Are schools the cause of intolerance in the UK?

@ZenKitzune Maybe not the worst but intolerance keeps rearing its ugly head in some areas.

I know of a local school that won't allow even 6th form boys to have beards, thus excluding male Sikhs and members of some other religious groups.

@Sharon I heard of a school like that but, when challenged on it, they allowed beards "for religious reasons". Quite naturally, white students who wanted beards, but weren't members of one of the approved religions, resented that preferential treatment.

@NortiusMaximus Yeah there are problems with allowing some and not others. I can see how decisions would be difficult.

@ZenKitzune Why would it be difficult? If boys are allowed beards "for religious reasons" there's clearly no practical reason for banning them so why not allow boys to let their beards grow if they want to?

@suzie1960 is this what your post was about specifically?

Why not let everyone have a beard? Idk..it's not me making the decision.

@ZenKitzune No, that's just one of the examples of how some schools discriminate and cause resentment. Another one is long hair. Some schools try (unlawfully) to force boys to have short hair but girls are allowed to grow theirs. Why the different treatment? That, actually, was one of the reasons I took legal action against my children's school.

@suzie1960 must be nice to be able to afford that lol.

@ZenKitzune It didn't cost me anything, we got Legal Aid.

@suzie1960 I couldn't even get that when my ex was abusing me. Must have been before the tories lol.

@ZenKitzune The Tories were in power at the time, Mrs Thatcher was PM. Cuts to legal aid are relatively recent.

@suzie1960 Yeah I know, I needed legal aid right after they were cut. But they are infamous for cutting and slashing the money for everything...if you're poor that is. I've noticed the schools my kids attend having to literally beg for money in recent years, the target hitting has become paramount and any fun activity or school trip has gone way down on the list if it's still there at all. It's a real shame.

@ZenKitzune Does your children's school treat boys and girls equally in all respects? Some seem to put a lot of effort into not doing so. The drop in educational standards is not solely due to lack of funding. If teacher put as much effort into teaching as some do into ensuring students are wearing the "right" colour socks, we'd probably be world leaders.

@suzie1960 My daughters school is tight on uniform but I think that's because they get a cut from the sale of uniform. As for the money situation they make it quite clear that they are struggling and list the cuts that have been made.

I can't say that any of the 3 schools my kids attend have shown any signs of discrimination from a gender point of view. The only real issue I've had is the middle school (that isn't a church school) forcing my kids to pray and sing hymns.

@ZenKitzune You have a legal right to excuse your children from the religious assembly and/or religious education for any or no reason. - S.9 of the Education Reform Act 1988.

A lot of schools get quite a large cut from the sale of uniforms - between £100 and £200 per student seems to be the usual rate.

You say they don't practice sex discrimination. Some of the examples I've seen are - girls but not boys allowed to wear jewellery and make-up; girls but not boys allowed to have long hair; more uniform options for girls; boys but not girls being required to wear ties - even in hot weather. Are none of those applicable to your children's schools?

@suzie1960 Nobody is allowed makeup and only very small studs are permitted. Idk about the hair thing, I've seen boys with long hair though so I doubt it's an issue. Ties are clip on so even if they do have that rule (I don't think they do) I can't see as it would make a huge difference.

When it comes to the praying thing I've told my daughter she can refuse and she does. There has been no kick back from this (they just told her to sit quietly during prayers). I'm not about to have her separated from the group for the sake of it because I think that would have a worse effect in the long run.

In adult life there will be rules and things you don't want to do..some of it you should fight but some of it you just have to get on with I'm afraid.

@ZenKitzune If we sit back and allow schools to break the law, we become as bad as they.

Any rule that only applies to members of one sex is sexist by definition, regardless of how onerous or otherwise that rule might be.

@suzie1960 when i come across one I'll say something lol

@ZenKitzune at my all boys upper school there were loads of rules that only applied to the boys.

@CheshireCatalyst you should have sued the pants off them! You might be rich now.

@ZenKitzune maybe I am rich. You don't know my truth!

@CheshireCatalyst hmmm...how big is your dog and do you keep it in a handbag?

@ZenKitzune I have a crossbreed. It's half shitzu, half handbag. Guess what it's called?

@CheshireCatalyst That was very common. Schools started to become less sexist for a while but sexism seems to be on the increase again.

@CheshireCatalyst shit bag 🤣