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Girl, 9, barred from school for shaving head to support friend with cancer

Redress said:
It is a charter school. If you do not like their policies, don't send your kids there.
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Oh please - even this doesn't fly. Even a charter school should have limits, especially over having hair.

Sounds pathetic and an over-extension of school policies to me. More and more adults are proving they're incapable of decided when to flex and bend the rules. This should never have been an issue - ever.
 
What would they do if one of the children had alopecia universalis?

Alopecia universalis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Two guys on my ship had this (amazingly since it actually is extremely rare). One of the guys was in my division and we talked to him about it. He lost all his hair as a child (I think he said he was about 8 years old). It was funny because we asked him if they allowed "bald" or "none" on his driver's license for hair color and he said they had him just put what it was as a child eventhough he would never grow hair again.

Sure it's not shaved, but it would still be "distracting", which is really the only claim they could make here since it is obvious that she isn't putting anyone in danger nor being insulting in anyway with her choice to shave her head. Plenty of things can be distracting in school and schools need to realize that this is in fact something that they should be teaching children to deal with, not avoiding by making rules against such things. It is one thing if a child acts out to be distracting during school and another if they simply look a way that can be considered distracting.
 
MaggieD said:
Girl, 9, barred from school for shaving head to support friend with cancer | Fox News

It's times like these I wish parents would/could take a stand. And I wish 15 other classmates would shave their heads. The stand I wish the little girl's parents would let her take would be to NOT attend school until the rule is changed. How simple would it be to amend the rule to allow shaved heads when one student in the school has lost his/hers due to cancer??

Easy-Peasy.

I am positively SICK of these academicians who don't have brain cells.
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Couldn't agree with you more Maggie. So many parents are utterly disengaged from their kids lives. I really don't get it. When my kids were in school I knew all their teachers and would always give them the benefit of the doubt if there was a conflict. But if the teacher or staff turned out to be the problem katie bar the door. I was a pit bull. They are just as capable of being incompetent boobs as anyone else and their position does not mean they should be relieved of a parents scrutiny. I think many parents just don't want to be bothered. It's a shame.
 
Aunt Spiker said:
Oh please - even this doesn't fly. Even a charter school should have limits, especially over having hair.

Sounds pathetic and an over-extension of school policies to me. More and more adults are proving they're incapable of decided when to flex and bend the rules. This should never have been an issue - ever.
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then i would not send your kids to private and or public school. when i was younger i went to private school. the dress code was enforced.

Guys

No hair below the ear line
shirts could not be unbuttoned below the 1st button
jeans could only be worn on certain days.
dress shirts and slacks

Girls
Dresses and skirts
skirts could not be above the knee etc...

this was enforced at all times. they didn't care. if you violated the dress code you got written up.
 
Aunt Spiker said:
Oh please - even this doesn't fly. Even a charter school should have limits, especially over having hair.

Sounds pathetic and an over-extension of school policies to me. More and more adults are proving they're incapable of decided when to flex and bend the rules. This should never have been an issue - ever.
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It was wrong of them to enforce this rule in this case. However, they did let the girl back immediately and are meeting about changing the rule as we speak.

God bless both those little girls.
 
clownboy said:
It was wrong of them to enforce this rule in this case. However, they did let the girl back immediately and are meeting about changing the rule as we speak.

God bless both those little girls.
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Great news!!

A 9-year-old girl who was banned from her Colorado school for shaving her head to support a friend with cancer was back in class Tuesday after reports of the disciplinary action surfaced.
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The power of the internet strikes again.
 
CanadaJohn said:
There's also an old adage that "rules are made to be broken" - I also find it remarkable that a proud liberal would be so dead set against individual expression, particularly when that expression means no harm and does no harm to anyone.

This is perhaps one of those times where the conservative, the one who believes in personal freedoms, takes a more liberal position than the actual, progressive liberal.
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It's not that surprising. Liberals LOVE rules telling other people what to do. They only hate the rules that tell them what to do.
 
Redress said:
It is a charter school. If you do not like their policies, don't send your kids there.
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No, it depends whether it is a private charter school or a public charter school. Many charter schools are part of the public school system. My oldest daughter graduated from one.

There also is a question of removing a child mid-school year at a private school UNLESS there are published rules about shaving her head, as it would be a contract matter.
 
Gipper said:
There's nothing wrong with picking your battles. When you battle the establishment, you need to accept that your perceived benefit will surpass the actual cost.

If it was worth getting sent home for making a statement that's contradictory to school policy, then she won.
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But nobody wants to battle the establishment anymore, Gip. Or the ones that do, like this little girl, are left out, battling the establishment by themselves. It's rare when you can find somebody that will help you out, somebody that will stick up for you.

