On 2006/05/22, at 14:22, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> Also, it should be noted that the State of France subsidizes private
> religious education: "Private Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant schools
> receive state subsidies, and will be exempt under the new law
> regarding religious symbols. Currently, there is one private Muslim
> school, in Lille, that is hoping to obtain an exemption as well"
> (Jocelyne Cesari, "Islam and French Secularism: The Roots of the
> Conflict," 23 August 2004,
> <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/printable/
> france_briefing_print.html>).
Private education in France comes in two forms: the main one is private under contract with the state, which means basically that the facilities belong to private entities and the teachers are paid by the state on a level similar to teachers in public schools. This ensures 2 things: one that private schools don't have to become schools for the _very_ rich only and can catter to a broader public, two that kids are guaranteed that the curriculum is "baccalaureat compatible". The non-contracted private schools are very expensive, very few and catter mostly to very rich people whose kids are not accepted in normal private schools.
> The likely effect of the ban on hijab and other "conspicuous religious
> symbols" is for religious students (and their parents) who are opposed
> to the law and have ways and means to withdraw from secular public
> schools and attend private schools. That's hardly a desirable effect,
> if you, like me, think that it will be better for Muslims to follow
> the paths that Jews, mainline Protestant Christians, and other
> cultural and religious groups followed and secularlize over time.
Besides for the fact that in the places where muslims are concentrated, there are basically no affordable private (not evn to mention "muslim") schools that would allow for them to get some kind of education if they left the public school system.
JC Helary