Ahhh, my broadband is back to full-speed (we musta used it up quick last month). I can watch Youtube again!
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Megan and Jonny are coming to my school tomorrow to dance, dance, dance for us! It's very exciting. They're not my favourite couple, but now I will have seen two of the top three quite by chance...... Only the coveted Suzanne Paul performance to see in person now.........
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Oh no..... No..... NO.... I'm the Rock Et Man.
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Morgan liked the tigers the best. And then the gorillas. He went to the zoo.
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Ange's name is very similar to the word 'angst'. Ever noticed that?
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I got some new jeans ages ago and decided (upon getting them home that day) that I didn't like them. So have never worn them (this was a good month or so ago).
I tried them on this weekend and have redecided that I do like them.
That was less of a waste of money than I thought! They are long and do up without me having to lie on my back so my tummy inverts. Those are my only two pre-requisites in jeans shopping.
Now if only those Diesel shoes would stop cutting off the circulation in my feet, I would be able to say I hadn't bought anything stupid this year.....
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Cassie is home alone for the week.
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I ate vegetables tonight. After I ate some lollies and cheese. But I ate lots of vegetables - courgettes, red onion, capsicum. And red meat. It was healthy!
Yeah..... that was after I had a few handfuls of 'gummy oil' lollies. There was this huge bag for only $2.98. I had absolutely no need for them..... but they were so very very cheap.
Now I feel a little sick.
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I have watched lots of crap on Sky TV. My latest show was My Sweet 16. That show cracks me up. Imagine having to teach them little rich kids...... I think I'd get sick of the show after two episodes - but in small doses it's hilarious. There was a girl dressed up as a princess on a 'unicorn' (horse with a nose-cone) having a special video-invite of her filmed. Great stuff! But the unicorn-horse didn't like the nose-cone, so kinda flicked its head up to get it off, and the cone whacked the girl in the face. Priceless! It 'spoilt' her whole day!
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There's a girl in one of the basketball teams at school who wears a head-scarf. It's obviously for religious reasons (she's Iraqi) as she wears long pants and long sleeves under her basketball uniform as well. Her father has written her a note expressing that he would like her to wear her head-scarf when in mixed company. Fair enough? Apparently not.
Anyhow, she goes to some school on Friday night to play basketball and the ref wouldn't let her on the court with her head-scarf on! How culturally insensitive is that???? It absolutely would not have done anyone else any harm at all. If their finger had caught in it, the actual scarf would just have pulled off. I don't know what his issue was. We've had other girls with head-scarves before and it's never been a big deal.
I was not there, or would have had a word with him. Give some people a whistle and they become a stickler for the rules with nazi-like zeal. It's not even like she's a superstar or anything - we're talking about the team that loses by 40 odd points a week. And there were apparently lots of boys there watching, not to mention the male coach of our team.
Anyhow, I took secret glee at hearing that one of the parents forged her a note from her 'dad' which she showed the ref a quarter or so into the game (not being able to find the actual note itself) and she was then allowed to play.
It may be an 'official' rule - but it's just dumb.
3 comments:
Here's a little mind game: imagine your employer suddenly issued a rule that you had to wear a skirt with a hemline no higher than your ankle, or that you had to wear one with a hemline no lower than mid-thigh.
Either way it's sexist, about regulating women. And so far, most of the media debates about headscarves etc haven't got beyond the idea that you regulate women.
Which isn't to say that a lot of the anti-headscarf thing isn't racist...
If you get into the whole philosophical debate about whether women in general should be made to wear anything a certain way.... maybe they shouldn't.
But that's not even what this was about. It totally wasn't the forum to debate it.
You shouldn't put a kid in the position of having to either 1) not play sport (which in itself is a fairly modern thing to be doing in some of these cultures, so should be encouraged) or 2) defy the wishes of her father/family/religion.
It's not the place of some referee. And I think it's not the place of a country to say 'you come here - you have to live by OUR standards'. I've had other students come to their own decision about not wearing a head-scarf, which was very independant of her family - that was what one of my media girls did an article on that own a national competition (and got her on Good Morning and the Dom Post - moment of teacher pride).
Some sports association or referee doing something like that is totally simplifying the issue and making a situation difficult when it doesn't have to be. When a head-scarf's worn properly it's not a hazard. If they think it's not 'uniform' then make a rule that it has to be the same colour as the singlet or black. I bet in debates about the issue the matter of it being controlling of women didn't come up - it was more about conforming to NZ norms. 'They shouldn't be able to dress differently to the rest of the team'. I've been to these meetings!
The ESOL department, who are the ones most closely dealing with integration and cultural issues of some of the students, would never insist they 'dress like kiwis'. You should never create a situation where you're putting some kiwi institution directly against family wishes - it's not fair on the kids and it's not going to help them integrate into and feel a part of kiwi society at all.
Totally - it wasn't the forum or the ref's place to debate it. I just think that the "conform to our norms" thing is often given a justification by saying "their" norms are sexist, so logically "ours" must not be.
Glad you're in the education biz... :)
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