eurogreen:

Well, you can guarantee that in every case of expulsion, they ran through the long list of measures, including discussion with the parents.

Not an expulsion. The reported attitude of the principal is, of course, deplorable.

"numerous abuses of the law"

I sort of feel I've covered this territory in this post. I have sort of implicitly apologised on behalf of the Education Nationale, but I don't feel I can assume personal responsibility for its deeply dysfunctional nature (in general, you should avoid asking the EN to implement any policy, because they will fuck it up).

I wish it would be possible to evaluate the result, ten years after, of the law banning religious dress in schools. Perhaps the effects were negative overall; perhaps a permissive attitude would have brought better outcomes (but who defines what are desirable outcomes?) It would be hard to find objective investigators; everyone has strong opinions on the subject. But I wish it were possible to measure, qualitatively and/or quantitatively, changes in attitudes towards Moslems, or changes in behaviours among Moslems (particularly between boys and girls). Because this is the big unspoken, unmentionable corollary to the debate about Moslem girls and why they must remain modestly dressed : the extreme assymetry in rights and expectations between the sexes.

It is no accident that the recent scare campaign against the proposal to introduce "gender studies" in primary schools provoked such a strong reaction from Moslem parents in particular. Questioning gender identity and the associated rights and duties of the sexes does not go down well among working-class Moslems. In the whole question of the integration/insertion of Moslems in French society, in my opinion this is probably the toughest nut to crack.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}