Pardon me for being so cynical. I am going through something right now that has to do with battling the establishment, and I'm just tired of people whining behind closed doors, and then refusing to have the stones to stand up with me when it counts.

But, as I have said a million times to Medusa, thread is not about me. I apologize.
 
Superfly said:
But nobody wants to battle the establishment anymore, Gip. Or the ones that do, like this little girl, are left out, battling the establishment by themselves. It's rare when you can find somebody that will help you out, somebody that will stick up for you.

Pardon me for being so cynical. I am going through something right now that has to do with battling the establishment, and I'm just tired of people whining behind closed doors, and then refusing to have the stones to stand up with me when it counts.

But, as I have said a million times to Medusa, thread is not about me. I apologize.
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Oh I think most of us want to battle it, but few of us do. The problem is that most of us want to battle it for different reasons. You need a collective to fight it.

Smokers, nudists, homosexuals, atheists - all want to battle the establishment. None want to for the same reason. Individually, they all fail.
 
Gipper said:
Oh I think most of us want to battle it, but few of us do. The problem is that most of us want to battle it for different reasons. You need a collective to fight it.

Smokers, nudists, homosexuals, atheists - all want to battle the establishment. None want to for the same reason. Individually, they all fail.
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And those of us who do buck the system, and try to fight the establishment alone are branded as troublemakers.
 
Superfly said:
And those of us who do buck the system, and try to fight the establishment alone are branded as troublemakers.
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"Troublemaker" is the nicest thing I've been called for trying to put some common sense up against the paradigm.
 
MaggieD said:
Girl, 9, barred from school for shaving head to support friend with cancer | Fox News

It's times like these I wish parents would/could take a stand. And I wish 15 other classmates would shave their heads. The stand I wish the little girl's parents would let her take would be to NOT attend school until the rule is changed. How simple would it be to amend the rule to allow shaved heads when one student in the school has lost his/hers due to cancer??

Easy-Peasy.

I am positively SICK of these academicians who don't have brain cells.
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That is rather odd behavior of the school people and would be a good reason to mistrust them. Parents should take their kids out.
 
Gipper said:
There's nothing wrong with picking your battles. When you battle the establishment, you need to accept that your perceived benefit will surpass the actual cost.

If it was worth getting sent home for making a statement that's contradictory to school policy, then she won.
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It depends on the schools reasoning for not allowing shaved heads. Is it to prevent the advocating of skin heads or a simple dress code policy?

I assume when a rule is broken the child is sent to the office? In which case after hearing her reasoning, I would probably have shaved my own head in support.

Some rules have few excuses for being broken but mitigating circumstances should always be considered. Blind obedience, leads to plain old blindness.
 
Superfly said:
But nobody wants to battle the establishment anymore, Gip. Or the ones that do, like this little girl, are left out, battling the establishment by themselves. It's rare when you can find somebody that will help you out, somebody that will stick up for you.

Pardon me for being so cynical. I am going through something right now that has to do with battling the establishment, and I'm just tired of people whining behind closed doors, and then refusing to have the stones to stand up with me when it counts.

But, as I have said a million times to Medusa, thread is not about me. I apologize.
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I admire people who stand up to bullies and standing up to the establishment is, in many cases, the same thing. Don't know the details of your situation and don't want to derail the thread but go get'em.
 
mike2810 said:
I am so glad that my kid is grown. Today's schools with all of the strict policies, like ", said the dress code "was created to promote safety, uniformity, and a non-distracting environment for the school's students
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Dress codes are nothing new. In fact, policies tend to be less strict today than they were decades ago. Examples like this one are the exception to the rule.
 
grip said:
It depends on the schools reasoning for not allowing shaved heads. Is it to prevent the advocating of skin heads or a simple dress code policy?

I assume when a rule is broken the child is sent to the office? In which case after hearing her reasoning, I would probably have shaved my own head in support.

Some rules have few excuses for being broken but mitigating circumstances should always be considered. Blind obedience, leads to plain old blindness.
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Stealing bread to feed your family is still stealing.

It's part of the dress code. Dress codes are conformist, boring, soul-crushing, and borderline fascist in nature. They also preserve specific values, as well as limit distraction. Kids don't know enough to determine which rules they can follow and which they cannot. Hell, I'm not sure most adults have the acuity to do that.
 
It should be noted I think that the parents didn't know their kid was going to do this. She did it on her own according to the report. I doubt the kid knew about the rule and was just doing something powerfully beautiful from innocence. I believe the school is taking that into account.
 
Gipper said:
Stealing bread to feed your family is still stealing.

