<p>I’m currently in EMT school and I work on a volunteer ambulance squad near my community. I attend a very religious school that would not consider this kind of work appropriate for a young girl. I wasn’t planning on telling them about his but they found out and I’m basically being given the choice to quit the squad or leave school. Because I’m a senior and I have no other options, I’d have to quit. Out of curiousity, are there any laws that would make this illegal? I attend a private school, so that probably makes a difference. I’m extremely frustrated with my school right and if there’s any way to get around this, I would like to. Thank you.</p>
<p>Wow, I can’t imagine a school where potentially saving lives is considered wrong for ANYONE! I can’t offer any advice, but I do hope you prevail. My large state college ran its own fire department and had its own EMT’s. One of them was a student in my dorm. What a difference in attitudes! Good luck to you. I’ve never heard of a school like yours.</p>
<p>When you decided to attend a school that treats women as second class citizens, you bought onto this kind of stuff. And now you’re stuck with it, I’m afraid.</p>
<p>I’m confused, and I’m familiar with conservative Christian schools.</p>
<p>WHY would it be “inappropriate” to be on an ambulance squad??? I find that very confusing. Is there a specific religious proscription against this? Would a male member be required to quit as well? Have you signed some sort of agreement to refrain from doing this on some basis?</p>
<p>Also confused that a religious group would sponsor an “EMT school”, and would allow women to take the courses but not participate in the job they are being trained for. Also, EMT training is not college with freshmen to senior standing, it is x hundred hours of training, not as much as Paramedics obtain. </p>
<p>Sounds like a fishy post.</p>
<p>Handle History (HH) shows that she goes to a small Jewish school that only encourages grads to go to Jewish colleges. So the EMT schools seems like separate training.</p>
<p>LaughaholicMD, it seems you have outgrown this school. Why no other options? Can’t you finish your final year at your public high school? If you are going to go for medical school, you have a great start with your extracurricular doing the EMT training and volunteer work.</p>
<p>I don’t know if a private school can legally restrict your )legal) outside activities or expel you. You’d need a lawyer for that. Maybe the ACLU would help you, but they have limited resources, it is hard to get their attention and this is a long road. You might try calling a lawyer, they will usually give you a free consultation. Maybe a letter from a lawyer would help them reconsider if they think they will have a lawsuit over it.</p>
<p>Ah- a high school student who also is attending an EMT training program at a separate school. Assumed college since nothing said about HS or parents. Agree with checking the legality of the school’s role outside of school. Worst case scenario is to delay the EMT training and ambulance work until next year. Try to finish the EMT course since you started it. Even though you like it it is not a big deal for your future if you need to delay it.</p>
<p>What do your parents say? Get their help. Choose your college with your goals in mind- be sure your lifestyle/aspirations are allowable.</p>
<p>Okay first, for those of you who find this restriction so remarkable . . . please take a step back a moment and think about it. Religious Jews aren’t the only ones who don’t approve of young (but not so young) girls running around unsupervised with young men. (And the “second class citizen” comment, MommaJ? Way out of line!) If it were an all-female ambulance squad, it might not be such an issue.</p>
<p>As for Laughaholic not agreeing with the restrictions being placed on her . . . well, at this point in her life, that’s her parents’ decision, not hers. If her parents agree with her views, then they can certainly advocate on her behalf with the school. And if they don’t agree . . . well, then, she’s just going to have to accept the fact that some things aren’t going to change until she graduates from high school and leaves home. Although her individual circumstances might be unique, she’s certainly not the only teenager on the planet who can’t wait to escape from her parents’ rules!</p>
<p>As for suggesting that she consult a lawyer, what’s she going to say? "My parents won’t let me do something they don’t approve of.”</p>
<p>Laughaholic, you knew what the rules were . . . you were just hoping not to get caught. All you can do now is let this go, and focus on your long term goals.</p>
<p>The school, by the way, can do whatever it wants . . . and can certainly expel a student for inappropriate conduct, even if that conduct occurs outside school hours.</p>
<p>dodgersmom, OP’s school prohibits female students from participating in an activity male students are allowed to engage in. Young women can’t “run around unsupervised with young men” (as if serving on an EMT team is in any way unsupervised!), but young men can run around unsupervised with young women. When members of one gender (somehow it’s always the female gender) are denied the rights and privileges afforded to the other gender, that is certainly treating them like second class citizens. Lots of religions do the same. Such treatment may be perfectly acceptable or desirable to many, it may be a foundational tenet of one’s religion, but that doesn’t change its discriminatory nature.</p>
<p>OP, I assumed you were a college student. In fact your parents selected this school, and you are quite stuck. I’m sorry your goals are at odds with the school’s restrictions, but as has been noted, with the passage of time, you will be able to make your own decisions in matters like these. Have patience.</p>
<p>OP, I’ve been reading your posts with great fascination. I appreciate your ambition. It will take you a long way. However, you are in a difficult situation right now. </p>
<p>What I don’t understand is where your parents are in all of this. Since you are a minor, they must have approved of you being in the EMT school. Can you quit the squad but not the EMT school? </p>
<p>It’s a good question to ask if the school can expel you during your senior year for being on an EMT squad. Would your parents let you switch schools? It’s already senior year. If you stayed in your school, who would write your college recommendations? Have you been able to take standardized tests yet? </p>
