When I was in high school (in the US in the 1990’s), there was a “no hat” rule. Wearing hats indoors was seen as an issue of disrespect. There were two exceptions built in to the rule. Religious headcoverings were permitted, and one could also wear something on their head if a physician certified that it was needed for a bona-fide medical purpose.
Are there any medical conditions which would require a person to wear a hat or otherwise cover their head? One thing I can think of would be a traumatic injury to the skull requiring that bandages be worn, but calling bandages a “hat” is quite a stretch. Is there anything else?
Perhaps they were offering a concession to those who would prefer to wear a hat to cover their baldness caused by cancer treatments? It’s not that the hat helps you in any way, but you could argue a medical condition cause you to really WANT to wear a hat.
In the past, ringworm was a concern and people who were being treated for it often wore some sort of dressing on their heads, and often covered that with a hat.
When I was a kid, one of my classmates got leukemia and he was allowed to wear a hat to cover hair loss from treatment.
Are you sure about the wording of the rule? I can see why a note from the doctor would be needed, otherwise kids would make up reasons to wear hats, but I wouldn’t think it would have to be an actual medical necessity. I would hope it would be allowed to cover up medical things.
One of my brother’s classmates was allowed to wear a hat to school and in some other situations where most people were forbidden them. He had no hair because of Alopecia. (I think).
So it was due to a medical condition, but I’m pretty sure that his greatest medical risk due to the lack of hair was either that of sunburn or of future skin cancer.
He was happy when the rules were relaxed so more people could wear baseball caps in class. Less attention.
There was a girl at my high school who I saw in passing but didn’t know well. She experienced extreme hair loss after her best friend died. The rumor was she woke up the next day and half her hair had fallen out. Although I suppose that’s possible, I suspect it was acute trichotillomania (as in, she pulled it out herself because she was so upset). She wore hats/bandanas for awhile and eventually got a very pretty wig, but I did see her once without a head covering. It was extremely scary-looking–at least half-bald, some long hair left, some short hair too. I wouldn’t wish having to walk around high school like that on my worst enemy, much less a grieving teenaged girl.
School buildings are also often cold. A child with no hair would greatly benefit from a hat for warmth.
For whatever it’s worth, this teacher doesn’t hate hats because it’s “disrespectful”, I hate hats because 1) if there is a brim, it’s hard to see where the student is looking and monitor their attention/reaction to the lecture and 2) if it is tall, it obscures my view of other students, and their view of the board.
I’m pretty sure the policy that I mentioned in my OP was schoolwide or possibly school system-wide.
As for brims and other forms of obstruction, that tends not to happen with religious headcoverings here. In the Washington, DC area, the most common religious headcovering by far is the Islamic headscarf of the type involved in the French Muslim schoolgirl headscarf controversy. Occasionally you will see ladies wearing Mennonite/Amish headcoverings, but they tend to be tourists or business travelers and would not be sending their children to local schools. Both of these types of “hats” tend not to be ostentatious or obstructive. Rarely, you will see someone wearing an Islamic niqab which is arguably distracting in a meaningful sense as it covers most of the face, but those are uncommon, and even in cases where I do see women wearing it in public, their daughters/nieces/whatever tend not to and will either wear nothing on their head or a simple scarf.
As for the guys, sometimes you’ll see a Sikh wearing a turban, but the turbans tend not to be significantly obstructive to vision, nor do they have a brim.
I have known two men (may apply to women too) who have skin cancer in the skin of their head. Although they have been treated and are ok, they must still wear hats or caps when out in the sun light.
There is a woman where I work who has been wearing a hat while indoors for some months now. I don’t actually know her but someone mentioned that she was wearing it due to some medical condition. Quite a cute little sun hat from the couple of glimpses I got.
My son’s school went with the no hat rule his sophmore year. He wore a black cowboy hat and it was his trademark. He got a note from his doctor that he needed to advoid the sun and wear a hat. He got away with it for about half the year. One day the vice principle steped up behind him and reminded him that there was no sun in the inclosed halls or the covered halls and he should only need to wear his hat whenindirect sunlight.
Me I never go out in the sun without a cowboy hat. I need the shade. My brothers have has several surgerys,too much sun as kids. And I am loosing my skin pigment. I do not sun burn I get 2nd degree burns inthe sun.
There is a child at my school who has some kind of serious medical condition (it’s not my business to know details, so I don’t know what exactly). He’s pretty frail, so we let him wear a ski cap that covers his ears - it probably doesn’t serve any true medical purpose, but all the moms in the office just feel better that he has his head covered in the cold.