A boy was banned by his school from wearing his Book Week costume over fears it might offend other students.
His furious father, Kevin, told Melbourne radio host Tom Elliott 3rd world war that his son was ordered by his teacher not to dress up as the protagonist of Morris Gleitzman’s novel Once.
The fifth-grader was inspired to dress up as Felix, a Jewish boy who hid from the Nazis in Poland in 1942, after reading the book during class.
In the book, Felix is forced to wear a yellow Star of David, something the teacher considered a problem if the student wore it in a similar way.
The Nazis forced Jews to wear an armband with the yellow Star of David to identify those of that religion during their time in power.
Kevin said his son’s teacher “really didn’t have a problem with the boy wearing the full outfit inside the classroom,” but wouldn’t allow him to wear it at school or on the playground.
Her son was told that wearing the full costume could “insult or incite some kind of negative feeling, which was a little concerning.”
A fifth-year student was told not to wear a detail for his Book Week costume after teachers feared it could “insult” other students (file image)
Kevin said the final decision was not made by his teacher but by a senior member of staff.
“One of the big concerns for us is that the censorship that’s being imposed is quite, quite worrying,” he told Elliott.
The father pointed out that there were students younger than his son who were dressed as obsessive sports stars.
“They’ve been involved in a lot of indiscretions… both on and off the field,” Kevin said.
The youngster wanted to dress like the protagonist of Morris Gleitzman’s Once (pictured), who was forced to wear a Star of David while hiding from the Nazis in Poland in 1942.
Elliott told Kevin that the radio station would contact the school to find out what happened.
Book Week is one of the biggest events on the Australian school calendar, with students dressing up as their favourite book character.
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