World News

Your comparison is bad. Let's say you have a religion that mandates all boys wear silly hats. Except that hats (of any kind) aren't allowed to be worn during school. Especially not in elementary school.

Is the government overstepping by saying that boys cannot wear hats in school just because their religion says so? No.

I'll just come out and say it: Religion isn't important in school. That's a personal thing that should stay at home.

From a government protective, all religions are entirely made-up and completely arbitrary! You could declare yourself a Jedi and say you're being discriminated against for not being able to carry dangerous weapons in school. Doesn't matter: Your religion (Jedi) is completely unimportant to schooling. You don't get an exception just because it's a deeply held religious belief (or similar).

Governments should absolutely not give any religion special treatment. Why is it the government/school that must accommodate (sexist) religious beliefs and not the other way around? If your religion can't handle girls going without their heads being covered that is a flaw in your religion. Obviously! It is completely inflexible and cannot withstand even the tiniest accomodation of not having girls cover themselves in public.

It's so immodest for girls to put head scarves on in a society that doesn't typically wear them! It's like wearing a neon suit; drawing tons of attention to the person. It says, "look at me as I flaunt my religion!"

To some people headscarves represent sexism and oppression of women but that's not actually the real (government) concern. As much as people want it to be some sort of persecution it's so much simpler: Head coverings for young children are nothing but trouble (for schools)!

Keep all the (little) kids wearing similar clothes and no one can be singled out for that and teachers don't have to worry about being accused of giving some kids special treatment because of their religion.