View Full Version : Boy, 13, Told To Leave Class For Wearing 'Sectarian' Union Jack
equusdriving
03-Jun-12, 16:30
A 13-year-old boy was told to leave the classroom for wearing a Union Jack T-shirt because the teacher felt it was "sectarian".
The boy was asked to cover up his top, which he had been wearing as part of a non-uniform day, with a jumper.
A father who claims his son was told to leave class for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a Union flag print, has spoken of his anger.
The incident happened just days before the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations, and the boy's father has branded it "out of order".
Lee Heron's father, Norman, 42, told the paper: "This is utterly ridiculous and totally out of order. It's Jubilee week and there are Union flags everywhere."
The incident was reported to have happened at Douglas Ewart High in Newton Stewart, Wigtonshire, south-west Scotland.
Heron said his son's teacher branded the image sectarian. It was the first time Lee had been in the teacher's class, he said.
Heron added he could not understand the interpretation of the emblem, adding that he had brought his children up in a tolerant household.
The pupil was taking advantage of a non-uniform day by wearing the Primark top.
The local authority, Dumfries and Galloway Council, told the paper it cannot comment on individual cases.
When I read this I wondered if any of Corrie3 teacher friends taught at Ewart High:lol:
oldchemist
03-Jun-12, 17:09
It probably is an issue in Weegie land.
I can sort of understand the teachers reasoning....
In south-west Scotland the Union Jack has been adopted as a sectarian symbol just like the Nazis adopted the Swastika (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika) as a symbol.
I can sort of understand the teachers reasoning....
In south-west Scotland the Union Jack has been adopted as a sectarian symbol just like the Nazis adopted the Swastika (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika) as a symbol.
I think, like the teacher, you're confusing unionism with protestantism.
I don't understand how promoting either (even though I don't think the boy was) could be considered offensive or abusive.
would the boy be told to leave the classroom if it was a scotland top .I do not think so
tiger woods
03-Jun-12, 18:28
I'll bet the boy supports the Rangers. If he does and the teacher knew this, then I can understand why the teacher viewed this as a 'secterian' T-shirt. I wonder if there was a Rangers badge or logo somewhere on the T-shirt.
Incidentally, 'non uniform days' do not allow pupils to wear football tops. This is a directive from the Scottish Government.
Mystical Potato Head
03-Jun-12, 18:35
I think, like the teacher, you're confusing unionism with protestantism.
I don't understand how promoting either (even though I don't think the boy was) could be considered offensive or abusive.
Sad it may be but try promoting either of them outside Parkhead for example or anywhere where protestant/unionists are the equivalent
of a modern day leper and you'll soon find out how offensive both of them are to the majorityof those inside by the abuse you recieve.
Stand outside at full time wearing a Unoin Jack teeshirt and i guarantee you one thing,you wont be asked
'excuse me pal,are you a protestant or a unionist by the way'.
Both are equally frowned upon to say the least but its a two way street with the protestant/unionist side being equally abusive to their
catholic/non unionist friends.
tiger woods
03-Jun-12, 18:40
Sad it may be but try promoting either of them outside Parkhead for example or anywhere where protestant/unionists are the equivalent
of a modern day leper and you'll soon find out how offensive both of them are to the majorityof those inside by the abuse you recieve.
Stand outside at full time wearing a Unoin Jack teeshirt and i guarantee you one thing,you wont be asked
'excuse me pal,are you a protestant or a unionist by the way'.
Both are equally frowned upon to say the least.It's the same on both sides of the religious divide. Try walking past Ibrox wearing green, you wont be walking for long.
Mystical Potato Head
03-Jun-12, 18:44
It's the same on both sides of the religious divide. Try walking past Ibrox wearing green, you wont be walking for long.
Yes i quite agree,i added that before someone thought i was a proddy bigot but you got in first.
I was replying to the question of how and to whom promoting unionism and protestantism could be offensive.
Both sides have their large share of brain dead bigots.
Incidentally, 'non uniform days' do not allow pupils to wear football tops. This is a directive from the Scottish Government.
Unbelievable.
So getting rid of football tops will stop sectarianism?
The football rivalry is a RESULT of the divide, not the cause.
Maybe the Scottish government should try banning faith schools if they really want to integrate children from different backgrounds at a young age?
It doesn't seem to too unreasonable, considering it's in the Glasgow area. If I was Buddhist I wouldn't wear a Swastika because of the connotations it has in certain parts of the world. That being said things like faith schools are a more legitimate target if we want to stop sectarianism.
equusdriving
03-Jun-12, 19:13
It doesn't seem to too unreasonable, considering it's in the Glasgow area. If I was Buddhist I wouldn't wear a Swastika because of the connotations it has in certain parts of the world. That being said things like faith schools are a more legitimate target if we want to stop sectarianism.
oh yes they are very similar a union jack (in the united kingdom) and a swastika ??
