Boy suspended for long hair

Boy, 4, Chooses Long Locks and Is Suspended From Class
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
Published: January 12, 2010
New York Times
HOUSTON — A suburban Dallas school district has suspended a 4-year-old from his prekindergarten class because he wears his hair too long and does not want his parents to cut it.

The boy, Taylor Pugh, says he likes his hair long and curly. But on Monday night, the school board in Mesquite voted unanimously to enforce its ban on Beatles haircuts, much less anything approaching coiffures of bands like Led Zeppelin. School officials say the district’s dress code serves to limit distractions in the classroom.

No exception could be made for the pint-size rebel, who sat through the hearing with his hair in a ponytail, manifestly bored.

“It’s a trade-off,” said one board member, Gary Bingham, an insurance agent, in an interview. “Do the parents value his education more than they value a 4-year-old’s decision to make his own grooming choices?”

The boy’s parents, Delton Pugh and Elizabeth Taylor, have argued that it is unfair to punish Taylor for his longish locks; it suggests, they say, that the district cares more about appearances than education.

“I don’t think it’s right to hold a child down and force him to do something,” Mr. Pugh, a tattoo artist, told The Associated Press. “It’s not hurting him or affecting his education.”

The parents rejected a compromise proposed by the board under which they would braid his hair and pin it up.

Since Nov. 24, when his principal decreed that Taylor’s hair had grown too long, the boy has been sent to the library to study alone with a teacher’s aide. “They kicked me out of that place,” Taylor told a reporter on Dec. 17. “I miss my friends.”

His parents plan to appeal the school board ruling to the state education commissioner. In the meantime, school officials said they would continue to separate Taylor from other children.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/education/13hair.html

once again showing the most important lesson of institutional education: Follow rules that don't make sense or we will ruin your future.

Well, he had to learn it eventually. 😐

Seriously. If the parents' school(s) failed to get them to OBEY then the school board's gotta snag this kid.

I don't think his future will be ruined in pre-kindergarten. However it is a silly rule, I don't understand how people in "power" can actually enforce those over longer periods, you'd expect them to go "Oh my, I've been a giant nazi retard" after a good nights sleep.

It's true, the education system is a joke and the sad thing is, unless the kids band together theres not much thats going to change.

Originally posted by Bardock42
I don't think his future will be ruined in pre-kindergarten.

in theory, no it wouldn't.

however, being labeled as a troublemaker and such self-fufilling prophecies that arise from that, do make it less likely that this child will get a full education.

at the very least, I can't imagine the child coming out of this thinking "schools are a great place for me to be". Maybe the only saving grace is that he has a number of years before he has the option to drop out, and the remaining years might be better.

Originally posted by Bardock42
However it is a silly rule, I don't understand how people in "power" can actually enforce those over longer periods, you'd expect them to go "Oh my, I've been a giant nazi retard" after a good nights sleep.

for sure. It would appear that there is a whole community that is against it however, which is absurd. Do children not have the freedom of expression? and is it the school, rather than the parents, who get to limit that?

unless your the quarter back for your schools football team you gotta play by the rules no matter what

this is retarded.

whether the child had long hair or not no one outside the home has any right to enforce or dictate a person's appearance unless it is a private business and has already stated said rules before the person enrolled.

i highly doubt the school would be allowed to enforce such a rule if the child was native american or of hindi descent. their would a be lawsuit the minute they kicked the child out or told him to cut his hair.

i hate when see dress codes enforced in a public business or schools...

kids being suspended kicked out for having their hair dyed or having piercing or wearing boots ect ect... if schools are going to dictate how my child dresses it better be a private school and not a public school

Originally posted by Wild Shadow
this is retarded.

whether the child had long hair or not no one outside the home has any right to enforce or dictate a person's appearance unless it is a private business and has already stated said rules before the person enrolled.

i highly doubt the school would be allowed to enforce such a rule if the child was native american or of hindi descent. their would a be lawsuit the minute they kicked the child out or told him to cut his hair.

i hate when see dress codes enforced in a public business or schools...

kids being suspended kicked out for having their hair dyed or having piercing or wearing boots ect ect... if schools are going to dictate how my child dresses it better be a private school and not a public school

unfortunatly, a tattoo artist is unlikely to have the money to invest in a long legal battle.

