I've been thinking about fasting lately because two of the world's major religious traditions are doing it simultaneously, right now, in your classroom.
Ash Wednesday was February 18. Ramadan began the following evening, on February 19. That means that as you're reading this, some of your Christian students are in the middle of a forty-day season of fasting and sacrifice, and some of your Muslim students are in the middle of a month-long fast that, depending on the day, has them going without food or water from before sunrise until after sunset. Those two groups are sitting in the same seats, turning in the same assignments, and taking the same exams.
I bring this up because I think most of us, if we stop and think about it, genuinely want to be the kind of teacher who knows what's going on in our students' lives — not to make excuses for them, but to understand them.
What Ramadan actually involves
For students observing Ramadan, the fast itself is only part of the picture. Many are also attending Tarawih prayers in the evening, which can run well past midnight, and waking before dawn for Suhoor, the pre-fast meal. A student who looks like they're barely keeping their eyes open in your 8 a.m. class on a Wednesday may have gone to sleep at 2 a.m. and been back up at 4:30. They're not being lazy or disengaged. They're practicing their faith and trying to be your student at the same time.
There's also a cognitive dimension worth knowing about. Fasting affects concentration, memory recall, and processing speed, particularly in the afternoon. A student sitting for an exam at 2 p.m. while fasting is doing so under conditions that are genuinely more demanding than usual. That's not an excuse — it's context.
Compassion isn't the opposite of rigor
I've written before about the assumptions we make about students and how those assumptions can inadvertently make things harder for the students who are already working the hardest. Religious observance is another one of those places where a small amount of awareness goes a long way.
You don't need to redesign your course. A brief acknowledgment, a bit of flexibility around exam timing where you can manage it, or even just letting a student step out for a few minutes — these are small things that communicate something important: that you see them as a whole person, not just a student ID number. That's not soft. That's good teaching.
It's not just Ramadan
Ramadan gets attention partly because of its length and visibility, but religious observances that create real scheduling conflicts for students happen throughout the year:
Lent, also currently underway (through April 2), is observed across many Christian traditions — Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and others. Practices vary, but the season carries genuine spiritual weight for students who observe it seriously.
Passover runs April 2–9 this year, overlapping with Easter on April 5 — a meaningful convergence. Seders on the first evenings can mean travel or late nights, and the dietary restrictions last the week.
Looking toward next fall, the Jewish High Holidays occur early in the fall semester. Rosh Hashanah is September 12–13; Yom Kippur is September 21, and involves a 25-hour fast. Students observing these days will miss class during the first few weeks of term — the weeks when we're building the foundation for everything that follows.
Durga Puja (October 17–21) and Diwali (November 8) are significant observances for Hindu students, often involving family travel and community commitments that compete with late-semester academic pressure.
And Shabbat, observed by Jewish students and some Seventh-day Adventist students from Friday evening through Saturday, can complicate weekend exams, Saturday office hours, or assignments due Friday night.
This isn't meant to be a comprehensive calendar — it's just a nudge to remember that the religious landscape of any given classroom is probably more diverse than it appears.
One simple thing
Consider adding a brief statement to your syllabus inviting students with religious observances to speak with you early in the semester, for example:
I recognize that religious observances may occasionally conflict with course requirements. If you anticipate a conflict, please reach out to me as early as possible so we can discuss options.
This puts the responsibility appropriately on the student while signaling that you're a reasonable adult they can actually talk to.
Xavier's mission calls us toward a more just and humane world. That work starts in how we treat the people in our classrooms — all of them, with all the fullness of who they are.