It doesn't seem to too unreasonable, considering it's in the Glasgow area.
You mean in Glasgow, Great Britain, you're not allowed to wear the flag of Great Britain? How can that be reasonable?
where did someone quote it was a football shirt i did not see that in the op >it readA 13-year-old boy was told to leave the classroom for wearing a Union Jack T-shirt . perhaps the boy was proud of being part of the british isles >when i was at school that encluded england wales scotland and northern ireland, we are all part of the same island perhaps he was supporting the queen which many of the schools are .
billmoseley
03-Jun-12, 19:30
i sispect this has been blown up out of all proportion i read that there was also an issue about homework not being handed in. The papers saw it as a head liner so ran with it. I doubt we will ever know the truth
I think, like the teacher, you're confusing unionism with protestantism.
I said... "I can sort of understand the teachers reasoning...." Not... "I agree with the teachers reasoning...."
I know the difference between unionism with protestantism.
tiger woods
03-Jun-12, 20:50
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxMjAw/$(KGrHqRHJ!wE8+wMdwziBPY5(iYVqw~~60_12.JPG
tiger woods
03-Jun-12, 20:53
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxMjAw/$(KGrHqRHJ!wE8+wMdwziBPY5(iYVqw~~60_12.JPGMaybe the teacher thought it was this tee shirt. By the way, the boy is a well known Rangers fan in the school.
if football causes this much trouble why not ban it .Everything else that seems to cause trouble is banned, and put housing estates on the pitches to provide housing for the homeless
if football causes this much trouble why not ban it .
Football is not the cause.
In the 19th Century there was a large number of Irish Immigrants to Scotland, and the Clyde in particular to work in the shipyards.
The communities were divided between the locals and the immigrants. The Scots and the Irish.
Their sects of Christianity were different, but that was not the divide.
Celtic football club was created for the Irish community of Glasgow.
The divide was there before the football. Take away the football, you'll still have the divide.
How many of these people, who are so influenced by religion, are in Church on a Sunday morning? Statistics say around 6%...................
If this is all you have to do to get out of school I should have known about this 30 years ago......the nightmare of cross country running before global warming would be erased from my brain.
secrets in symmetry
04-Jun-12, 00:11
It doesn't seem to too unreasonable, considering it's in the Glasgow area. If I was Buddhist I wouldn't wear a Swastika because of the connotations it has in certain parts of the world. That being said things like faith schools are a more legitimate target if we want to stop sectarianism.Yes, Newton Stewart is in the Glasgow area - it's almost as close to Glasgow as are Dundee and St Andrews, and about the same distance from Glasgow as Pitlochry!
Have any of you geography experts ever been to Newton Stewart? It's a sleepy wee country town in the middle of nowhere with a population about half the size of Wick! I was at university with a bunch of them - they're teuchters like us! :lol:
I was at university with a bunch of them - they're teuchters like us! :lol:
I have been informed by an aquaintace from Cambuslang that the definition of a teuchter is "one from north of Denny".
I have no idea what that makes people from Dumfries+Galloway, but apparently they're not the same as us! :)
secrets in symmetry
04-Jun-12, 00:40
Cambuslang is one of those places that everyone's heard of, but no-one's been to. I think it's a figment of someone's imagination.... Denny's is an American fast food chain. :cool:
Seriously, I was using the second meaning here (http://literalbarrage.org/blog/2005/01/24/your-scottish-slang-word-o-the-day-teuchter/):
1. (trad.) one who derives from the Highlands of Scotland (a Highlander); more commonly used by city folk to describe rural dwellers.
They speak verrryyyy slloowwwwlllyyy, and there aren't many consonants in their dialect. For example, "hundred" is "hunner".
It doesn't seem to too unreasonable, considering it's in the Glasgow area.Nowhere near Glasgow! It's in the far SW in Dumfries and Galloway. As far from Glasgow as roughly speaking Wick or Thurso is from Inverness.Admittedly it is nearer to N. Ireland if there is any obtuse relevance in that fact to a sectarian/football related aspect to this story.
This is another bonkers story, more likely the teacher is the one with the bigoted issues here.
On a side note it is not the Union Jack it is the Union Flag, which sould only be referred to as the Union Jack when flown from the jackstaff of a ship.
....On a side note it is not the Union Jack it is the Union Flag....
Here we go again....
So, a few years ago, I went into O'Sullivans, in Pittsburgh, wearing a Scots Rugby shirt, and was told to leave, as they wanted no troublemakers in their bar.......
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