Once, the choice of a Halloween costume was simple-almost anything was acceptable. It was the one day of the year a child had the freedom to be outrageous, even offensive.
This year, in the age of political correctness and heightened sensitivity, parents and school officials face much more complicated choices.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers? Too violent. Freddy Krueger? Too gruesome. American Indian brave? Too insensitive.
A stalk of broccoli? Perfect.
That is one suggestion being made at Oak Park’s Hatch Elementary School, where 2nd graders are being told to dress as something they have studied in class. Hence, come as your favorite vegetable.
At several Chicago-area schools, the choice of Halloween costumes this fall will be dictated by something other than what is hot. One parochial school has taken the liberty of sending home a list of saints who would make acceptable costume models.
Though such efforts are scattered at this point-and open to exasperated replies of, “Lighten up”-it is a sign of the times that a holiday with pagan origins and macabre overtones is being infiltrated by the keepers of political correctness.
Whether nixing ninjas on Halloween will make a dent in the consciousness of youngsters who ingest them with cereal on Saturday mornings is open to question. But it appears that along with fretting about the logistics of satisfying a child bent on a certain costume-what if they are out of that green wig or rodent tail?-will come the undercurrent of concern about whether anyone could possibly be offended by a particular get-up.
While the majority of school principals say they do not suggest specific costumes, other than to point out safety concerns, at least one Chicago principal said that she sends a note home suggesting children “wear costumes that would not insult people in general.”
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Anything that celebrates violence is discouraged. Therefore, the Power Rangers are out. Ditto the Ninja Turtles.
And don’t even think about O.J.
“If they can change the focus from Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, anything violent, to something else-anything else-I think it’s an improvement,” said Patricia Lee, whose son is a 1st grader at Hatch School.
“This should be something where we’re teaching the children how to get along with each other,” said Barbara MacDowell, principal of Johnson Elementary School in west suburban Warrenville. “Sometimes if they’re reminded about it, they’ll think twice about what they wear.”
Store owners, however, said that Indians and witches are still popular. Disney’s Just for Kids catalog has sold out of Power Rangers. The top “traditional” costume has been the “Black Ninja,” complete with plastic nunchaku. And the catalog continues to feature Arabic dancers, a Spanish senorita and a Freddy Krueger, with his infamous knife-like fingernails.
But some ethnic costume patterns being sold at fabric stores have become more “authentic” as a result of complaints, and violent costumes sold in the catalog have been “toned down,” one official said.
“The only problem with (ethnic costumes) is that children see it as the only view of that society,” said Merrylee Doden, president of the Asian American Educators Association. “Children are affected by everything they experience.”
At some schools, the issue has come up only recently.
“We didn’t even think about it before,” said Penny Drown, director of the Sandbox Early Learning Center in southwest suburban Lockport. Recently, “educators have been trained to be more conscious of social norms and social issues.”
The center drafted a letter to parents this year, with suggested costume guidelines, but decided not to send it. Administrators worried that parents would object and decided to wait until next year, after the school implements what an official called a “non-biased, multicultural” curriculum.
“It’s a sign of the changing times,” said Marian Coleman, a school administrator in Iowa City, Iowa, whose district attracted nationwide attention last year when parents received copies of a letter urging them to be “sensitive” when choosing costumes.
Included on the letter’s list of potentially offensive costumes were “Gypsy, American Indian princess, African, witch, old man, differently abled person, East Indian, slave, hobo, devil, old woman.”
At the Inter-American Magnet School, on Chicago’s North Side, individual teachers discuss the appropriateness of certain costumes. Though Principal Eva Helwing has not sent home a letter, she believes that is coming.
“I’m sure that we will be told to do that, or we’ll do it ourselves or somebody in the community will suggest it,” Helwing said.
Others, including some ethnic minorities, believe that socially directed restrictions on Halloween costumes go too far.
Rae Williams, a Native American who rents authentic outfits made by members of the Ojibwa tribe, said that she is not offended by ethnic outfits.
“This is part of my heritage, and if people want to dress up in my native costumes, I’m honored,” said Williams, who provides a free history lesson with each rental at her Romeoville store. “As long as you’re not being nasty about it, I don’t see anything wrong with it.”
“I see where they have to draw the line somewhere,” said Cheryl Gingerich, a Joliet parent whose 13-year-old daughter plans to dress up as an “old lady” with a gray wig, some pearls and her grandmother’s clothes. “But let kids be kids. They’re not going to hurt anyone.”
Educators at St. Bernardine School in Forest Park sent home a letter suggesting “a list of characters that people might choose in lieu of characters that might be considered violent.” The school encourages pupils to dress as saints or other historical figures, said Assistant Principal Dee Lefevour.
Lefevour stressed, however, that the school’s only absolute ban is on weapons and masks that might be unsafe.
“Actually, I was thinking about being a witch,” she said.