Pupils banned from school for having beards.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

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

I have no love for islam but this ruling smacks of pettiness and possibly deliberate prejudice. While I can see the arguments (and agree completely with them) for banning burkas and headscarves in science lessons where they may prove to be dangerous, this smacks of blindly adhering to an arbitrary rule which is obviously going to affect those of the muslim and sikh faiths, where not shaving is an integral part of their chosen delusion. Claims that it doesn't look "smart enough" cut no ice, as they are purely subjective.

[Bella Fortuna]

I was desperately hoping this would be in regard to a girls' school...

[Svartalf]

Totally petty, I've worn a beard for no other reason than hating to shave, or preferring my manly good looks so enhanced

[klr]

The school does of course have a right to enforce a dress and appearance code, but it's obviously one that pre-dates multi-culturality*

*Or something like that.

Back in my school days, they came down hard on anyone trying to break the dress code. Boys wearing ear rings? Out on your you-know-what. Controlling and standardising appearance is (from a school's perspective) desirable for a number of reasons, one of which is a means of controlling behaviour and limiting expression. I'm not saying it's right or wrong.

[HomerJay]

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

I have no love for islam but this ruling smacks of pettiness and possibly deliberate prejudice. While I can see the arguments (and agree completely with them) for banning burkas and headscarves in science lessons where they may prove to be dangerous, this smacks of blindly adhering to an arbitrary rule which is obviously going to affect those of the muslim and sikh faiths, where not shaving is an integral part of their chosen delusion. Claims that it doesn't look "smart enough" cut no ice, as they are purely subjective.

I don't know what you mean by integral part?

My school used to be quite hot on it, like my son's school is about properly tied ties.

Although I used to have a friend from Wigan who had a ridiculous bumfluff moustache when he was 19. He reckoned that boys didn't shave them if they were from Wigan, so he had never cut it and it remained a flacid stained on his face. As he moved away from Wigan and wanted fanny he cut it off.

I'm worried when you say it is possibly deliberate prejudice, these days I think anything that occurs that muslims don't like is automatically read as prejudice by muslims and it's creeping in that the suspicion of prejudice follows from the non-muslim population as well.

I think it is due to the Freedom of Religion canard that people have come to think is thing.

Much of what passes as identity, veils, hijabs, beards, turbans are rooted in the ancient racism of the past, so to regard them as essential features of identity is just re-enforcing those ancient prejudices and institutionalise them.