How to deal with cultural differences in school (a lot of text inside...)

Okay, first of all let me just say that my English isn’t the best, but I hope it is good enough for explaining. This is a huge and very complicated situation and you might not or may have been running in to it yourself, but I feel I really need some wise thoughts and ideas. Okay, let’s move on.

So I am a high-school teacher and I have just started a new job in this school where more than 90% of our kids are immigrants, mostly from the Middle East and Africa. I think we have about 25 different nationalities at the moment, which of course is very exciting an interesting in every way. But there is a specific issue that I feel I don’t know how to deal with and I am not alone. In fact, schools and teachers generally don’t know how to cope with it and we lack support from people who know.

I am talking about cultural clashes and the most difficult one of them all: when a culture where girls and women are oppressed by men. In school you can tell this by young girls not being allowed to participate in some of the activities such as P.E (swimming) and field trips. This “phenomena” is called “Honour culture” or “Culture of Honour” and is deeply rooted with in families. In Sweden we have laws that says that every child must attend school for nine years (primary school) and that includes all education and activities.

It is called honour culture because of the “desperation” the male family members feel about protecting the girls from everything that might be a threat to their culture and family i.e. boys. We have seen examples of this when fathers and brothers have killed young girls who they suspected had love affairs with boys, in order to preserve their family honour. Girls aren’t allowed to marry who they want and sexual activities before marriage is strictly forbidden and also unforgiven.

Now, this is a cultural clash that I will have to face and deal with in a very near future. How can I possibly make a father allow his daughter to join the rest of the class on a field trip to the mountains for a week, when he refuses to let her go? They are breaking the law when they keep their children at home from school, but I doubt that calling the police or file a lawsuit would make any difference – perhaps it would even make things worse for the girl. How can I deal with a brother who is prepared to even use violence in order to protect his sister? Tough questions…

Finally I have to point out that honour culture has very little to do with religion, even if it is easy to believe that. It is a culture well rooted in the minds of certain cultures. It is a matter of behaviour, not religious beliefs. So even if you haven’t heard of this before, I would appreciate some feedback and suggestions. This is an extremely difficult issue and there might not be any rights or wrongs.

I’d be happy to explain further if you don’t understand me.

Cheers!