Student complaining-religion

[totoromama]

I train adults in professional services and they do professional exams.
I'm really upset about something a student said today. I need to vent but don't think I can take it further.
I taught anything successful 4 day course with an exam.
The student in question got a really high score, she was so happy!
I leant over her to look at the score she was telling me and my pendant necklace came out of my top.
Her whole demeanor changed.
She stood up and exclaimed that if she had known I was x she wouldn't have done the course and she was going to complain.
I'm so upset.my religion has nothing to do with my job. I feel scared.
She'll complain and it'll effect me at work not for my performance.
I'm not sure my aibu.

I stand duly corrected.

Personally I would still report it to the police as a hate incident though.

Just because being antisemitic isn't a crime doesn't mean it should be free from consequences.

Yes, it’s an incidence of hate…. but “hate”, in itself, isn’t and shouldn’t be a crime.

Sorry this happened OP. Of course knew that you were going to say you were Jewish (am Jewish too). Would definitely put what happened and what she said in writing to your employer, just to protect yourself in case she later makes some malicious complaint against you or gives you a negative review.

Much as I abhor what this student has said and how she has behaved, the job of the Police is to enforce criminal law. It is not their job to protect feelings by “tellng people off” for offending someone.

This isn’t a matter for the Police. The world isn’t a primary school and the Police aren’t primary school teachers.

Nevertheless, non crime hate incidents are reportable to the police and this seems like a much better use of that system than being misgendered or whatever.

No he won’t. You’re allowed to wear a pendant.
Report the student - she should not be allowed into a professional arena if she is willing to discriminate against people on the grounds of their religion.

You might disagree with the principle of non crime hate incidents (I actually disagree with them) but while the system exists, this is exactly the sort of thing it should be used for.

Please don’t try to extrapolate the situation you have found yourself in. Deal with the matter at hand.

I don’t believe in the work place we do have a right to insult others or discriminate against them because of their religion.

imagine a kid in a school saying - I’m not going to maths because Miss x is Jewish and I’m not having her teach me. Would quite rightly be total outrage.

This is just totally unacceptable behaviour in the workplace and needs challenging.

No it doesn’t. She explicitly says she’s lived in those predominantly Muslim countries with no problem.
What an utter distortion of what she said.

No, of course you’re not the problem OP, and British Jewish people aren’t.
Antisemitism is a problem; Jewish people from the diaspora feeling unsafe because of it in their home countries and fleeing to Israel only exacerbates the problems there.
The situation in Israel/Palestine is the ultimate example of many, many wrongs not making a right. But wearing a religious symbol which accidentally becomes visible isn’t one of those wrongs. Simply being a Jew isn’t one. Antisemitism over centuries - millennia even - is the root cause for many of the wrongs.

Of course they are though?

hi mixed bananas, non-human Zionist devil terrorist here (aren’t you lovely) 👋
I do admire the inventiveness of your invective, but as one of the Zionist ‘infesting’ Israel, I’d have to politely disagree with you, I’m very much human, and I promise you, I’m not the devil. I was so sure that the world had moved on from thinking Jews were the devil ( no we really don’t have horns, I promise!) but apparently not. Not that you mentioned it in your rant but my nose is not particularly prominent either, in case you were wondering.
have a wonderful day 🙃

@op im so sorry this happened to you. It’s such a heart sinking and frightening moment, when this kind of thing happens. You can feel so unsafe and othered. I don’t have advice, as I don’t know your workplace situation, although really the only reaction from your management should be support, it’s unfortunate not guaranteed, but I’m sending you a big virtual hug 🫂.

Indeed. The people responsible for the state of Gaza are HAMAS. And they're not Jewish. Anyone who isn't a left wing nut agrees with this.

I don't think they can ask you to remove this any more than they could request somebody remove a turban.

And why not? By accepting this, we are enabling the behaviour. The police are quick to clamp down on Islamophobia and transphobia, maybe they need to also look at the increasing blatant antisemitism and treat that with the same gusto they apply to other hate speech. Because the Jewish people aren’t as vocal as others, doesn’t mean they are should be dealt with differently.

But that’s exactly what’s happening currently. Others are being arrested for hate speech. Why would that not include hate speech aimed at Jews?!

This 100%

Complain now and get her removed from the course. He behaviour is utterly disgraceful.

You should not be subject to this in your role.

And again, two wrongs don’t make a right. No-one should be being arrested for ‘hate speech’ unless it’s associated with an actual crime. (Credible incitement to violence is, I think, a crime hence Lucy Connolly should have been arrested.)

And would it have made any difference to your story whether or not the student had worn a hijab?

I think this is a critical point. The student was also wearing a religious symbol (the hijab) and rightly would not expect to be on the receiving end of abuse and thrown out of the class based on her religion. BUT she has abused the OP based on her religion.

I strongly suspect the T&C of her attendance as a delegate would also have a bearing on the students 'complaint' as they usually stipulate zero tolerance for this sort of behaviour.

I'm so sorry to hear about this OP. Please report this to your manager.

And to think that we still have people denying the existence and increase of antisemitism in daily life...

My point is that people shouldn’t be arrested for that…it’s a slippery slope.

I don’t condone hateful speech but I don’t believe it should be criminalised…. I passionately believe in free speech as an essential part of a free and democratic society.

But it’s not a crime, so what exactly do you expect the police to do? It is deeply unpleasant and unfair for the OP. She should not face these comments at work. She should have the full backing of her employer, and I do think the student should be removed from the course (there is probably a student code of conduct in place to say people can be removed from the course for unacceptable behaviour). But what exactly do you think the police should do? If the police got involved for every stupid racist comment made they wouldn’t have time to do anything else.

We have a mechanism in this country for reporting non crime hate incidents to the police. If it exists, which it does, this is what it should be used for.

It's not terribly useful for the police to have data about how many times a male person has been upset about someone pointing out that he is male.

It is arguably very useful to the police to have some data about rising antisemitism and where it is coming from.