It's part of the dress code. Dress codes are conformist, boring, soul-crushing, and borderline fascist in nature. They also preserve specific values, as well as limit distraction. Kids don't know enough to determine which rules they can follow and which they cannot. Hell, I'm not sure most adults have the acuity to do that.
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It's not if the owner doesn't press charges. You can have strict adherence to the letter of the law, but then you'd be breaking the spirit of the law.

My parents loosely gave me a dress code, because they couldn't afford name brands when I was younger. They didn't attempt to overly control my direction but they did allow for their own opinions. Rules are mostly for behavioral justice, not to enforce a rigid adherence to mindless conformity. Though I do agree with a certain amount of control over a minors expression, until they know more.
 
grip said:
It's not if the owner doesn't press charges. You can have strict adherence to the letter of the law, but then you'd be breaking the spirit of the law.

My parents loosely gave me a dress code, because they couldn't afford name brands when I was younger. They didn't attempt to overly control my direction but they did allow for their own opinions. Rules are mostly for behavioral justice, not to enforce a rigid adherence to mindless conformity. Though I do agree with a certain amount of control over a minors expression, until they know more.
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Then it's not stealing. It's giving. Denial of pressing charges is essentially consent.

I really don't believe in the concept of fascist parents or "helicopter moms", but kids do need some structure. You can tell who the "hands-off" parents were, because their kids grow up to think that rules don't pertain to them.
 
Dittohead not! said:
If enough parents pulled their kids out of the school in protest, the rule would change pretty quickly.
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I'm not sure many would do that - as a charter school, it's likely that admissions are somewhat limited and hard to get and probably, otherwise, they provide a good education. Not many people will risk making waves on principle if it will potentially harm their own child. But certainly it would be nice if the parent association and other parents got behind this child/family and got the suspension waived even if the rule remains intact.
 
ludin said:
then i would not send your kids to private and or public school. when i was younger i went to private school. the dress code was enforced.

Guys

No hair below the ear line
shirts could not be unbuttoned below the 1st button
jeans could only be worn on certain days.
dress shirts and slacks

Girls
Dresses and skirts
skirts could not be above the knee etc...

this was enforced at all times. they didn't care. if you violated the dress code you got written up.
Click to expand...

I went to private Catholic schools at the elementary and secondary level. We had very strict dress codes too, but the Priests and Nuns were not so utterly anal that they didn't understand that life is happening outside the school's doors. We frequently had "dress down days" to raise funds for charity or special days to support a student who was or whose family was going through a serious medical problem.

It's not about private schools or dress codes - it's about ignorant, self-absorbed administrators and teachers who believe they run the world and can't think outside of a handbook they're handed. It's pathetic what passes for education leadership these days.
 
CanadaJohn said:
I'm not sure many would do that - as a charter school, it's likely that admissions are somewhat limited and hard to get and probably, otherwise, they provide a good education. Not many people will risk making waves on principle if it will potentially harm their own child. But certainly it would be nice if the parent association and other parents got behind this child/family and got the suspension waived even if the rule remains intact.
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Yeah, but it's really not necessary. The school saw the rule violation, took action to show rules have meaning and then allowed an exception in her case allowing her back to school. The school board is meeting to review the rule. Everyone did the right thing here.
 
Humanity is just lost on some people. Frankly, I think it's a shame people with cancer who've lost their hair often feel forced to cover it.

Cover it why? They're fighting one of the nastiest diseases known to man. Whenever I see someone out in public with obvious chemo-balding, I think they're a ****ing badass. Why should they be ashamed?

Saw a woman recently who was chemo-bald, out powerwalking down the sidewalk with walking sticks. Something about her just said, "Yeah, I'm bald. Screw you." I thought she was the coolest thing ever.

The fact that such human tenacity is considered "distraction," and supporting it is considered "distraction" is what is wrong with our culture, and our schools. Yeah, they have a right to do it as a charter, but they're teaching their students that humanity is irrelevant and meaningless. Disgusting. This could be a teachable moment in character building, and instead it's just a "distraction."

I'd totally support a mass head-shaving protest, and I'd love to show up to the party myself.
 
clownboy said:
Yeah, but it's really not necessary. The school saw the rule violation, took action to show rules have meaning and then allowed an exception in her case allowing her back to school. The school board is meeting to review the rule. Everyone did the right thing here.
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The outcome may be correct, in the end, but I don't agree that everyone did the right thing here. To punish a child for having shown her love and support for a friend in trouble is just so wrong on so many levels. Considering how selfish and self-centered many young people are today, this child should have been given a student of the month badge/trophy and held up as an example of how others can show support and empathy for those less fortunate.
 
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