I was brought up in a strict catholic school and then a college were they had the same rule. The hair had to be groomed and short with no allowance for long hair and there were students that were suspended. We had the same for shoes; they could either be black or brown.

They will give you opportunities to abide by the rules, but it was a 3 strike rule. A close childhood friend of mine left because of the hair lenght issue.

The School simply says "These are our rules. If you dont agree, leave."

If someone lives with my under my roof and breaks the rules, like leaving dirty pots around or inundating the bathroom without cleaning up, he's out after I give him plenty opportunities to sort it out.

Originally posted by GCG
I was brought up in a strict catholic school and then a college were they had the same rule. The hair had to be groomed and short with no allowance for long hair and there were students that were suspended. We had the same for shoes; they could either be black or brown.

They will give you opportunities to abide by the rules, but it was a 3 strike rule. A close childhood friend of mine left because of the hair lenght issue.

The School simply says "These are our rules. If you dont agree, leave."

private schools?

Originally posted by Wild Shadow
[if schools are going to dictate how my child dresses it better be a private school and not a public school [/B]

i even went to a private highschool for just one semester. i got into a fight one time there and they didnt even suspend the student for putting there hands on me or didnt even call my parents cause they dont want to take a chance on losing a student over money.

yeah i know public schools are a little more strict with stuff now these days but if you think about its better than letting them do what ever. but yeah suspending the kid over long hair is stupid. certain dresses for girls i can understand that if the dress is to short and boys can see her undies that i can understand.

Originally posted by inimalist
private schools?

To be honest I dont remember if it was a church school or a private school, but it was run by jesuits.

Silly thing for either side to get into a fit about.

"officials say the district’s dress code serves to limit distractions in the classroom". So why isn't this "no long hair" dress code enforced with girls? (I'm betting it's not)

More proof than it's nothing more than "boys need to look this way and girls need to look this way" type of bullshit and nothing to do with distractions and ruining of education. Be nice if they were at least upfront about it.

If they kid's parents were smart, they'd just have said it's for religious reasons.

yes, private schools have the legal precedence to enforce any rule they want that is reasonable.

i went to a public school that was zoned in a high income area, our principle tried so hard to enforce new rules that she was constantly being shut down by parents and lawyers.

from trying to keep the students from leaving school premises, she failed due to fear of lawsuits.

tried to take our cell phones failed private property and could be considered theft under different circumstances depending in method of obtaining our property.

tried to do random wall locker checks failed the 1st time when people called their parents..

hell, they tried to suspend me b/c i ended up getting a tongue pierce and eyebrow pierce. i called my mom while in the ass. principle office the ass. principle ended getting suspended and i was allowed to go back to class with an apology.

both the principle and assistant principle ended up getting fired and i think the school was sued a few times and always lost.

i have to point out that our high school was a jock/preppy school so it had lots of money.

booo the fricken hoo. cut the damn hair.

Originally posted by One Free Man
booo the fricken hoo. cut the damn hair.

While a hairstyle might seem a trivial thing, allowing schools to suspend children on BS/trivial causes isn't.

Originally posted by Robtard
While a hairstyle might seem a trivial thing, allowing schools to suspend children on BS/trivial causes isn't.

Slippery slope runs both ways, though. If the school isn't allowed to enforce its rules then teaching will be impossible.

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Slippery slope runs both ways, though. If the school isn't allowed to enforce its rules then teaching will be impossible.

true, but the slippery slope is also a logical fallacy

there is no indication that allowing or disallowing the child to have long hair would produce more draconian pollicies or rule-lessness

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Slippery slope runs both ways, though. If the school isn't allowed to enforce its rules then teaching will be impossible.

Rules that are based on trivialities shouldn't be enforced.

Logically, if having long hair were a distraction to the point were it interfered with the classrooms ability to teach children, then the girls in there would be a greater problem, as I'm certain not every single girl in that school has short(er) hair.