To not see the big deal about Jewish and Muslim dc wearing red disks

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www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/french-school-forces-muslim-and-jewish-pupils-to-wear-coloured-discs-a6669396.html

So basically it stops dc being given food they can't have at lunchtime and no way imo can it be compared to the yellow star.

I might be biased in that I am a school cook and before that a nursery cook where every dc had a placemat with their photo and dietary preference. Schools don't do this instead we have a list with photos on and what they can't have but we have had near misses with jelly for example. A child who couldn't have the jelly asked for the jelly knowing they couldn't have the jelly and luckily as soon as the server put the jelly on the plate the child said but I'm not allowed this it's not halal and she had a fresh new plate of food.

Something for the cooks to see in primary schools to avoid mix ups is a great idea. The only problem I see with what the French have done is not to do it for all dietary requirements like allergies and intolerances

Jewish and Muslim diets are perfectly healthy and have some wonderful culinary traditions we should respect. I really think we should respect religious people as long as they behave in a sensible tolerant manner to others and don't force the children to do anything that may be harmful.

Let's ban religion then

Wouldn't that be wonderful! Better still if it just died a death on it's own, the world would be a much better place for us all without it.

Fake

Actually no. It's been proven that people who are religious are happier than others. It's about belonging, having a sense of family strength, and a purpose and routine in life.

The world would be a much better place without those who abuse religion, or are intolerant of it.

Actually no. It's been proven that people who are religious are happier than others

I've seen this claimed a lot - please could you show the evidence? I can believe it might be true for sense of belonging etc but have never actually seen it. Could just be correlation rather than causation in the direction that religion causes happiness.

I agree that logically one can argue that it's not that bad, but I just get an emotional reaction that says that given the context and history it's not the right approach to take.

Teaching and encouraging tolerance is very important in school. Schools should be welcoming to people of different faiths, cultures and beliefs (like vegetarian) and bring them together. Too often they seem to try to force everyone to "fit in" rather than encouraging the children to develop a tolerance and understanding of others who may be different in some way.

Like others have said, if it is merely to point the finger at different religious groups, then obviously it's unacceptable and worrying.

But if every child who is deviating from the main meal (be it for religious or allergy reasons) I don't see the problem. At my place of work we all have to don a necklace - no pork, no egg, gluten-free etc. No big deal.

It sounds a terrible idea to me I'm afraid. And I also don't agree with everyone having to eat Halal meat because that's a preference of a certain religion. I don't want to eat Halal meat. And should have as much right not to eat it.

You can't prove that people who are religious are happier than those who aren't. That's absurd.
And all those things you mention are perfectly possible for atheists to acheive, sticks.
Though there is some evidence to suggest that less religious societies have lower crime figures and lower levels of violence.

Young children should be allowed to eat what they please at school.

I take it you don't have any special dietary concerns?

Here's reference to one of several studies linking religion to increased life satisfaction: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7302609.stm

The obvious counter-argument is that it's correlative - people in close-knit communities with a common purpose tend to be happier, whether because of God, World of Warcraft, tennis or anything else!

It doesn't seem like an open and shut case to me! Not enough to confidently state that it's been proven that being religious leads to happiness in any case. But that is a bit of a detour from the point of the original thread I guess!

I agree that from an early age of children want to choose something that isn't in keeping with parents' religious requirements or vegetarian etc then that should be allowed. But again, that's a bit of a tangent!

In one of the areas I teach in, all the children have a coloured band to denote hot dinner, vegetarian hot dinner, sandwich/wrap or jacket potato choice. No band means packed lunch.
I think that signaling out one or two groups on the grounds of religion is divisive, and the roots of visible labelling as a method used in fascist states run very deep and are seen in a very negative light by a lot of people.
I'd be happy to see all school meals vegetarian.

Red strawberry if children don't have an allergy/intolerance it should be up to them what they eat.

'Red strawberry if children don't have an allergy/intolerance it should be up to them what they eat.'

Is this a general parenting policy you are advocating, or just for school lunches?
It's bloody hard to get a child to concentrate in the afternoon if all they've eaten is a packet of crisps and a chocolate biscuit. They are also irritable and whiney.

Religious threads always descend into snidey comments about "invisible friends" and "forcing" children to do things. It's really unpleasant.

Not general policy no. Within the confines of healthy meal options eg school lunches.

Well I've just checked. The mayor of Auxerre where this happened is a Socialist. The system was dreamed up by the kitchen team It wasn't a badge but a necklace with a red/yellow circle for no pork / no meat. Picture here: www.leparisien.fr/bourgogne/auxerre-a-la-cantine-une-pastille-rouge-pour-les-eleves-qui-ne-mangent-pas-de-porc-25-09-2015-5126331.php It was used for one lunchtime and was then swiftly sat on by the local council when a mother complained.

So not really hard and fast evidence of France's problem with racism, in fact rather the opposite given how quickly they stepped in to ensure it didn't happen again.

And all the parents who do not want their dc to eat the halal food that is everywhere, can they wear discs too.

I think young children should be allowed to make their own meal choices at school.

I don't know if the french are racist as such just generally a liberal society? Freedom, egality and all that..its hard to tread that line where some religions are not about being equal and are quite hard line.

KK some people find religion generally un pleasant though, and they are allowed too.

Twist - this event in itself isn't incendiary, it's more that France has a well-known history of anti Semitism and as such any marking out of individuals by religion harks back to the holocaust etc.

Frankly, as PPs have mentioned, having kids wear bracelets/badges to sort out who eats hot/cold/veggie food is eminently sensible. France's history, plus the angle of this story as targeting by religion, made it inflammatory.

it's more that France has a well-known history of anti Semitism I think you will find most European countries did not just France.

September, that's not in question - the present furore is luckily just limited to France tho!

it's more that France has a well-known history of anti Semitism and as such any marking out of individuals by religion harks back to the holocaust

Yes I'm aware of that. Hence it being illegal to carry out racial profiling, which is why this clumsy local initiative was immediately recognised as inappropriate and stopped.

What's snidey about referring to someone's god as their 'invisible friend' Kourtney? Particularly if they claim their god to be both invisible, and their friend.

Well yes, we agree it was clumsy and inappropriate but the op and others said it was 'no big deal'.
I'm glad it was sorted promptly.