Does your school enforce a dress code on you? Maybe it is business attire or maybe business causal or maybe just plain causal on jeans day. Whichever it is it is an issue that has a long history in the state of Oregon. Recently, in a USA Today article, House Speaker Dave Hunt, D-Gladstone, said he will push to "allow teachers to have the same religious free exercise rights as every other Oregonian" when legislators meet in February.
The issue at hand is a 1923 law that was put in place to keep Catholics from attending public school. The law was taken to the courts in 1986 and upheld by the Oregon Supreme Court. The ban outlaws the wearing of religious clothing or “garb”.
There are many interesting points to consider to this story. The first one is that the law is still in place and only 3 states of such bans on the books. Is your state one of them? The second item that caught my attention is that, the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, which has long supported the ban, said the Legislature should not end it without enacting additional protections for Oregon students, according to the article. In a related issue the ACLU is fighting for the rights of students in Florida that were dismissed from school for wearing, “Islam is the Devil” t-shirts to class. The ACLU issued a statement that it is their right under the Bill of Rights and their freedom of speech, to wear such clothing. The Florida school district disagrees. We will see how that case plays out.
The last item that I found interesting in the Oregon case is that the “Oregon Education Association has not taken a position on the issue”, a spokeswoman said.
So what are your thoughts? If you were a teacher in Oregon which way would you push for? A ban on wearing religious clothing or no ban but I would assume then that teachers would have to follow some dress code. The dress code could be one that the students follow as many of you have said are in place at your schools OR it could be a professional contract stating what business causal is. I know from a previous blog by a classmate that some younger teachers don’t understand what business casual is but for the sake of agreement let us say they do.
I feel your employer has some rights to enforce a dress code on the staff and the students. I worked at a refinery and we had to wear safety boots, hard hats, and jeans or we wouldn’t have a job. It was a requirement that our company put in place. Why is it different in education? The district hires you to be a professional so why shouldn’t they be able to set the guidelines as to what they THINK a professional is? In this story I guess the people of Oregon are still trying to figure that out.
Why restructure? Does it really do anything?
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Kyren,
ReplyDeleteWOW! What a controversarial subject. Interesting, though! Personally, I would support the right to be able to wear religious clothing from T-shirts to jewelry. What is the harm in wearing a cross necklace? And where would it end? Someone could theoretically say that wedding rings could be deemed as religious since most people are married in a church and the ring symbolizes unity, a religious theme and overtone.
However, I do think that some clothing could be adversely harmful in terms of being derogatory and offensive to some. But then again, some people, sadly, would say that a shirt that reads "Jesus is my Savior" would say it is offensive. Meanwhile, I believe that such conversation needs to take place on a district by district basis. I don't believe it should be a law because in some local areas it might be better accepted than in others. For example, in Valley City, ND (and most of ND) religion is a very important aspect of the culture. However, in Los Angeles, it probably isn't. But it can also be different from one school district to another.
I do not know what the law in Illinois is but I don't think there is such a law because I know that when I was in high school I was allowed to wear anything I wanted to school as long as it didn't have profanity on it.
I now teach in a Catholic School where the students are required to wear uniforms. There is definitely something to be said about wearing uniforms. They are given 13 days a school year to come out of uniform and you can see a complete difference in the students' behavior.
I also believe that some employers have the right to enforce a dress but it depends on the type of job one has. My principal is doesn't really enforce our dress code among the staff but rarely does anyone disobey the code, which is pretty casual with the exception of NO jeans except on special days.