Personally, I don’t see the harm in having pink hair, or blue hair, or green hair. Maybe I just don’t understand the problem other than “that’s the rule.” Do they consider it a distraction, similar to belly baring shirts and daisy duke shorts? Either way, I still don’t see the harm in hair color.

How did I miss this story? Go Heather Go! Down with school rules that call for unneeded conformity. What next–no one allowed to be anything but Southern Baptist in the Mt Grove district?

Look, I was one who demonstrated for the right of female students to wear pants to school and quit suffering the indignity of having to kneel to have their skirt lengths measured, so you know my feelings about this arbitrary crap. It’s a tribute to her father…get a grip. I don’t care for a lot of the highlighting and obvious fakeness many matronly women sport. Should we ban that too?

I’d rather talk about the missing white house emails that conveniently erased all evidence of corrupt activities this repub crew has engaged in over the past eight years. This chick’s pink hair has no effect on this nation’s future. The crooks in power systematically looting what we leave to the next generation does. I wanna talk about the 250 million Karl Rove has waiting to retire McCain’s campaign debt. That buys lots of loyalty. While the democrats have advanced past 1968 and Dick M Daley, the repubs want to turn the clock back to old white men behind the curtains pulling the sheeple puppets’ strings for their own advantage. Give me the honesty of terrorist bombs over this steal it piece by piece stuff.

Those of us who daily work with our youth anticipate there will be tension between traditional expectations and mores, vs non-traditional, eccentric, rebellious or out-of-the-mainstream behaviors. This tension between these distinct urges may suppress the youth’s expression of individuality. In youth, ESPECIALLY, expressing their individuality is an essential path to personal growth and an acceptable way to exert personal power, provided it is curbed as determined by pre-established rules and regulations.

We need to give our kids opportunities that will allow them to succeed as well as to fail. They can’t be allowed to live their adolescence in a cushioned world, protected by adults. And our kids have to learn that if they break the rules, they will have to pay the price. But the adult world needs to understand that they can’t make up the rules in the middle of the ballgame, and that established rules have a constructive purpose.

Every rule that comes out of a school administrator’s office cannot be counter-cultural. Certainly there are certain rules that are unavoidable. But let’s remember that the school’s chief objective is to educate, and the adult world cannot allow their personal preferences to get in the way of that objective!

Slugger is spouting that same liberal commie democrat crap that the AntiChrist Obama pushes. Don’t try and teach kids the importance of law and order, let them express themselves. Bull! They can express themselves by giving the right answers when asked a question. They can express themselves by doing as they are told and not asking questions. This is creating good citizens for the future. Maybe McCain will bring discipline and military bearing to our you peoples lives. As a war hero he should know how to mold young minds. Imagine what electing Obama will teach the kids.

Please explain how “…doing as they are told and not asking questions” expresses onesself. That was a joke, right?

The kid was warned last year to lose the color because of pink streaks, but this year she went all out with a whole head of pink hair. That kind of defiance speaks volumes. I feel sorry for school personnel who have to deal with disrespectful, defiant kids and parents who encourage and allow this kind of thing.

Its a distraction from what is going on in the classroom. I retired from teaching. That means I know nothing about the classroom. If you let one die their hair pink for her fathers death, you will have to let someone else do it because their cat died. Either way it is a distraction in the classroom. Going to school is a privilege that is not available to children all over the world. Rules and Regulations come with that privilege. The reason we have school boards and school administrators to regulate the school rules is to avoid distractions and controversy in the classroom. The least distractions by outside activity the better the classroom environment (hopefully). Regardless of why this girl is doing what she is doing, it’s against the rules at her school. If you let here do what she wants it will lead to letting everyone do what they want. Education will seize. I’m sure there is some other sensible way to honor her father than dying her hair.

I just posted this comment on the story. Would be curious for reactions here, too:

Just to stir the pot a little, I have a question: While I agree that rules are rules and they apply to everyone, nobody is addressing whether the rule itself is unreasonable. Is there a place for “civil disobedience”?

