Do you think our public schools have a right to limit a childs friendom to dress as their religion dictates?

Question

Or to pray silently when they wish, or to wear crosses,Stars of David, or head scarves if it is an expression or requirement of their faith? Do we live in the U.S.A. or France? Would our founding fathers approve of this and do you?

I meant Freedom and I chose France as an example as they have been restricting Islamic, Christian, and Jewish religious freedom.

It is getting more true than you know. I know of several children being pulled from our small town over this.

I do home school my sons. This is just another reason for me to continue doing so.

Answer 1

Well it sounds ugly-but public school is no place for your children. If a good private Christian school is not available-then home school. The private school route is the best, but public school should not be considered. Public schools are broken and they can not be fixed.

Answer 2

I don't think that the schools should have the right to regulate this unless it was making a huge influence on the school's ability to provide and education to the students, which is their main objective. But in the society we live in today we must not offend 3% of the population that might be offended when some child wears a religious symbol or decides to pray. It is not like they are forced to look at the symbol or take part in the prayer but then that really doesn't matter. A better question would be do we live in America or oops!!! I cannot say the name of that country on the other side of the world that used to supress religion....I might be sued for forcing someone to read this posting. Best wishes.

Answer 3

Public schools would not limit a child's freedom to dress as a religion "dictates." I doubt very much you're talking about a yarmulke or headscarf, though, and I'm unaware of any Christian clothing imperatives. I've worked in public schools; nobody tells a kid or a teacher he/she can't wear a cross or star of David. You are listening to too much conservative talk radio. By homeschooling your children, you are keeping them insulated and apart from others, and unless you plan to keep them at home their whole lives, how will they manage to get along in the world and live with people who don't believe exactly as they do?
I'd like to add: I worked in a public high school with several Muslim students. The girls wore headscarfs, and even right after 9/11, they told me they had no trouble with any other students. Out in the town itself, sometimes, but not in school. I once overheard a wonderful conversation between a Muslim boy and his Christian friend. The Muslim was explaining about fasting during Ramadan, and the other boy was so interested and respectful. He would not have had that interaction anywhere but in a public school. These anecdotes from schools in the Bible belt or Middle-of-Nowhere,USA don't represent public education in America today. Believe me. You're being misled.

Answer 4

I don't believe we should in anyway limit someone from expressing their religious or non-religious beliefs, as long as it does not harm or endanger someone else or go against basic rules of an institution like a school. Those rules should not include telling a child how to dress beyond what is appropriate for school and their age (which, true, could be debatable).

I could understand if it were beginning to cause problems, like other kids having angry outbursts about it or something, if the school asked the child and parents to work with them to try to lower the tension in the school by wearing less obviously religious clothing, though that is not always reasonable. One would think the child with the problem would need to make accommodations, but we all know it falls to the less ignorant to try to fix the problems. However, the school could not expect someone to go against their religion to dress a certain way.

It is very important for kids to express their individuality and what they believe in, so allowing them to wear clothing, jewelry, etc. that expresses their faith is an important part of who they are.

Answer 5

Not if we are to uphold the US Constitution..

Please remember that the vast majority of our founding fathers were religious liberals, despite the proganda of the Religious Right. They believed in the freedom to practice religion according to each individuals personal beliefs.

All of the public school systems, with which I am familiar, have policies that prohibit the infringement of a students right to wear clothing in accordance with their religious beliefs or to inhibit their religious expression.

The point that seems to be misunderstood is that it is when the school or school system sponsors or sanctions a particular practice like prayer before football games or Bible readings before class starts, these are infringements to the separation of church and state. Individual student expression is perfectly fine. If a group of students want to pray at the beginning of a game or class, that is their right. It is not however the right of a teacher, coach or administrator to lead a class in prayer or other religious practice.

Answer 6

That's actually not true. It's purely a myth.

Children can express their religion providing it does not interefere with the classroom environment. Thus, wearing crosses and praying before eating and whatnot are actually perfectly alright. There are no public schools that will prohibit such behavior.

The truth: schools themselves are not allowed to promote religion in any form or fashion, because they are agents of the government.

If you really do know of a school that unreasonably prohibits religious expression, you should contact the ACLU about it. It's illegal.

Answer 7

Absolutely. People have a right to their religion but not to acquire special rights and privileges on the basis of it. So, religious belief or affiliation is not a valid reason to wear a different school uniform to everyone else, any more than following a particular football team is. That's if you're talking about schools which have a dress code...

