I woke up to the CBC morning news giving repeated spotlight coverage to a story out of Montreal. As of this morning, which is the first-day parliament resumes after a second prorogation by the Conservative government, the day that the government has approved the appointment of a right-wing former Alliance party candidate and adviser as the new president of Rights & Democracy a human rights watchdog group, the day when the Paralympic torch is lit in Ottawa, the day we hear that the Immigration Minister requested the removal of gay and lesbian rights language from Canada’s citizenship guide, the day when we hear that a second Ontario woman was given an unnecessary mastectomy - this niqab wearing student’s case is the most commented-on story on the CBC website.

Why is this such a hot-button issue for mainstream Canadians?

Comments range from the ignorant to uninformed, to claims that this student is part of those who want to “kill the infidels”.

As a professor, what I find most compelling about these cases is the potential they have to draw attention to the perceived neutrality of the classroom and school space. I am asked to make all sorts of accommodations for my students all the time:

I am asked to teach during the evening, even though my preference would be to teach during the day;

I am asked to not hold classes on weekends, even though I think it would be valuable to do so on some days;

I am asked to have examinations, even though I find them pointless exercises that rarely tell me anything meaningful about my students’ learning of the material;

I am asked to assign homework, even though evidence suggests this to be a quick way to build extrinsic, rather than intrinsic motivation to learn;

I am asked to work with up to 40 students at a time, ensuring that these students must now compete for air-time and my attention - rarely do all receive all the attention they deserve;

I am asked to teach on days that are holy to some students (like Yom Kippur), and not teach on days that have no meaning to most students (like Victoria Day);

I am asked to not hold classes during the Olympics, even though the lost momentum is significant;

...and on and on...

In short, the school as a public space is already saturated with someone’s values. What diversity does is call attention to the ways in which our public spaces are not neutral nor value free. If we want to live in a pluralistic aspiring democratic society, we must be prepared to move beyond the discourse of accommodation, and instead make visible all the invisible ways in which schools are not neutral ground to begin with.