The beheading of a teacher has prompted calls for tougher action against militant Islam from the French Right and Left, but it has also deepened a sense of alienation among the country’s Muslims. Most unreservedly condemn the killing and other acts of terrorism, but many do not understand why teachers need to show what they see as gratuitously offensive cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in classes about freedom of expression. Jacques Thomas, a teacher at a technical college in a predominantly immigrant, blue-collar suburb of Paris, said many of his students believe Muslims are often unfairly singled out for insults in the media. “Last month one teenager asked me why ‘you French’ don’t want to let Muslims live as Muslims in France. He was talking about bans on the full-face veil in public and headscarves in schools, and the row over Muslim women going to beaches wearing the burkini [a swimsuit that covers most of the body]. But he also asked me why it was OK for [the satirical weekly] Charlie Hebdo to publish ‘vulgar’ cartoons of the Prophet when any depiction of Muhammad is considered blasphemous by Muslims.” Mr Thomas, 54, said he felt that he was walking on eggshells when discussing such subjects with students who see themselves as victims of a two-tier education system: “They are being taught to become technicians and many will end up as plumbers or electricians, so they’re not used to abstract concepts. Freedom of expression is difficult for them. They think children in more affluent areas get a different kind of schooling that positions them for higher-status jobs in the professions. They feel like outsiders in a culture that leaves little place for them.”
