Bearded Pupils Banned From Class

[mushroom25]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-24382723

//Head teacher Xavier Bowers said the decision was not a religious issue.//

really? and who exactly is he trying to kid with that statement?

[joko]

if these were white boys would people be supporting this?

i doubt it - they'd be saying the hair just grows and they can't help it they should not be expected to start shaving at 14, and they have every right not to have to run a blade across their face if they dont want to.

however, i do agree this may well just an attempt to cause a stir and claim persecution.

although are they not just playing into their hands?
are they not just adding a source of fuel for people who want to accuse everyone of islamophobia?

[jno]

quie so, joko, jno jnr had a beard in his later years at school and neither teachers nor parents bothered to freak out.

It suits him better now he's in middle age, though.

[Svejk]

Mmmm. Now Joko 'knows' what everyone would say and think.

[ludwig]

// jno jnr had a beard in his later years at school //

It's a good job he didn't go to the Mount Carmel Roman Catholic High School in Accrington. They don't allow them you know.

[FredPuli43]

Svejk, I was questioning the enforcement of strict rules without allowing for a degree of what might be termed indulgence. It may be that my school had an express exception when Jewish parents signed up, though I doubt it. The point is that it applied common sense in this area.

[Ellipsis]

Fred, as I wrote earlier :)

Schoolboys are not required to grow beards in the Muslim faith. Therefore these boys are abusing their faith in order to break school rules. Those rules are based on standards that the school wishes to maintain - the same rules and standards that led to it being a good school in the first place ...

The head teacher is completely right.

[naomi24]

^^ Quite right. They're deliberately making waves.

[joko]

Mmm ... now Svejk, seems unable to comprehend simple english.

i said DOUBT it, i did not say i know ...
how could i possibly know what everyone thinks?
I'd have thought it was a given that one person cannot possibly speak for everyone - but seems you need to have that spelled out for you.

what a puerile and irrelevant response.

[jno]

Ellipsis, it's not self-evident that a ban on beards is what made it a good school. It'll be just one of many rules, but that of itself doesn't make it right or useful.

[rockyracoon]

Every year we get a letter home from the kids headmaster, he explains that his school is like a restaurant, everyone is free to view the menu before dining, if after tasting it doesn't suit then diners are free to eat elsewhere, he'll actually help them to find a more suitable establishment to suit their tastes.

[jno]

good restaurants adapt their menus to customers' tastes, not the chef's. He's probably saying his school is more like a Model T: you can have any colour want as long as it's black.

[Ellipsis]

> Ellipsis, it's not self-evident that a ban on beards is what made it a good school. It'll be just one of many rules, but that of itself doesn't make it right or useful.

Maybe they implemented that rule the day somebody turned up with a toothbrush moustache ...

[rockyracoon]

Yes jno, it's a bit like that I suppose, I chose black. The vast majority of the parent do. ;)

[naomi24]

jno, you surprise me. You're usually such a stickler for rules.

[jno]

the pope of the day seems to have had no problem with people with toothbrush moustaches, though whether this comes under the rubric of papal infallibility I know not.

[Svejk]

No need to be nasty, joko.
I'm not a well educated type but I thought putting 'know' in inverted commas qualified? what I said.

[jno]

jno jnr's school had rules. But they concentrated on sensible ones that aided learning.

[jno]

Svejk, putting something in quote marks suggests you're quoting it. joko was pointing out that you were doing the opposite.

[sherrardk]

Restaurants are run to provide the customer with what they want and to make a profit. A school is run to provide minors with an education. When they grow up, they can become headteacher's and make up their own rules if they so choose, until then they should shut and follow the rules that are laid down or go to a different school

[naomi24]

jno, but rules can’t suit everyone. As you’ve so often said yourself when people have complained about AB’s rules, it’s the Ed’s site, the Ed’s rules, and if people don’t like it they can go elsewhere. Personally, I can’t see the difference.