To most students, the third Monday of January and the third Monday of February are often anticipated because they are both part of a three day weekend. The real meaning of both Martin Luther King Jr. day and President’s day has been forgotten, and the national holidays are now mostly known as an extra day to sleep in and stay home from school.

2011 was the first year Westside did not hold school on these holidays, and to make up for the two extra days off, a day was reduced from the intersessions in October and March. While Westside was one of the last districts in the Omaha area to not hold school on these holidays, I was always told that we should use them as a day to learn about their importance.

I remember doing an activity for Martin Luther King Jr. day in fourth grade, when the district still held school on the national holiday. My teacher cut up two different colors of construction paper — orange and blue — and handed them out to students at random. Students who received orange paper were given small prizes and granted special privileges for the duration of the activity, while students who received blue paper were treated normally.

Obviously the activity didn’t exactly portray the historical treatment of people of color in the United States; the students who received blue paper weren’t treated any differently than normal, but rather the activity was about showing the arbitrary privilege of one color over the other. While my teacher used paper for this activity, the paper was representative of teaching us fourth grade students how arbitrary skin color is, and that it shouldn’t determine how individuals are treated.

Dr. King was an advocate for improving the education system in the United States, so granting the day off really defeats his message. The day could be spent in school learning about how the Civil Rights movement affects us today. Although institutionalized racism is not as big of a problem as it was prior to the Civil Rights Movement, there are still many instances of it everyday, and we must continue to remember Dr. King’s message until discrimination no longer happens.

Instead of having the day off of school on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and President’s day, school should be in session, and the days off should be added to intersession. But while you’re at home this Monday, maybe take some time to reflect on how your life may be different had Dr. King not been a leader of the Civil Rights movement.