ABSTRACT
Political, religious, and social symbolic clothing in schools has come under great scrutiny, particularly by the media and the general public. Most notably, France’s legislation banning all ‘ostentatious’ religious symbols in schools took a bold stance in protecting its civic republican tradition in schools, despite not having established uniform policies in schools (Bowen 2007). Schools in England have come under greater pressure to address various religious requests to provide alternative uniforms to accommodate various religious symbolic clothing (DCSF 2007). American schools are grappling with how to create a cohesive and safe school environment when certain political and social symbolic clothing may challenge, disrupt, or cause offense to other students and the greater local community (Brunswa 2004). An increasing number of legal cases in the United States have ruled in favor of school authorities having more discretion to ban various symbolic clothing (Gereluk 2008).