<p>There have always been plenty of Orthodox Jewish women in colleges. You will have more options once you turn 18. What are your parents financial position? </p>
<p>You definitely have interesting essay material though.</p>
<p>there is a silver lining in everything and this could be great material for an essay.<br>
I’ve never heard of anything like this but when you look at how complex it is to navigate religious and parental factors as you try to find your way to your career, I think it becomes a very unique and interesting story.</p>
<p>Laughaholic, I’m afraid they can do that. Given that you’re a senior now, this might be a battle that’s not worth waging. Sorry.</p>
<p>MommaJ, I infer from what you’ve written that you may not know that much about Jewish law and how it’s observed in religiously traditional communities. If that’s the case, please understand that applying secular Western thinking and standards to the OP’s situation will be like trying to drive a screw with a coin: it might work a little bit, but it’ll take huge effort to get minimal results. I think you’ve jumped to a lot of wrong conclusions in this thread.</p>
<p>Laughaholic, g’mar tov.</p>
<p>When a school makes separate allowances for men and women wrt something that isn’t a bathroom or sports, one group becomes a second class citizen regardless of religious affiliation. I doubt very much that there would be this level of condemnation of MommaJ’s words if the op was Muslim.</p>
<p>OP, I’m sorry you’re in this situation. Good luck and I hope you go to a more accepting school next year.</p>
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<p>RGE, my intended point was that this is a secular Western standard, and unlikely to persuade the administration of an Orthodox Jewish day school (and evidently a fairly conservative one at that) of much of anything. And that I suspect MommaJ may not be well versed in the legal requirements and cultural norms that do guide the administrators’ decision-making in the OP’s school.</p>
<p>I too hope the OP will wind up in a more progressive place for college. She seems unhappy in her school. I don’t blame her. I am not that kind of Jew, and I cannot even imagine a set if circumstances under which I would send my daughter to that school.</p>
<p>But I think it’s disrespectful to people who have chosen to exercise their religious freedoms in this way to denigrate the religious choice because it doesn’t measure up to a secular standard that it never claimed to adopt. And it’s equally disrespectful, IMO, whether the religion in question is Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Evangelical Christianity or Wicca.</p>
<p>If people in the OP’s community were restraining adults against their will and compelling them to live this way, that would be different. Unfortunately for laughaholic, as long as she’s a minor and dependent on her parents, her parents and school leaders do get to place limits on the choices she may make. Which, I infer, is making laughaholic’s adolescence a tough row to hoe, and I am sincerely very sorry about her predicament. </p>
<p>Personally, I would be fully supportive of her plan to train as an EMT and ride with the rescue squad, and I hope she will do it when she attains her majority.</p>
<p>I’m going to be blunt here.
Any school that would kick you out for this or force you to make this choice is not a school worth having a diploma from.</p>
<p>You say you have no options?
Sure you do. Go to public school, that’s <em>always</em> an option.</p>
<p>There’s no mandate that she be part of the ambulance team today. I suspect one core issue is tending to male strangers in a circumstance where body parts could be exposed. </p>
<p>There are cultural or religious practices we don’t allow in this country and many folks working to end human rights abuses. I’m not sure this compares. It is an extra activity and not often something 17 year olds are engaged in.</p>
<p>One potential problem with just switching to the public school to finish her senior year is tht many public schools have requirements for graduation that a certain number of classes in certain areas have been taken, and that certain standardized tests have been passed. If OPs school doesn’t offer or require, say, four years of science or three years of a foreign language, and most likely doesn’t administer the state tests, she may not be able to just transfer and graduate on time this spring. That’s definitely something she should look into before making any decisions.</p>
<p>I doubt you really want to bring legal action against the school even if you have a case.
I also assume that there is no Hatzolah near you or that they will not accept you for whatever reason - do they even have women on the squad? Maybe you can talk to the Rabbi about starting one up in your community?
Another option is to look into taking the GED test if you just want out.</p>
<p>You can finish the EMT and do other things with it, for now. Riding on an ambulance squad is not the only use for an EMT license. I used mine to work with the homeless. It can be relevant working with children or the elderly, or in many medical environments. Or driving patients, solely transportation. You could also look into working with a female/s. That would mean accommodations from the employer or volunteer squad.</p>
<p>Just a few ideas that may or may not apply. Maybe someone in your school could talk with an EMT teacher and find some solution for you.</p>
<p>Some of you seem to be disregarding the fact that this is a parental decision. The OP did not make the decision to attend this school. It was made for her. So, unless she is prepared to ostracize herself from her family, she cannot simply drop out of school and get a GED. And she certainly can’t switch to a different school without parental approval.</p>
<p>It’s a difficult situation, but one she should try to make the best of for the time being.There will come a time when she is able to make her own choices . . . she’s just not there yet.</p>
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<p>What in the world makes you think this is the case? A male student in the OP’s community would not be allowed to engage in such an activity either!</p>