Columbus Day Belongs in Our Schools: Why Celebrating History Is Not the Same as Erasing It

Every October, schools across America find themselves caught in another cultural and political debate: Should Columbus Day still be celebrated?

Some school districts have removed Columbus Day from their calendars. Others have replaced it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Still others have quietly stopped acknowledging the holiday altogether, hoping to avoid controversy.

But in our rush to reconsider the past, we risk making a serious educational mistake: We are teaching children that historical figures must meet today's moral standards to deserve recognition.

Columbus Day is not inherently inappropriate, offensive, or incompatible with a modern K–12 education. In fact, when taught responsibly, it presents an extraordinary opportunity to explore history, courage, exploration, cultural conflict, and the complicated foundations of the modern world.

We should not be afraid to celebrate Columbus Day. We should be afraid of schools that stop teaching history because it makes someone uncomfortable.

1. Celebrating Columbus Day Does Not Mean Endorsing Everything Columbus Did

Let's establish something immediately: Christopher Columbus was not a perfect man.

His voyages and subsequent actions contributed to devastating consequences for Indigenous populations, including exploitation, enslavement, violence, and the expansion of European colonization. Those realities deserve a prominent place in every serious history curriculum.

But acknowledging those facts does not require us to pretend that his voyages were historically insignificant.

In 1492, Columbus crossed the Atlantic on a voyage that helped initiate sustained contact between Europe and the Americas. That contact fundamentally changed global trade, migration, geography, politics, agriculture, and the course of world history.

His arrival was not the discovery of an uninhabited continent. Indigenous civilizations had flourished in the Americas for thousands of years, and Norse explorers had reached North America centuries earlier.

Nevertheless, the historical consequences of Columbus's voyages were enormous.

We can recognize the significance of an event without celebrating every consequence of that event.

That distinction is precisely what good history teachers should help students understand.

2. Schools Should Teach Students How to Think, Not What to Think

One of the greatest responsibilities of public education is developing critical thinkers.

Unfortunately, too many contemporary debates about history have become exercises in choosing which historical figures deserve approval and which should be removed from public recognition.

That is not historical education. That is moral scorekeeping.

Imagine a classroom where students are encouraged to examine Columbus from multiple perspectives.

They study the technological limitations of 15th-century navigation. They explore the political and economic motivations of Spain. They examine the experiences of the Taíno people and other Indigenous communities. They investigate the Columbian Exchange and its beneficial and catastrophic consequences.

Then students are asked to reach their own conclusions.

Was Columbus courageous? Certainly, crossing an unfamiliar ocean involved enormous risks.

Was he historically consequential? Undeniably.

Did he participate in serious abuses? Yes.

Can all three statements be true simultaneously? Absolutely.

That is the beauty of teaching history honestly.

A school system that cannot accommodate historical complexity is failing to prepare students for intellectual independence.

3. Recognizing Indigenous Peoples and Columbus Is Not an Either-Or Proposition

Perhaps the most frustrating element of the Columbus Day debate is the suggestion that schools must choose between recognizing Columbus and honoring Indigenous peoples.

Why?

America's Indigenous history is rich, complex, and deserving of far greater attention than it has traditionally received in many classrooms.

Students should learn about the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Lenape, the Cherokee Nation, the Pueblo peoples, and the countless other Indigenous societies whose histories predate European colonization.

They should understand Indigenous systems of government, agriculture, diplomacy, trade, language, and cultural achievement.

They should also study the displacement, disease, forced assimilation, and injustices that followed European expansion.

None of that requires eliminating Columbus Day.

In fact, the two subjects are inseparable when teaching the history of European contact with the Americas.

Recognizing Indigenous Peoples' Day can be a meaningful educational decision. Recognizing Columbus Day can be meaningful as well.

Historical recognition should not be treated as a zero-sum game.

We can expand what children learn without subtracting the parts of history that some adults find politically inconvenient.

4. Columbus Day Also Represents an Important American Cultural Tradition

Columbus Day has a history that extends beyond Christopher Columbus himself.

For generations, Italian Americans have viewed the holiday as a celebration of their heritage and contributions to the United States.

That tradition developed partly in response to a period when Italian immigrants experienced severe discrimination, prejudice, and exclusion.

Following the 1891 lynching of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans, President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed a national Columbus observance in 1892, during the 400th anniversary of the voyage. Columbus later became a prominent symbol of Italian American identity and civic recognition.

The holiday became a federal holiday in 1937.

For many Italian American families, Columbus Day represents something larger than a 15th-century navigator. It represents the journey of immigrants who helped build this country, often while confronting hostility and discrimination.

Schools routinely celebrate the cultural contributions of diverse communities. Italian American heritage deserves the same respect.

That does not mean every Italian American supports Columbus Day, nor does it mean Columbus is the only figure through whom Italian American achievement can be recognized.

