody out there please refresh my memory and tell me what exactly was the point of missing classes Monday. Oh, I can hear it now, “We were observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day.”
Is that so? Why, then, were the campus offices still open for business? Why was the Colvin Center open? Quite frankly, there is really no indication of a holiday observance here. It seems that the only purpose of “observing” MLK Jr. Day was to let kids out of class, right?
I was never a big proponent of skipping classes on MLK Jr. Day. What’s the point? It no more observes the ideals and deeds of Martin Luther King Jr. than would skipping class on Columbus Day observe Columbus. Why? Because no one else is getting the day off! People still go to work, and offices are still open. This, good friends, is a major travesty on the part of the OSU executives who plan the schedule each year. It is also a slap in the face of the late Dr. King. He’s probably turning over in his grave right now to see what’s become of the day that observes him and his accomplishments. Honestly, do you actually think that Dr. King would be pleased to know that the entirety of observing his day consists of kids getting out of class so that they can go party? Would he be pleased to know that education is being put on hold? I think not. Maybe if it were widely observed by many non-school institutions and all work shut down as is the case for a holiday such as Labor Day, the situation might be different. But, in its current form, the observation of MLK Jr. Day serves no purpose but to halt education.
By now, everyone is wondering the same thing that I am. Who are the geniuses that got together and dreamed this up? As I recall, the observe-by-missing-classes idea might have originated in the student body and our ever-so-productive SGA. This idea ranks up there with the toilet paper idea that floated around in the SGA for a while some time ago. (If you missed out on that one, ask an upperclassman to tell you about it.)
I seem to recall that the actual bigwigs of OSU were at first opposed to the idea, and rightly so. After all, missing classes can’t constitute a proper and fitting observance. Needless to say, I don’t recall how it slipped by the OSU execs. Perhaps, it was due to pressure from politically correct groups here on this very campus. Or maybe a few students got so excited about the prospect of missing a day of classes that they banded together and made a big hullabaloo about it.
Well, I hate to burst everyone’s bubble, but guess what? We’re not really missing a day of classes, folks. That’s right. Instead, we get the distinct pleasure of making up the missed classes on a Saturday. Yippee! Now, doesn’t that sound like fun? Aren’t we blessed to have a genius SGA to dream up new ideas for missing classes and a group OSU execs to add in ways to make those days up? Life can’t get any better, can it?
In my own humble opinion, there was never anything wrong with the MLK Jr. Day observance procedures before this brainchild came along. In the good ol’ days just a few years ago, those who really supported Dr. King’s philosophy would come together in the evening, maybe on the library lawn and hold an observance ceremony. Those who didn’t care too much stayed home and worked on homework or watched Monday night football or did whatever it is that they do on Monday evenings. It was very appropriate for the holiday and is sure a lot more than we do for Columbus on Columbus day. For Pete’s sake, people nowadays get together, bash Columbus and lament on how life would’ve been a utopia had Columbus not come along. But that’s another column for another time, and I think you get my point.
By now, the intelligent reader has arrived at the same conclusion that I have: Missing a day of class on MLK Jr. Day is absolutely ludicrous. But what can we do about it now? It’s etched in stone, or is it? I say it’s high time that we write our SGA representative and have them propose a way to reinstate classes. Sign petitions and send them to the OSU execs, starting with President Halligan.
Let’s end this gibberish and restore honor back to MLK Jr. Day by not halting the educational process. That’s what he really would have wanted.