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| Europe | ||
| Sikh students to try hair gel in French schools | ||
| 2004-05-18 | ||
| Sikh school boys must exchange their turbans for hair nets when a new law banning religious apparel in public schools takes effect in September, France's education minister said Monday, shocking representatives of the Sikh community. Education Minister Francois Fillon spoke after education officials adopted - with some misgivings - a set of guidelines to help school officials apply the law, which was enacted in March after a marathon parliament debate. The law forbids conspicuous religious symbols and attire in the classroom, such as the Jewish skull cap and large Christian crosses, but it is chiefly aimed at the Muslim head scarf. Under the guidelines, Muslim girls can only wear bandannas in schools that allow them, Fillon told a news conference Monday. Asked in an interview about the turbans worn by Sikhs, he said an "arrangement" had been made with Sikhs to replace the traditional head gear with hair nets. We've come up with an arrangement," Fillon told The Associated Press. "They accept wearing a hair net. It's less aggressive, less showy." Representatives of the small Sikh community of 5,000-7,000 said they were unaware of any such arrangement. On the contrary, they said, Sikh representatives had received a letter from a counselor to Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, dated May 10, that provided "conditional assurance" that Sikh boys could wear turbans in class. "We were told that we could wear turbans because we never posed a problem," said Karmvir Singh, a Paris member of United Sikhs.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 Raj - that was the rationale, however, Sikhs had worn beards and served with the Army for many years, long after gas was an issue. The change came with what I would call "The Ugly Man Program" in the Army: the systematic effort to eliminate everybody who didn't "look good" in a uniform. This included the smokers, the "overweight" and the 'unusuals'. N.B.: the "fat man" program eliminated large numbers of very competant senior soldiers, something only a peacetime military would dare. All-in-all, it was a military version of Political Correctness. Foolishness. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2004-05-18 6:08:39 PM |
| #2 Anonymoose - isn't it an Army requirement for all soldiers to remove beards (don't know about moostaches) because having them prevents the use of a gas mask (can't have an effective seal with it on)? Based on that, I doubt that Sikhs themselves were singled out, though I could be wrong. |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-05-18 12:38:26 PM |
| #1 It is a highly bad idea to tease or otherwise annoy Sikhs. Their religion can best be described as "the worship of the big Command Sergeant Major in the sky", as far as militarism goes. They are so *good* at soldiering, as a group, that they run the Indian army. The British will tell you that they are damn effective in combat. And, as a group, they are also very businesslike and middle class. I just cringed when the US Army ordered them to shave their beards or get out. Even the few hundred in the ranks were inspirational, and every one left, rather than shave. What a loss. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2004-05-18 12:01:53 PM |