Kurt: I wonder, too, if the hair-color rule might be a bit unreasonable or at least non-productive. A certain well-established St. Louis private high school suffered in the 70’s because it offered a mandatory military program that required the boys’ hair to be trimmed above the ears. So, after school hours, the boys were branded. (As it turned out, many boys who were essentially anti-military were forced to attend the school because their parents forced them to. Didn’t make for a great learning environment! )There are so many issues and serious problems beyond seemingly harmless expressions of individuality that should be addressed during the teen years, and hair color and tatoos are probably not among them. In the absence of clearly defined, reasonable rules, we sometimes become strangely loyal to enforcing inconsequential trivia!

Careful… You might give a 12 year old the idea that personal choices have consequences. That would not fit in with the “progressive” evolution of our society and culture.

Here’s a run-down on teen issues that I have dealt with in the past 20 working days: (After you read them, ask youself where pink hair enters into the discussion–or if it does):

1) 15-yr Female. Pregnant. Mother is deceased. Father thinks she’s an angel. May have attempted a self-administered abortive procedure.
2) 16-yr Female. Can’t stand her own sight because she is a lesbian.
3) 17-yr Male and 15-yr Male: Both coming to terms with being gay. Neither can admit same to parents (fathers especially). Both think their school buddies are on to them.
4) 15-yr Female. Is 15 minutes away from becoming a high-school dropout, lacks ambition, incentive, self-identity, self-respect. Is likely on the path to prostitution.
5) 16-yr Male. Straight. Convinced he is a female in a male’s body.
6) 12-yr Male. Found out he’s been lied to about his paternity.
7) 15 yr Male. One brother is pre-med; the other is finishing his MS. Both parents are successful professionals. The 15 yr old can hardly read.

If we expect our kids to create something in life, they must first “be” something. But they first must be given the opportunity to “become”.

As a defiant one, I think what this youngster has done is just fine. I don’t understand why pink hair is a problem, but I realize that schools have rules. I hope in the end that this young person sees that she can still be herself, even in the face of those who would oppose her. At the same time I would hope that the principal would see that there are many things worse than pink hair. My bet is that the girl will learn, the principal will not.

“Careful… You might give a 12 year old the idea that personal choices have consequences. That would not fit in with the “progressive” evolution of our society and culture.”

Do you think a young person covered with tattoos, multiple piercings and brandings and sporting rainbow-colored spiked hair might be shocked to discover that they may have difficulty landing a position when out seeking gainful employment? Would their first impulse be to claim discrimination or might they consider their choices might rightly have something to do with their difficulty?

It’s obvious that the girl wanted not only attention but also wanted to bend if not break the rules. I believe that a pink ribbon would have sufficed and would have promoted more positive conversation.

SSK: I have several regrets in life. One is that I took school and my teen years too seriously. Didn’t enjoy all the fun stuff that others enjoyed. My own fault. Always driven to reach my goals, which was OK, but I didn’t necessarily enjoy myself along the way. “Life’s a journey, not a destination,” as someone once said. Didn’t smoke a joint until 3 years ago! If my wife and I decide one day to have children, I want first for them to be happy and to feel secure, then I want to offer to them an age-appropriate environment in which to grow up. We’re adults for a long, long time. We’re kids just a few short years!

Thanks Kurt for grabbing this topic and putting it on here.

To jfmoyn: The principal has nothing to learn here. If anything he is in a no win situation. If he doesn’t enforce the rules then more and more kids will try to get away with more and more things. If he does enforce the rules than he is an oppresive monster who squashes individualism. There is nothing wrong with expressing yourself as long as it doesn’t interfere with the daily function of the school. He felt it would be and it is his job to make that decision. Let’s not forget that she has been warned previously about comeing to school with pink streaks in her hair.

To be honest I would have been OK either way with this decision (send her home or let her stay). One thing I would like to say is that, in the picture that I saw, her hair almost looked red instead of pink. It was hardly a shocking shade. In the end though as long as the rules are applied evenly to all in the school then so be it.

