What even gives a public school the right to make a rule like that? Isn't a child's hair the parent's prerogative?
Of course, there are many Freepers who support these kind of rules in the public schools. I have argued with them several times. They now have no right to bitch and moan here over this.
“... Isn’t a child’s hair the parent’s prerogative?”
I agree. Once again, a school tries to become the parent by force or threat of expulsion/suspension over a parent decision. For what it is worth, my elementary school doesn’t care one bit. There are several boys (of Native descent) that have long hair. One little boy has a faux mohawk. No one cares... because my school focuses on behavior and grades more than fashion styles. It’s just hair... as long as it is clean (ergo no lice).
No, a child’s hair is not the parent’s prerogative. A school, like a business, has the authority, and the responsibility, to set grooming standards for both students and employees.
If your child had to sit next to another child whose parent rolled him in dog feces every day before sending him to school, that would just be the parent’s prerogative, right?
The problem in this case is that the rule was misapplied, even after being challenged, and the principal deserves all the grief that followed. And it sounds like it was a considerable amount. The first requirement for any principal should be a healthy respect for common sense. That would go a long way toward eliminating these inane events.
It’s not about the haircut at all. It’s about the principal being a control freak. The reason a lot of people go into the education business is because they can’t handle normal peer relationships. They love to push other people around and children are an easy target.
Principal = martinet.
I support uniforms, mildly. But I don’t support this, nor do I think this is an extreme haircut. Married to a Navy man for 23 years, I think this haircut is perfectly normal and boyish.