School Sends Boy With Spiked Hair Home

Civil rights and liberties in public schools need to be dramatically expanded, this type of thing is utterly ridiculous.

Was this a private school?

If so, I guess it's fine.

Otherwise, this is ludicrous.

One word: OUTRAGEOUS

Schools need to at least *try* to recognize that students are not all identical--they are individuals.

-Kyle Bandy

That's absurd.

After all the headlines on these children in the past 3 days, I'm starting to think we actually do live in the Matrix.

This is a public school, so what the hell. That's pretty stupid.

This isn't a 17 year old High School Senior, this is a 7-Year old kid - I think there is a big difference. This kind of thing could be considered extremely distracting at the elementary school level (as if 7 year-olds aren't distracted enough).

You have to wonder if the kid is truly expressing his individuality, or if his parents are expressing their individuality through their child.

This isn't anything new in Texas. My high school not only disallows "disruptive hairstyles," such as "spiked" hair, Mohawks, etc, but they also disallow all kinds of facial hair. That's right, a public skill banned any sort of facial hair for any high school student.

I was able to find a loop hole for this terrible rule, which was pretty simple. I received a doctor's note (legal) that prohibits me from shaving due to "skin irritation." There are some teachers who are angered over this, and you'd think a student with a 4.0 GPA would be able to get some more privileges/respect over such matters.

Needless to say, they rarely enforce any female dress code, like incredibly short skirts (though I'm not complaining ;) ), it does seem ironic that a male student cannot let his facial hair grow out, or that it disrupts the environment.

From my personal experiences, Texas is where common sense comes to die.

This has been done before in other states for similar things - such as earings. I believe that student sued the school and won, but not after taking out the earing and going back to school.

As a Democrat who supports the idea of school uniforms, I find this story as most others do, ridiculous. It's the same argument we see with indecency. Who makes the determination of what is a distraction? My distraction is very different from yours. Am I right or are you? In the military, you have very clearly-stated guidelines for hair length and color. But these kids are grade-schoolers. Get off their back.

It's a kid. With a mohawk. Big deal.

They should just shave off the mohawk and send him to school. 7 year olds should not be given the rights of an adult

Geez... don't we have more serious things to worry about?

Oh wait... (reads story byline) - Texas. Nevermind, makes sense.
I hear that Texas police have recently been arresting drunk people inside of bars.
They are calling it a preemptive measure.
Now where have a heard that word before?

The School did the right thing. School administrators have the obligation to determine what's best for fostering a good learning environment. Whether it's a public or private school shouldn't make any difference at all.

I agree with Patrick D. about the uniform thing. I probably would've hated it when I was in school, but at least I wouldn't have been made fun of because I didn't have the latest pair of Nikes.

Seriously, there are dress codes at workplaces, in public places, everywhere. It's not about expressing yourself, it's about defiance of rules. If you don't like the dress code at a certain location, go somewhere else. Don't be stubborn and make a rukus out of nothing. What's next, go to school naked so you can express your freedom from material things?

go to school naked so you can express your freedom from material things

And if you go into a High School during the Spring and early Fall, you'd think some of the girls were doing just that.

What a load of garbage.

The dress code was pretty strict when I went to school. No blue jeans, bell bottoms and mini-skrits.... it's been a while. I think it's ok to have a dress code if the community is agreeable. But I think it's almost impossible to enforce on teens and distracting is not a guideline. I would never send a 7 year old home for a hairdo. If you don't have the cooperation of the parents on something so trivial you are waging a culture war. The school has lost sight of education.

I used to spike my hair in middle school, and the teacher made me go to the bathroom and wash out the gel a couple of times cause she thought it was distracting.
My mom didn't like that much though when i told her about it.

I tried long and hard to think up and type out a very mature response that takes both sides into account. Here is what I ultimately settled on...

@!$%# Texas!

if you can't express yourself while you're in school, when can you? once you're out, you're subject to the rules of your workplace. as long as they're not hurting each other, i think we should be happy they're showing up and attempting to learn something.

If you don't like the dress code at a certain location, go somewhere else.

School isn`t like a club or even a job. You have to go, it`s the law. So it`s not really like the kid had a choice in that sense.

The other thing is that, aside from illegal practices (underage tatoos) or offensive styles and clothes (eg racist t-shirts) why don`t the schools just ignore it? Forcing the kid home, imposing fines and such will just serve to piss everyone off on all sides, make the "offending" student and family mroe keen to dig their heels in for their rights and of course attract lots and lots of attention.

If the teachers had merely ignored it then the others kids` would have lost interest in the whole thing pretty fast.

But yeah, as the kid is only 7 years old you have to wonder if this is more about the parents` lifestyle choices.

Umm children, I'm from Texas, and have gone through it's school system. It's no worse then any other schools around the country. It's all based on the district they're all different and all have different rules. Please reframe from using rude remarks about my state because I'm sure I could come up with a list of complaints about yours. Not saying I agree with the situation but it was stated in the rules in a reasonable manner, I haven't seen a pic of the kids hair but if its completely out there then yes I don't think it deserves to be in the class room. I think the rules should be changed but not this situation. To often we complain that officials make bad calls when more often enough they made the right call based on the rules that have been stated. Ask to change the rules not the ruling.

If it's a private school (which it seems to be, I've never heard of a parent being fined 300 dollars for their kid having a bad haircut).
In public schools, individuality should be coveted - a kid in my old high school got his skateboard taken away. The next day, he wore a shirt that said "skateboarding is not a crime", and got suspended. The shirt wasn't offensive by any normal standards, but school officials can claim whatever they want, especially under the "includes, but is not limited to" bit of scratch they put in everything.

In the end, I agree with whomever said it above: instead of keeping him away until his hair grows out, shave his head and send him back. Or switch schools.

What is more distracting: a 7 yr old with a mohawk or teachers and administrators in a school singling out a child for a mohawk and the attention that will still surround the situation long after the child would have had time to grow the rest of his hair out?