Dress Codes Get Hairy
Courtesy of Dallas Morning News
Like many teens, I often find my school’s dress code to be strict and utterly ridiculous most of the time, but once I read about how a 4-year-old Texas boy got suspended for having long hair, suddenly my school’s “tuck and pull” policy didn’t seem so bad.
The heated hair battle hit a high note last month when Taylor Pugh’s parents recieved a letter from his elementary school principal threatening to expel the pre-kindergartener if his hair didn’t meet the district’s standards. Their policy states that hairstyles “designed to attract attention to the individual or to disrupt the orderly conduct of the classroom or campus [are] not permitted.”
Personally, I don’t think Taylor’s hair exactly stirs up rebellion, but he says he got “kicked out” (in-school suspension) when his parents refused to comply.
Taylor’s dad Delton Pugh told the Associated Press, “I don’t think it’s right to hold a child down and force him to do something… when it’s not hurting him or affecting his education.”
Schools are places to educate our youth. They have no right regulate our personal decisions on appearance.
If schools are going to take rash action, they should at least have sufficient evidence that something is an actual distraction. Imposing violations without justification is nothing more than tyranny.
What’s next?
— Stanley Stewart | VOX Staff
I usually try to play the Devil’s Advocate in discussions because a streamline of people are willing to state the obvious, but it’s hard to see the school’s point in this discussion. Extremely tight pants and garments that barely cover up I understand, but hair? I don’t know the background story, but unless the hair is touching his toes when he stands up straight, then how is it affecting his education? In our schools, teenagers view Suspension as a punishment for something bad that they did. Suspending him for long hair is like punishing him for having long fingernails or not not brushing his teeth, which plenty of kids do. If he tries his best in school, then what right does the school have to punish a child? Teenagers often imagine themselves as heroes in stories and the education system as villians in the world. Oft it’s an exaggeration, but in this situation, withholding a child from a right to a proper education is evil.
I can see why we have a dress code because some people go to the extreme with their clothes. Although we should have a little bit more freedom to wear what we want because it shows off our style. I saw as long as it looks respectful and not inapropiate, we should be allowed to wear it. Like leggins with our skirts, bermuda shorts, those kinds of things.