It simply means that the holiday's cultural significance deserves consideration rather than dismissal.

5. Erasing a Holiday Does Not Correct Historical Injustice

There is a growing tendency to believe that removing a holiday, changing a name, or taking down a historical symbol somehow constitutes meaningful progress.

Sometimes changes in public commemoration are justified. Communities have every right to reconsider whom they honor and why.

But changing a calendar does not automatically improve historical understanding.

A school district can remove Columbus Day and still graduate students who know almost nothing about Indigenous civilizations.

Conversely, a district can retain Columbus Day while providing an exceptionally honest and comprehensive account of colonization and its consequences.

Which district is doing a better job?

The answer should depend on what students actually learn.

Education is not measured by the political symbolism of a school calendar. It is measured by knowledge, understanding, inquiry, and the ability to evaluate evidence.

If school leaders genuinely want students to understand the consequences of European colonization, they should strengthen history instruction rather than assume a calendar change accomplishes that goal.

6. Age-Appropriate History Is Not the Same as Sanitized History

Critics sometimes argue that Columbus Day celebrations present an overly romanticized account of European exploration.

That criticism has merit when schools portray Columbus as an uncomplicated hero, ignore Indigenous peoples, or teach children that he discovered a continent where millions already lived.

But the solution is better instruction, not historical avoidance.

In elementary school, students can learn about navigation, geography, Indigenous communities, and the encounter between different societies.

In middle school, students can examine the motivations for exploration, the Columbian Exchange, and the experiences of Indigenous peoples under colonization.

In high school, students can analyze primary sources, competing historical interpretations, European imperialism, slavery, and the long-term political and economic consequences of transatlantic contact.

There is no reason these lessons cannot take place during the week of Columbus Day.

Indeed, the holiday provides a natural opportunity for meaningful historical inquiry.

The goal should never be to make children admire Columbus unconditionally.

The goal should be to help them understand why his voyages mattered and why their consequences remain debated.

7. School Leaders Must Resist the Temptation to Govern Through Controversy Avoidance

Having spent more than two decades in K–12 education, including service as a superintendent, I understand the pressures school boards and administrators face.

A controversial holiday can generate angry emails, contentious board meetings, social media campaigns, and demands from competing interest groups.

It is often easier to remove the subject than defend the educational value of discussing it.

But convenience is not leadership.

School leaders should be willing to explain that history is complicated, that reasonable people disagree about commemoration, and that public schools have an obligation to educate rather than simply avoid criticism.

Parents should be heard. Indigenous communities should be respected. Italian American families should have a voice. Teachers should have the professional support necessary to present accurate historical material.

And students should be trusted to engage with complexity.

A school district does not need to turn Columbus Day into an elaborate celebration or require students to participate in activities that glorify colonization.

But neither should it treat the mere acknowledgment of Columbus Day as an educational offense.

Our classrooms should be places where difficult history is examined, not places where difficult history disappears.

8. What a Responsible Columbus Day Observance Could Look Like

Rather than eliminating Columbus Day, I would encourage school districts to adopt an academically grounded approach.

A responsible observance could include:

Teaching the historical significance of Columbus's 1492 voyage while correcting myths about the discovery of America.

Examining Indigenous societies before European contact and the devastating consequences of colonization.

Discussing Italian American heritage and the historical reasons the holiday became meaningful to that community.

Encouraging students to compare primary sources and competing interpretations of Columbus's legacy.

Recognizing Indigenous Peoples' Day and exploring why communities differ in their approaches to public commemoration.

Allowing students to debate whether historical importance, moral character, and public honor should be evaluated differently.

None of these activities requires a school to distort history.

None requires students to adopt a particular political position.

And none prevents a district from celebrating the contributions and resilience of Indigenous peoples.

This is what balanced, intellectually serious public education should look like.

Final Thoughts: Teach the Whole Story, Not Just the Comfortable Parts

Christopher Columbus changed the course of world history. His voyages helped initiate an era of global transformation that brought profound advances in exchange and knowledge alongside conquest, disease, exploitation, and immense human suffering.

Both sides of that historical reality matter.

The question before American schools should not be whether Columbus was a flawless hero. He was not.

The question should be whether our educational institutions have the confidence to teach a historically consequential figure in all his complexity.

I believe they should.

We do our children no favors when we reduce history to a collection of approved heroes and condemned villains. We do them even fewer favors when political controversy becomes a reason to avoid difficult subjects.

Columbus Day is OK to celebrate in K–12 schools. Not because Columbus was perfect, but because history matters, cultural traditions matter, and our students deserve the opportunity to understand both.

Celebrate the historical significance. Recognize the cultural heritage. Confront the injustices. Teach the full story.

And above all, let students think for themselves.