Answer 8

Here, they can't. They can't stop someone from praying silently unless it's during class time like while the teacher is teaching. They just can't pray over the PA system or have it in any way school sponsored. At my high school (public), we had a club called YMWJ....Young Men and Women for Jesus. They got their pictures in the yearbook. They just couldn't meet or anything during school hours. Everyone could wear crosses, star of David or anything else.

Yes, I approve of seperation of church and state.

Answer 9

Although I'm an unbeliever, I think schools should allow students to do what their religions require, especially if this doesn't interfere in their learning process. I think it would be a great experience if children from different denominations and children of no religion could share a classroom, each of them with their symbols (or without them, those who don't have a religion) and sharing the class in peace. That would surely make these children more tolerant as they grew older.

Answer 10

Well, no I don't think public schools have a right to infringe on a student's religious freedom of expression and the US Supreme Court agrees with me. So long as the activities/dress/etc of the student is not forced upon other students the US Supreme Court has ruled that students are guaranteed religious freedom. The violation occurs when a public administrator or teacher (paid government employees) try to force students or try to prevent students from adhering to their religious beliefs and requirements of their faith.

I live in Oklahoma were a girl was suspended for wearing a hijab. The school policy was "no head gear" and they enforced it to the letter. The school argued that if they allowed the girl to wear her hijab they would have to let other students wear other types of hats. The courts refused the argument stating that the hijab was a religious item and that she was practicing her faith by wearing the item as she had always done (the school administrators had just instituted the policy a year before it was enforced and the student suspended). The court said that if students could wear cross necklaces then she had the right to wear the hijab.

A court in South Africa recently ruled that a school had no right to suspend a Hindu student for wearing a nose piercing. The school had forbidden piercings from being worn, but made an exception to piercings in the ears on girls only. Hindus often pierce their childrens ears several months after birth (there are many reasons for this) and some, mostly girls, get their nose pierced (some denominations of Hinduism do this). The student's family along with some male students' families tried to work out an arrangement with the school administration, but they refused to meet with the families so the families sued the school on grounds of religious discrimination. The court in South Africa ruled that the school authorities had no right to infringe on the religious freedoms of students.

In Canada the Supreme Court ruled that Sikh students have the right to wear the articles of their faith. For girls that is usually a head scarf (not quite like the Islamic hijab, it is usually just a head covering to cover the hair) and for boys the right to wear the turban and when they reach their coming of age point to wear the khalsa (a small dagger...not kept sharp, it is ceremonial only). And the court ruled, obviously, that if the students misuse any of the articles of any religious tradition or if they try to pressure other students to do as they do, etc, then that student has the right to be reprimanded because they are violating their religious freedoms of other students. As pne of my school teachers used to say "Your liberty stops when it hits my nose."

I believe our founding fathers would have wanted us to leave religion as a private matter between ourselves. That said, they probably wouldn't try making a big deal over such things and would either 1) work out a compromise or 2) value the individual's freedom so much as to not want to sacrifice it. I have a Jewish friend that often got in trouble in school for wearing her kippot. I think what we need to do is to make sure that school administrators are fully aware of the religious beliefs of the family and/or students that we send to the public schools. That the administrators sit down and learn about the religious requirements of the religions (if possible) or if a situation arises they should definately try to sit down and speak with the families regarding the matter and to try to see things from their point of view. I say that because it seems like most of these cases that I read about that usually the administrators and school administration and school boards have all just decided that their way is the right way and they are going to enforce it and they refuse to listen, to the students and families. They seem to create a lot more troubles. I would think they would first try to work out a compromise of some kind and if a compromise couldn't be reached that they'd value the student's religious liberty. Especially if the student's actions, behavior, dress, etc isn't being forced upon other students or infringing on other student's religious freedoms. Wearing a hijab or a cross necklace or the sacred ear stud are just little things that people do to connect with their religion and praying silently or bringing a religious sacred text to read when one has no classwork to do and no lecture, etc should be just fine (also a case which ruled that students could carry sacred literature to class and read it at appropriate times when their was either no lecture or class work or definately during times when students are encouraged to bring books to read of their choosing).

I think the reason that it comes up so often is that school administrators are always afraid that they're going to do something wrong and get in trouble themselves. They think that by allowing the student to express their religious identity and beliefs as the courts have allowed that they could somehow be connected to somehow "encouraging religion" and that is just not the case. Thankfully most schools aren't that poorly administered and most administers will sit down to talk with parents and the student and to really find out what is going on and that is probably why we don't hear so many of these cases really coming about. But every now and then you either get a poor administrator who are either fearful of getting in trouble by the law or who are so ego-centric that they think that they can enforce any rules and stop private religious expression and the law can't touch them.