At seven in the morning on November 11^th, while students from other schools cozied up into human burrito blankets, Ridge students devoutly trudged through the frigid halls onto their next classes. Unlike other schools, Ridge High School has a very stringent schedule for taking school off for certain holidays, and Veterans Day was no exception. In fact, neither Diwali, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, nor several other national and global holidays were incorporated into the 2015-2016 school schedule.

Although several Ridge students whine about such injustice, is taking off for every holiday warranted?

No, but neglecting to incorporate some very important holidays into the school schedule is unwarranted.

No matter what, although attempting to incorporate every single holiday into the school schedule is impractical, there are a few holidays on which students should have the day off—some of which are Diwali and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Because such a significant portion of the student body celebrates these holidays, many students face making the choice between missing school to spend the day celebrating—thus receiving a heap of make-up work and assessments— and attending school, which leaves students with less time to celebrate.

As Brian McCormick ’16 elucidates, “if people want to take those days off, it still becomes a burden; people have to make different arrangements with teachers, make up work and tests, all of which does make it harder [for the students] to excel.”

In fact, just last month, many Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains faced the dilemma of missing school or missing celebrating Diwali, the festival of lights. Unfortunately, because Diwali is, according to National Geographic, “India’s biggest and most important holiday of the year…[and] as important to Hindus as the Christmas holiday is to Christians,” several Ridge students missed school to celebrate this holiday, and faced make-up work and assessments the next day.

If Diwali is such an important holiday, why should Ridge incorporate Christmas into the school schedule and not Diwali? Although Christianity is the most popular religion in the world, in Basking Ridge, we also have a significant population of Hindus.

But it’s not just Diwali—other holidays, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, are also neglected in the school schedule. Hardly any schools, workplaces, or stores remain in session during Martin Luther King Jr. Day; why is Ridge an exception?

Because Martin Luther King Junior was such a progressive and impactful figure in history, Ridge should allow students to have the day off in memory of Martin Luther King Jr. so that the students can take time to commemorate his achievements.

If closing school isn’t an option, then, at the very least, Ridge should let students spend the school day learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and his achievements. Although we do have announcements about a few holidays, a brief moment of silence or speech on an important figure is not as effective as learning and commemorating important figures the entire school day.

Of course, it is fallacious to take school off for every single holiday; after all, almost every day is a holiday. However, some holidays (for example, Diwali) are more important than others (for instance, Eat a Red Apple Day), and should rightly be acknowledged as such.