@bigben2- I definitely don’t support the ideology. But what upsets me more is when people are forced to take on (if they drive, their kids are kicked out of yeshiva)- very strict laws, and told that that’s what being Jewish is about, it’s all in order to be a good Jew, it’s halacha. Not necessarily…
I would compare this to a school in London, whose official government criteria includes all mothers dressing in accordance to Oz Vehadar Levusha. The school has the right not to accept any student whose mother doesn’t dress according to the school standard.
This isn’t “forcing people” to be more machmir than Halachah. This isn’t blackmailing people into chumras they aren’t willing to take on.
This is a school deciding on a certain standard of frumkeit – a standard which may be higher than the norm, and may be more than strictly required lehalachah. But the school is entitled to set a standard. If you don’t want to be on the same standard as the rest of the school, feel free to send your son elsewhere. But other children have a right to be educated together with friends who were raised in an environment similar to their own (at least from a Torahdike perspective).
Nobody is ostracizing any woman who drives. This is a simple rule – “Do Not Drive Your Son To School”. Nobody is even threatening to kick out kids from the school, contrary to the overmagnified press reports. “Turn away at the gates” doesn’t mean expel. If you don’t feel ready to accept the “chumra”, please feel free to ask your own Rav and do your own thing. But don’t do it in our school.