Letters to the Editor
Leeandra Nolting
Published Letters: 177 Editor's Choice: 10
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wow, I usually get it changed to "Leeandra Nothing"...
[Read the article: Spanish conservatives: No more sexist symbols!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...but I kinda like "Leeandra Revolting!"
I think Sikh boys have to wear turbans, and Rastafarians dreadlocks...if you want to get away from the "females in Abrahamic religions" argument about religious headgear.
My point was that if a girl is being horribly oppressed and abused by her religious fundamentalist family (of whatever religion), banning her from wearing her headscarf to public school isn't going to stop the abuse. All that's going to do is create even more of a "stay away from the evil secular world" mentality in her family.
There were a fair number of Pentecostal girls in my high school who, for their own or their families' religious reasons, did not cut their hair or wear pants. A few of them were in the high school marching band, which had pants as part of its uniform for both boys and girls. The Pentecostal girls had a seamstress make up long skirts to "match" the uniform. If the band director had insisted that they wear pants, they would not allow themselves/be allowed by their parents to march in the band.
Look, I don't agree with those religious dress and hairstyle restrictions any more than you do, but they really weren't hurting anyone by following them. Pick your battles.
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and as for the girls at minority muslim schools being the ones in MOST need...
[Read the article: Spanish conservatives: No more sexist symbols!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...of having their religious freedom protected, I was referring to discrimination and bullying by teachers/students against kids of different faiths.
You have to protect kids' civil rights, that's for sure. But in and of itself, having your daughter wear a headscarf to school does NOT legally constitute child abuse. Parents still retain the right to dress their children as they see fit (provided they aren't sending them out in the freezing cold without proper coats or commonsense stuff like that).
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bullying is wrong...
[Read the article: Spanish conservatives: No more sexist symbols!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]regardless of the religion of the bully and the bullied.
If you don't think innocent Muslim kids (who had absolutely nothing to do with terrorism) were bullied because of their religion after September 11th, you were not in middle-American schools. I doubt you were living on Planet Earth.
Since you mentioned Judaism, should we ban Jewish boys from wearing the yarmulke? It's a religious headcovering worn only by one sex of a minority (and very patriarchal) religion, and some Israeli soldiers have been real assholes to innocent Palestineans...
If a non-Muslim girl (like moi) should be allowed to wear a headscarf because it's windy or rainy or she wants to dress like Grace Kelly, a Muslim girl should be allowed to wear one if she believes it is required of her by God. Even if the rest of us think that is complete bullshit.
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there is definite anti-Muslim bullying in European schools as well
[Read the article: Spanish conservatives: No more sexist symbols!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just as there is anti-Semitism.
A ban on the hijab/yarmulke/turban etc. in schools is cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. Do you honestly think that forcing kids to take off their religious headgear is going to make them more open-minded? Or is it going to create even more of an "Us vs. Them" mentality among religious fundamentalists?
Let's say NO girl willingly chooses to wear the hijab because she in her heart believes it an essential part of her faith. Let's say they ALL are forced into it by their male relatives. If a girl comes from a family where her father or brother will murder her for taking off the headscarf, how likely is it that that father or brother is going to allow her to keep going to a school that forces her to remove it in the name of secularism?
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homeschooling in Spain
[Read the article: Spanish conservatives: No more sexist symbols!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Tina--Homeschooling is legal in Spain, as it is in the majority of Western European nations. The Spanish constitution specifically gives parents the right to have their children educated in accordance with their religious principles. Look it up.
A Spanish homeschooling association:
http://www.educacionlibre.org/
Look, I don't like seeing little girls in headscarves any more than you do, but we're (and I'm speaking of the general Western world, since as Canuckistan Bob pointed out, I don't actually have a vote in Spanish elections) not going to get anywhere by banning the practice.
In Afghanistan, they've been opening up schools for girls, but something like less than half of girls are enrolled. A big reason is that the classes are often held in open tents and the girls' parents will not let them attend if they can be seen by men. This is obviously horribly oppressive, but the best bet to improve the long-term status of women in Afghanistan is to put walls on the tents and EDUCATE THE NEXT GENERATION OF AFGHAN WOMEN. Change does not happen overnight, and sometimes you have to work with what you have and compromise on small matters rather than steamrolling your way over others' viewpoints.
I think a few days ago, I saw a Salon post about Democrat/ Republican onesies for newborns. Now, obviously, a baby cannot have political opinions and is being dressed that way to further his/her parents' political beliefs. I find this practice incredibly offensive and indoctrinating, but I'm not about to call for a ban on political onesies in daycare centers or to call the parents child abusers.
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sorry, ms. anthropia
[Read the article: Spanish conservatives: No more sexist symbols!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have other things to do than track all of your Broadsheet posts over various topics. You and I will just have to agree to disagree about a ban on religious headgear in schools.
Tina--Interestingly, it isn't just England and Spain that have homeschoolers. Homeschooling is legal in almost all of the European Union nations (though not as prevalently practiced as in the U.S.), except for Germany.
It was, apparently, legal there until 1938. The Nazi regime put an end to that because allowing children to be educated outside of direct state supervision could contribute to "the emergence of parallel societies based on separate philosophical convictions."
Sorry, I just don't buy that a compulsory, state-run education with no allowances for religious garb is an "oppression-free zone."
For the quote on the German homeschooling ban: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52603