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Yes Badges in school

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  • 29-04-2015 11:53am
    #1
    sitstill
    Registered Users Posts: 1,380 ✭✭✭


    I'm just wondering if this is something that other schools are dealing with. We have quite a few students wearing the Yes badges and it seems like more and more of them have them. The school is a non-denominational Community School so the ethos issue isn't a big thing. What I am worried about is that some of the students might leave themselves in a vulnerable position in terms of bullying. This week there have been some students (all Muslim as it happens but I'm not sure if that has influenced their opinions) who have made their own No badges. As a staff we feel that we can't ask them to remove them as we have for weeks now, allowed the Yes badges. I'm just worried about possible bullying name-calling etc.

    Has this come-up elsewhere?


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    #2
    evolving_doors
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11,812 ✭✭✭✭evolving_doors


    We dont allow any badges on uniforms to start with so its not too much of a 'visible' issue.

    Maybe thats preventing debate or just letting students be free from politics so they can get on with study!

    Should teachers be impartial (apolitical)? I.e. a religion teacher extolling the virtues of a yes vote and next class a science teacher extolling the virtues of a no vote in the same school (yes and no are interchangeable btw).

    So in a sense sitstill, by allowing the yes's initially have 'the school' taken a side if they shut things down when 'no' enters the foray.

    Is there anything about badges in the uniform policy OP? Would the school mind if students had badges with pro-legalisation of drugs/pro-life/anarchism emblems etc?

    In terms of bullying/name calling then its just the usual case of dealing with it when you catch it.


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    #3
    GalwayGirl26
    Registered Users Posts: 186 ✭✭GalwayGirl26


    We have most of the school with Yes badges on at this stage. Absolutely no sign of any No supporters.
    I can see your dilemma though; you can't have one rule for some students and a different one for the rest. If there's nothing against badges/accessories in your dress code them I don't see what you can do without making it obvious that you are changing the rules because of the uptake in No badges.
    Really, if they want to wear badges, and it's not against the rules, then that's their choice I think.


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    #4
    sitstill
    Registered Users Posts: 1,380 ✭✭✭sitstill


    Thanks for the input everyone.

    Our uniform policy doesn't explicitly ban badges so I guess there's not much can be done in this case. However, the policy might be worthy of review next year in light of this.


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    #5
    katydid
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,351 ✭✭✭katydid


    sitstill wrote: »
    I'm just wondering if this is something that other schools are dealing with. We have quite a few students wearing the Yes badges and it seems like more and more of them have them. The school is a non-denominational Community School so the ethos issue isn't a big thing. What I am worried about is that some of the students might leave themselves in a vulnerable position in terms of bullying. This week there have been some students (all Muslim as it happens but I'm not sure if that has influenced their opinions) who have made their own No badges. As a staff we feel that we can't ask them to remove them as we have for weeks now, allowed the Yes badges. I'm just worried about possible bullying name-calling etc.

    Has this come-up elsewhere?
    It wouldn't be ethical for teachers to wear these kind of badges, and I don't think students should be allowed either. If teachers don't, it should be easy enough to ban it in the name of fairness.


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