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?

[Ellipsis]

jno, once you take religion out of it, the whole thing becomes a matter of whether school rules can demand standards like no beards, no skinheads, no excessive makeup, no jewellery, no piercings, no trainers, etc. etc.

I happen to think they can. Just my opinion. :)

[jno]

I think they probably "can" but should not. Hence my mention of the girl banned from wearing a Help for Heroes wristband: some rules are just plain silly.

[sherrardk]

If you let her wear the wristband then you have to tell them all wear bracelets, these then get lost/stolen and parents start moaning about the cost of them.

[Ellipsis]

Simple rules can be sweeping. A manual of allowable facial hair patterns is not necessarily preferable to a simple "No beards" rule.

Likewise with the wristband. Schools don't want to have to spend the time and effort figuring out, and arguing the toss about, which "bracelets" are OK which aren't. If the rule is "No bracelets", it's nice and simple.

[jno]

my thinking would be: everything should be allowable unless it actually causes problems. Are pupils catching their wristbands (or their beards) on door handles? Then consider whether there's a genuine risk involved (or whether you could do with more sensible handles).

I'm not talking about uniform dress codes, incidentally: I've no problem with a school uniform being prescribed, to encourage esprit de corps. I'm more concerned with pupils being told what to do with their bodies.

[sherrardk]

They are still free to go to a school that doesn't tell them what to do with their bodies. Have you actually seen a boy with a beard in school uniform? They look like their off on a stag do.

[joko]

no, it doesn't 'qualify' anything.... what is there to 'qualify'?

you were being pointlessly sarcastic.

[jno]

Have you actually seen a boy with a beard in school uniform?

Yep, I raised one!

[ludwig]

jno // my thinking would be: everything should be allowable unless it actually causes problems. //

Sounds like a good policy. If you ever get to be a charge of a school you can put that into practice. The problem you'd have though is that there'd always be a few parents who disagreed with you about what qualified as 'causing problems' and what didn't.

[Svejk]

We'll have to differ then. In the first post you were extremely presumptious and in the second unnecessarily rude,imo.
Saying that, I expect little else from the liberal/left nowadays. They used to be the 'nice'* people when I was younger but they seem to have become a bunch of nasty,fascist bullies.

*@jno. That's the way I meant to use my inverted commas. If I wanted to quote someone I'd use " (double inverted commas or quotation marks) Bearing in mind I can't 'get' italics(which would, possibly,be ideal) what would you suggest. This is a genuine question if not very well put.

[joko]

well, just remember who began to be unnecessarily rude first, before you start talking about nasty fascist bullies ...