ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the problem of the veil from a cross-cultural perspective, comparing the United States to several other western democracies. It discusses the cultural significance of dress, and briefly summarizes the apparel associated with certain religions and its significance. The chapter considers the legal regimes and models that govern student religious garb in the United States, France, Great Britain, and Canada. It also examines the extent to which those four models succeed in balancing both the potential individual rights claims that arise when students wear symbols to school and the claims of minority groups and the broader collectivity. Since the 1980s, the decision of some girls to wear the Islamic veil to public school has generated controversy in a number of western countries, and the discussion here concentrates on the veil. Resolving the problem of the veil by subsidizing numerous Muslim schools, however, would undermine France's primary goal of assimilating immigrants into mainstream French culture.
