Veiled threat...
 

Not sure if this has reached American shores, but there's a bit of a furore going on over here about whether or not a female muslim teacher should be allowed to wear a veil in class when teaching children and a male is present.

It's dominated the news for a week or so (Madonna's baby adoption and Macca's divorce being the only items to see it off the front pages), and I must admit to wondering what the hell all the fuss is about.

We seem to have gone mad banning crucifix pendant jewellery being worn by Christians at one end of the religious scale to stopping veils being worn by muslim women at the other.

Any views out there on this?

Neat cartoon below to get you into the mood (a fag is another word for a cigarette over here, by the way - just in case you were wondering...):

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If I were a female teacher, I might tattoo "property of Allah" on my forehead and see what reaction that gets...

Would I be allowed to teach in a gorilla costume, if I claimed my religion called for me to.

I'm annoyed that this is being given so much press. I've heard the, "It's good that this is up for discussion" line too often - no-one is getting anywhere discussing it, so why don't we just drop it? Am referring to the media here btw, not this thread!

The teaching assistant in question was employed by a C of E school and did not wear a veil at her interview (the panel included a male Director). Therefore I feel she misrepresented herself at interview and the school was right to give her the choice of unveiling or leaving.

I have a colleague of Turkish descent. In that predominately Muslim country, the female teachers do not wear veils in the classroom. It's considered a hindrance to teaching apparently.

Some of the interviews have raised a smile though. Militant Muslim women shrilly declaiming that the veil is no barrier to communication and that they can express themselves perfectly well this way. Baffled looks from their interviewers, who have no visual clue as to their emotions. At least they won't have to worry about being recognised in the supermarket as that woman off the telly.

I'm all for women deciding to veil in the streets if it makes them feel more secure or more in touch with their religion. But it is a form of display, and they should not feel aggrieved when their deliberate decision to isolate themselves from mainstream society is recognised as such.

I'm about to get very militant in my devotion to :fsm:

Are you going to start flinging meatballs like shuriken and stabbing people with dry pasta? Because honestly, that would be the tastiest holy war, evah!

Tastiness is next to Monstrousness, in my book. (IE, the one true book)

I wonder what FSM's position is on Friday Hotdogs...

Well, here in Kalifornia, the division/separation of Church and State has been tossed aside to allow a two-week indoctrination of school children to the Muslim faith. They must demonstrate an understanding of jihad, the five pillars of Islam and come to terms with Mohammad's status as a messenger of God.

So you are probably asking the wrong country.

I think the veil is a definite hindrance to teaching. Teachers need to be expressive and communicate concepts; children learn by imitation. Plus, I think women in all those yards of cloth look scary--won't kids? What percentage of communication is body language? I used to know...

and SG is right. If she didn't wear the veil during her interview but INTENDED on wearing it to teach, she misrepresented herself.

To quote a lady from California, I'd just say NO.

I'd say that they're both the same end of the religious scale. If it's Christian vs Muslim, where to the eighty-teen other religions fit?.... certainly not in between, if they had a say.

It's more tolerance vs intolerance, I think. Any display of religious preference by the teacher might warp those precious young minds? Well that's silly if they grew up in a house with a tv.

That said, I do agree the veil presents a special problem with communication between a teacher and young children.
Does that include a male child in the class? :confused:

The veil isnot a religous symbol. It is an optional culteral symbol.

:litebulb: Your absolutely right, Jay, but don't some Muslims feel it's part of their religious training/obligation?

why ask me? I'm not a muslim.

ask the Islamic ladiies who insist on wearing the veil. Ask the primary school kids who see a pair of eyes peering out of midnight-black ensemble straight out of Friday the thirteenth....