Posted on 06/04/2013 11:44:25 AM PDT by rickmichaels
An Alabama teenager was denied her high school diploma and fined $1,000 for wearing a feather on her graduation cap to celebrate her Native American heritage.
Escambia Academy High School in Atmore, Ala., makes its students and staff sign a pre-graduation contract agreeing not to wear "extraneous items during graduation exercises unless approved by the administration."
Chelsey Ramer, 17, tried in vain to get approval to attach an eagle's feather to her graduation cap as a symbol of her Native culture.
"They told me that if I wore it that they would pull me off the field," Ramer, a member of the Poarch Creek Band, told NBC affiliate Local 15.
But Ramer wore it anyway and refused to sign the dress-code contract.
The school wouldn't give Ramer her diploma. She now has to fork over $1,000 to get it.
The teen, however, regrets nothing.
"It was worth it. It means a lot to me," Ramer said.
Escambia Academy High School in Atmore, Ala., makes its students and staff sign a pre-graduation contract agreeing not to wear “extraneous items during graduation exercises unless approved by the administration.”
Oh for Heaven’s sake. That’s utterly absurd. What moron runs that school?
I like dress codes. I prefer not to have my daughters viewing lewd remarks on the backs of T-shirts in front of them in class.
Children in society do not have the same freedoms as adults. They cannot vote, in many states they cannot drive. They cannot be licensed to own firearms. They cannot serve in the military.
Adults in society have rules too, including dress codes. A nurse cannot show up for work in a sequined mini-skirt and six inch spiked heels. She ( or he) will be fired.
Adolescents are rebellious and like to test their limits. This young person learned that when you make decisions you deal with consequences. She may not miss that 1,000 dollars now ( assuming that mommy and daddy aren’t paying the bill) but she may when the newest i-phone comes out and she can’t buy one.
It would already be on YouTube.
Not end of story. Just because you “are warned” doesn’t make it right. Those in power should never wield it absolutely. Apply that “she was warned” approach to ODimwit being in power.
No. This is wrong and should be rectified.
About what I’ve come to expect from you.
You pick and choose what is dignified, and use your magic measure of absolute gravity, and disregard the loss of the subtle individuality that has given us so much.
Viva Ubuma!
I think it is illegal to even posses an eagle feather. I seem to remember hearing that from an Indian friend a few years back.
While I agree the $1,000 is ridiculous for the diploma, she earned it after all, I don’t see how this warrants going to court in any way. Talk about a frivolous lawsuit.
“Apply that “she was warned” approach to ODimwit being in power.”
Apples and oranges
Yeshua never criticised the dress of the people.
What happened to the “freedom in Christ?”
Reasonable people -- and even reasonable Christians -- can certainly disagree about such matters as dress codes and other standards. My only point is that this is a private school, and I fail to understand the seeming outrage being leveled here against the school . . . except that, as best I can tell, most people have been doing so without even realizing that it's a private school we're talking about.
I don't myself approve of corporal punishment being administered by school personnel on students, but, as it happens, this school's policy allows for corporal punishment. I would have never sent a child of mine to such a school for that reason alone. But I have no problem with a private school that has such a policy and discloses it.
You’ve provided no new information; what is in your heart?
So its OK to blame Yeshua for your insanity?
Or would you prefer that they fess-up as to their motives?
“And some rules are stupid and in need of being broken. If you always follow the rules, even the stupid ones, then you are a sheep.”
I dont like stupid rules and break them often, I just hate stupid ethnic pride nonsense.
>> “I think it is illegal to even posses an eagle feather.” <<
.
Can you show us where the power to make such a prohibition on possession of a perfectly natural object is ennumerated in our constitution?
I provided information that should tell you she is guilty of breaking the rules.
What’s in my heart is not part of the equation.
You might win on the fine, but lose on withholding the diploma. Schools can withhold diplomas for a number of reasons, including disciplinary issues (such as this one), unpaid fees, etc. Whether she signed the “contract” or not is irrelevant. It is a contract in name only - more properly, it would be an acknowledgement by the student and parents of the rules of the graduation and the consequences of violation. By her attempting to get the school to approve her feather, she confirmed her knowledge of these conditions, so a lack of a signature is immaterial. Her decision to wear the feather anyway in violation of the rule makes her subject to the consequences.
What is stupid about ethnic pride?
Do you prefer pornographic pride?
Well, there may be some "insanity" going on here, but I'm pretty such that it's not on my part. There may be some on your part, but I can't be sure . . . but, in your incoherence, at least, you come across rather like a lunatic. At this point, I confess, I haven't the foggiest idea what you're on about.
Free Republic just gets stupider and stupider and stupider, doesn't it?
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