to tell DD to stay put and not do what her teacher has just told her?

[quackermoomoo]

DD1 is in 6 form - they don't have a uniform, their rules just say that nothing lowcut or very short, beach attire etc

I'm spanish - my great GP all fought on Republican side in civil war, GP involved against Franco as were parents.

My Grandfather bought my DD a t-shirt for her birthday a few days ago. She really likes it (okay so it is winter so she is wearing a long sleeved black top under it) and went to school wearing it. It has a montif of Dolores Ibarruri on the side. (DD has just got very into our family history)

She has just phoned to say she has been told to go home. She is obviously shocked. The school send people home to get changed if clothes dont match the code. Head of 6 form told her that political symbols are againt school rules - I just checked no where in cotract she signed does it say that.

I have seen students walking to school past our house wearing tops with Che Guevara on and one person in DS1 class wore a Tory party top when the elction was on (he is at uni) and they were allowed to wear it.

She doesn't want to go home and change and I don't think she should have to.

I told her to stay put and if head says anything tell him to phone me. We shall wait and see

AIBU to not back up school?

Don't you think that if a student was thick enough to wear a bnp slogan t shirt they might learn something from the reaction of the majority?

I was a t school at the height of Rock Against Racism and Studens Against the Cuts and the Moners Strike etc and we were all politically aware and able to co-exist and fight our corners with each other and staff.

What is everyone so afraid of? What is all this conformist timidity?

Does anyone know when it changed then?

It's interesting.

She's there to be educated. Sometimes it's part of our education to educate others.

I would tell her to come home, and get her to write the best essay she has ever written about why Dolores Ibarruri is her heroine.

Then she can email it to the Head teacher and the governors, and explain why it is important for her to stand up to mindless fascism.

The "what about BNP slogans" line is disturbing. It amounts to being afraid of freedom. THe BNP et al isn't so powerful that it needs the suspension of self-expression. What would actually happen if someone wore something like that? There would be a bit of disturbance, lots of people would tell the BNP person what they thought of him/her, etc. I can remember challenging some wanker at school about National Front posters he had brought in. That is the operation of politics; its what we sould be encouraging young people to think about (then may be a few of them might vote).

I was delighted to hear that a few days ago one of the teachers at my dc's school called one of the girls "Maggie Thatcher" for her parroted parental views on pensions.

Go him!

Hully when I was in 6th form they had a hideous grey skirt and jumper with a 'gold' yellow shirt. The shirt was school-uniform-issue shop only, and didn't cater for the more...erm...ample among us. I looked like a porn star, to be frank, and the lady in the shop refused to sell it to me!

In the end, I wore a plain white shirt with my grey nylon skirt and jumper, and most of the teachers regularly had fits about it.

Plus ca change....

are you young?

tweren't like that in my day!

We had no uniform or dress codes in 6th form other than the usual not too short or too low cut.

My school banned all slogans on T-shirts in the sixth form and one of the most rule-abiding girls (at the time she was probably known as a swot) got sent home because she wore a T-shirt with a print of Monet's Waterlilies on it ? she probably thought the teachers would be impressed, oh how we chuckled.

minervaitalica I agree with you about the Stalin mugs. Stalin killed more people than Hitler, yet my DC history teacher thinks it is okay to drink out of a Stalin mug. I doubt you could even buy a Hitler mug (can't understand why a person would want either, tbh).

I have always dismissed it as a teacher decorating her classroom with posters relevant to the subject being taught, but really Stalin in no more an acceptable face than Hitler and she has no Hitler posters.

It's weird how communist leaders are seen as more socially acceptable than right wing ones, despite being equally murderous and oppressive.

Because everybody loved ol Uncle Joe for a long time, that seems to linger despite his slightly murderous behaviours.

But why on earth shouldn't pictures of bad people be allowed, or even encouraged, at schools? Especially bad people who are historical figures. We seem to be slipping into such a repressed, orthodoxy-enforcing conception of public spaces.

It's true some jobs wouldn't allow that t-shirt, mine wouldn't but it is stated in my contract and therefore enforcable. When I was OP's dd's age I had to wear uniform but again it was stated in the school rules.

OPs dd has not broken any rules as they stand and the school can't change rules on the spur of the moment.

Calatalie, in a history classroom there is a point in having a picture of Hitler, Stalin and Mao (et al - take your pick) - it's part of teh curriculum. That's not what we are talking about.

But a history teacher with a Stalin mug? Why is that considered "quirky" when a Hitler mug (or a BNP one) would be considered unacceptable and probably banned?

I phrased it badly. I meant Andy Warhol's iconic image of Mao in the same way as the image of Che has become iconic. I didn't mean to infer that Mao is someone to be celebrated and idolised (although let's admit it, some people still do).

What's interesting here is where do you draw the line on images? Personally I admire your daughter's spirit and values and think her teachers should use her to teach them and the rest of the class about a crucial part of history. I'd love to know what's happened though OP.

I would have thought that Stalin is seen as more "acceptable" (and I use the word incredibly loosely) because he didn't affect so many people outside of the USSR. Whereas Hitler did. Unless people have studied European history of the 20th Century, most of them probably wouldn't realise how bloody awful he was; and even if they have, unless they had family from the Soviet states, it's unlikely to have affected them in the same way that Hitler affected most people in the UK. That's just my take on it, anyway. I think he was a monster.

yars thumb

Thumbwitch, you are probably right about the reason (and we did not actually go to war with them). I just think it's really sad though that some people have got no clue about 20th century European history.

However, Karma's history teacher should

One person's freedom fighter is another person's terrorist. Political t-shirts can offend, you either allow them all, (and accept people being offended) or ban them all.

I have a distant relative, a 'great' explorer, the family were so proud of him. He also slaughtered the native population. I can imagine the majority of people would have no idea who he was if they saw his picture, but it would be offensive to some one belonging to the minority affected by his actions.

Images promoting communism would offend quite a few people I know, but I guess that's because they had to live with it/flee from it.

And I think that fascist pictures and slogans would be judged to be directly intimidating and creating a threatening environment to other students in a way that Stalinist/ communist ones wouldn't?
But totally agree, for me, being a teenager in the 80s when we were all talking about politics, and which led to so much changing wrt attitudes about feminism, racism, homophobia; it was massively important for me. That's so what I want my teenagers to be passionate about and discussing, not bloody TOWIE.

post - not sure about that - various communist regimes have been horrifyingly intimidating! Maoist China was appalling - children encouraged to rat out their parents to the authorities, for example; Cuba, Russia, neither have good track records.

I saw once a diagram of political affiliations drawn as a circle - communism and fascism pretty much meet up in many ways, there's not much to choose between them. Made sense to me.

Thumbwitch - we discussed exactly that diagram at school. ;)

Excuse my ignorance, but we didn't go through all the nice communist regimes at school, could someone name a few for me?

I'll add North Korea as well, and Cambodia.

If stalinist/maoist pictures do not offend teenagers, then I think some facts are getting lost somewhere. "Communism" killed as many people as fascism, and our children need to know that if they are going to wear an Andy Warhol Mao t-shirt. It's then up to them to decide if they still want to wear one of course (or a BNP one for that matter).

I used to have a Che Guevara t-shirt too... And now I cringe at my ignorance...

Ahem, OP, please tell us what happened?

Right, what if my daughter wore a t-shirt with an irish tricolore and James Connolly on it (socialist labour movement martyr shot after 1916 rising)....wonder how that would go down