Teachers at a school in the United States threatened to tell a Muslim girl’s parents that she had removed her hijab, arguing that it was part of her “culture.”

In a Reddit thread entitled ‘My teacher almost outed me for taking off the hijab’, the student explains what happened.

So today I was happy. I had completely stopped covering my hair and was talking confidently with other people, I was just so joyful I wanted to go home and dream about it at night.

Then in math class, when the bell rang to switch, a teacher asked me about my hijab. I told her that I just took it off and it was no big deal. She then told me that it was important to uphold culture and asked if my parents knew what I was doing. Being the idiot I am, I said no and asked if she would tell. To my absolute horror, she said yes.

My whole world stopped. I asked her why she would do that and she just said “because it’s your culture! And you were given an advantage to be able to wear the hijab as a uniform, so don’t just take advantage.” I put my head down for a while, holding back tears. Before I knew it, it was time for the last class. In the hallway I just walked mindlessly to my next class. Then the same teacher who wanted to out me had apparently told the science teacher about what I had done. Both of them told me to come over and the science teacher asked what’s wrong. I didn’t say anything, and at that moment she just hugged me and I started sobbing.

She led me to the empty classroom and sat me down along with the other teacher. They gave me a whole lecture about why I shouldn’t have taken it off and my parents are just protecting me, I shouldn’t try to get a boyfriend even though I said I didn’t want one. After the talk I just put my hijab back on and left, it was time to go home now.

At the beginning of the day I was full of hope, and at the end I just felt crushed. I was lucky that they didn’t tell my mom, but they’re watching me from now on so I just can’t do what I have been doing anymore. I don’t know what to do anymore, my double life has ended before I knew it, and I lost a good chunk of the confidence I had earlier.

Edit: this happened in a regular public school in the U.S. on December 18, 2019….

Update #2: I spoke with the principal. He said that it’s my choice how I dress as long as it abides by the dress code. He said if those teachers want to talk to my mother, they can talk to him about it, so I’m free to take off my hijab. I’m going to try to take it off again, I’ll update again if she tries anything.