BHS Students Experiment with Hijabs

   Many people have a difficult time trying to relate to people who look different than they do. This idea was apparent at Brighton High School on November 7th, when the girls in Diana Mason’s Ap Language classes wore hijabs during their school day.

  Mason’s classes are currently reading Azar Nafisi’s memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, which follows the life of an English professor in Tehran, Iran during the Iranian Revolution. When the Iranian revolution first began, in 1979, the government made it a requirement for women to cover their hair with a headscarf whenever they are in public. During this time, head coverings were no longer only identified with religion.

  “In a small way, students were able to experience how a simple change in their physical appearance, like wearing an Islamic head covering, changed not only how they were viewed and treated by others, but how they felt about themselves. Even though it was only one day, and it was a voluntary act, it can be an amazingly powerful experience,” Mason said.

  Students in Mason’s classes received mixed reactions from the experience of wearing the veil, but all were eager to participate. The participants met  in Mason’s classroom before school on Nov. 7th, where they chose a scarf and put it on with the help of Robin Clark, a math teacher at Brighton High School and a practicing Muslim. Almost all of the scarves were from Clark’s personal collection.  

  There are many different types of head coverings worn by women in Iran. At Brighton High School, the students wore hijabs, which were traditionally only worn by Muslim women, but became popular in Iran after the revolution. Hijabs cover a woman’s hair, while still keeping the full face visible.

  Students who were observers of the hijab experiment asked a lot of questions. Most questions were kept polite, and asked about what the scarves were called and the students’ purpose in wearing them. During class and in the halls, the girls who wore the hijabs were called racial or religious slurs, or received negative comments directed at them. Some girls were even called terrorists themselves, or mocked by their friends.

  “I expected to get some dirty looks and rude remarks, but I didn’t expect the blunt ignorance that would come from my friends, as a joke or not,” senior AP Language student Alexa Krause said.

  Many of the girls agreed that while wearing the hijabs, they were able to see how their classmates truly respond to those who look and act different. The girls felt out of place in a community that they grew up in. It’s difficult to know if the negative comments were meant to be mean, or if the other students were just uninformed, but it they were disrespectful either way.

  “In first hour, a kid who sits behind me asked why I was wearing the hijab. He said it pretty respectfully so I felt it ok to answer him. After I told him it was for AP Lang and all the details about the book we’re reading, he took the time to tell me that I should probably take that ‘thing’ off and only put it on when I am in class,” senior AP Language student Kristi Lauzon said.

  After the experiment, Mason encouraged her students to record their experiences in journal entries which would be turned in for extra credit points. Most girls did choose to write journal entries, but were more concerned about sharing their stories than just earning extra credit.