Comments about ‘Girl kicked out of class for nose ring’

I appreciate the sentiment, but really...

It seems that everyone can claim cultural reasons for wearing just about anything.

Public school is not the forum for individual rights of expression. Are we supposed to bend over backwards because someone wants to wear a kilt?

Try to assimilate to the culture we live in. Know the school rule in advance...they are accessible to everyone. Facial piercings are not a right. She can take it out for the day and wear what she wants at home.

Did you ever think about why most people don't have jr. high kids with facial piercings? It is because it is outside the norm.

Nice try.

It should be ok... If she were married since in her culture women don't get the piercing till marriage. But she's not, so shouldn't be aloud to wear it. She shouldn't get any special privileges.

Very strange. Nose ring definitely has nothing to do with Sikhs and I should know as my entire family is sikh and based in India which is the originating state of this faith. Also I am well traveled within US and don't know of any such practices here either.

Just for the record, Sikhs do have one practice what appears to Americans as restrictive which is the males are required to wear a turban and beards(some do and some don't. Anyway most americans mistakenly believe the turbaned males to be muslims or arabs which is another story).

However for the record, nose ring is NOT a Sikh practice or in any way related to 'culture'. I do not wish to judge the school student's right to wear stuff however I do take offense to her family's misleading logic and falsely using Sikh faith to plead her case.

Nose piercings are seen among some Hindu Indians but have nothing to do with Hindu religion either.

Sikhs kids do face racism and attacks at US schools due to head-dress and this student's case and the misinformation only hurts genuine issues.

Mr. Singh:

It will probably interest you to learn that when I was taking my Basic Combat Training at Fort Lewis, Washington in 1967, there was a Sikh soldier who was stationed there.

He was permitted to wear his beard and turban with his United States Army uniform, and as I recall, he was assigned to work in the post finance office.

This was forty-two years ago, but I think I remember him being featured in the "ARMY TIMES" newspaper, the "STARS AND STRIPES" newspaper, and/or in "SOLDIERS" magazine.

Maybe the "DESERET NEWS" has something about it in their archives?

Thank you.

John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Washington, D.C. 20011-8400

It wasn't necessary to have this girl sit in the principal's office for five hours.

Having said that, I agree with the poster who said she should not wear the facial piercing at school.

I don't believe any religious symbols should be worn to public K-12 schools.

Imagine the uproar if a LDS kid was prohibited from wearing under garments outside of Utah, "drop the rules" would be claiming discrimination, by the way the Sikh faith is over 600 years old and they originated wearing undergarments not the LDS, the undergarments are part of the 5 principles of faith for the Sikh faith

I agree with the earlier comment that schools are not a place for individual expression.

I think crosses and ctr rings should be banned also. They are not required for religious practice and there should be no exceptions.

Mom said she couldn't believe they would deny her that culture... give me a break. We here in the United States are denied our culture when Merry Christmas is taken away from our schools, when Christmas trees are called something else other than what they are. This is our culture. No empathy here.

If a loin cloth is a cultural tradition, why not wear one to school?

There must be a limit.

I'm glad to see the school stand by it's rules.
She can have it pierced and not wear it to school.

B Singh - well said, thank you. I thought this as well, but my cultural identity does not allow me to be an expert as you are.

It's not a religious symbol for a young girl. The culture thing can be in her home our out of school. It doesn't need to be in school. It's amazing to get around rules people will pull anything out of thier hat. If that doesn't work then they scream discimination. Just conform. This individual identiy thing is out of control.

I know at my kid's school, the dress standards are sent home every year. If this really were something religious or cultural (and from other readers comments it appears it may not be), wouldn't the best course of action be to read the dress policy FIRST and then TALK to school officials about making an exception. . .rather than showing up in school with a fait accompli? But of course, that way you wouldn't be disciplined--and get your name and picture in the newspaper.

I agree with "Let's just drop all rules"--anybody could claim culture, religious reasons, etc. for tattooing themselves, wearing their pants down to their thighs, coloring their hair some ridiculous color, and so on, and so on. If she wants a nose ring, let her wear it at home. It seems like kids run the schools now (or their parents who are stuck in a time warp)--all on the argument for freedom of expression, speech, or whatever they can dream up.

If regligious symbons shouldn't be worn in K-12, we should outlaw CTR rings and crucifixes as well

The problem is, if groups can state that it's discrimination then I suppose it's also discrimination for people to express themselves freely by having the same piercings. Organizations such as schools, need to either allow it purely on freedoms of the country or DISALLOW it and stick with it and say RULES ARE RULES but this whole two sided business in the world WILL NOT WORK!

Bountiful has it all figured out. This is ridiculous. What can we expect from a town that considers scones haute cuisine.

I must agree with the above posters that cultural symbols such as crosses, CTR rings, and piercing should NOT be allowed. None of these are required by religion even though they may be popular in the culture.
BTW: I too remember a soldier in the US Army that was a Sikh. He was also allowed to wear his hair long and wear a turban. Sikhs have a long history of being great warriors. There are some great stories from WWII about the fact that the Germans hating to guard Sikh soldiers. Seems that the Sikh soldiers always escaped and the guards were always found dead.

If culture isn't a right to be expressed at school as stated in the article, then all expressions need to be removed from all students, including the dominant one.

Having said that, the school has the right to make and enforce a dress code.

Look at Native Americans. The argument could be made that they be allowed to wear a headdress to school becuase it's their culture, but they'd be asked to remove it becuase most schools dont allow hats.