French Law Affects Global Letter Exchange
Some of the refugee replies received by French students had to be edited before being given to the students. The letters contained religious references in violation of French law.
The Jules Ferry laws, enacted as early as the 1880's, established free, secular, and compulsory schooling for every French child up to the age of twelve; modern French law makes education compulsory to age sixteen. A teacher who violates the laws risks being sanctioned.
In February 2004, a law was enacted to strongly encourage schools to reject students wearing anything seen as a "conspicuous" religious symbol. For muslim girls, the head scarf is considered one of those symbols. Starting in October, several muslim girls were expelled from school because they refused to remove it.
Sikh boys who refuse to remove their turbans are also at risk of being expelled.
Refugee teachers will be alerted about this issue and students will have to adjust their writing. This illustrates at least one thing: the Global Letter Exchange is really a meeting of two worlds, not only refugees with non-refugees, but also between two approaches to the educational environment.