Lately, you may have heard that your teachers won’t be assigning homework over winter break contrary to past years at Minnetonka High School. For obvious reasons, this alleviates any added stress in past breaks and allows for more time to be spent with loved ones. However, it’s important to note the effects of ditching a homework routine for ten days of break.

In recent years, high schools, including Minnetonka, have begun to approach Christmas in a new, more secular way. In the First Amendment to the United States Constitution lies a religious clause, and within that clause, the Establishment Clause. The opening lines of it are as follows: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This is coupled with an implication: The separation of Church and State. Seeing as our school is public, Minnetonka HS is an institution of the state and therefore the school must not show religious favoritism. And so, our dilemma is born.

As the winter holidays approach, the hallways are always full of talk about wish lists and vacation plans, but each year there are also complaints mixed in with the excitement. To us students, it always...