I think it is great that she wanted to honor her father’s memory. She just can’t do it with pink hair and school anymore. I’m sure she will find another way to do so, and I hope she gets some good suggestions from people if she can’t think of anything.

Before someone starts spouting about Freedom of Speech by the way, the Supreme Court has ruled on this type of issue multiple times and has said that schools can limit things like clothing and hair in order to maintain discipline.

As to Kurt’s question, there is nothing wrong with civil disobedience to make a point as long as it is peaceful. Throwing paint on fur coats or bombing a clinic does more harm than good to your cause.

Wouldn’t it be neat to see all her friends come to school one day with pink hair to support her? That would be a good show of civil disobedience and make their point in a peaceful and supportive way.

But going back to the principal, that job is no win and as long as the rules are applied the same to all kids I don’t have a problem with him doing his job.

Ryan, out of curiosity, how does smoking a joint make life suddenly more enjoyable?

There is nothing wrong with letting your kids explore their boundaries while keeping them focused and directed too. You can have both in limited amounts, and that is what makes the best people in my opinion. I didn’t get to do every crazy thing I wanted, but now that I have a good career and am able to take care of myself for the rest of my life I am glad that those boundaries and directed focus was there. Your right we are only kids for a few short years, but you have to be an adult for a hell of a lot longer and that is a lot harder than doing anything in your childhood. You can still be young as an adult. It’s a lot harder to be an adult if you never grew up.

Go for it Amelia! Maybe I’ll dye my hair too.

It’s just hair people. It’s not like she’s carrying weapons into school or selling crack in health class. It’s just hair. Others should probably let theirs down a little more.

I think there are other reasons for the pink hair. Her father has been gone for 6 years now. Has she only decided to show this tribute since she has almost become a teenager? Pink is the adapted color for breast cancer. I know men can get breast cancer but did her father dye from breast cancer. Its obvious that the child has issues that she needs to get over. I think this is an outcry from here more than a tribute to her father. There is a deeper story. Civil disobedience has its place. I’m not sure I would call this civil disobedience as much as a confused child. Were you ever mixed up at 12???

Tim: It was a reference to a “risk”, something beyond the ordinary that, if we’re honest with ourselves, we expect someone to do in his youth. It was a risk that I didn’t take until I was in my 20’s. Maybe (or maybe not) it didn’t make life more enjoyable, but maybe it made one of life’s temptations more understandable. The point is obvious, to me, that we have to give kids opportunities to weigh decisions and to make choices. And before they do, we hope they clearly understand the rules. And we have to be even more hopeful that the rules are fair and reasonable and productive, that they don’t just reflect the wishes of a tired embittered administrator waiting around for his pension. My God, red hair! Who is to say that a good-looking blond isn’t more of an distraction/attraction!

Let’s see a girl with pink hair or a boy with half his butt sticking out of his oversized pants, which one should be banned? Right, the pink hair because it is really offensive!

Tim,
I think there are always opportunities to learn something. Looking in from the outside, I can only believe that the girl is being truthful when saying that she dyed her hair to honor her father. In that case she is making a sentimental gesture. The princpal could use this as an opportunity to draw a line between personal expression and insubordination. I think if he doesn’t at least try to learn, he has created his own no win situation.

Fair enough Ryan.

Point well taken jfmyon.

This comment is for Lenny

Why did you have to bring in politics into this conversation? We are talking about a girl’s hair color and school rules. But you slam Obama (calling him the Antichrist) and tout McCain getting them “military bearing” For Christ’s sake get a life. This isn’t about politics.

I understand this girl feels her hair color honors her father but the proper way to honor her father is to follow the rules and study hard to make something of herself. THAT would be a better way to honor her father. And where is this girl’s mother?

Good for her. The only ones down there b i t c h i n g are teachers and administrators. Thanks to teachers unions, they’ve been conditioned that as a group, they’re more important than students, their parents, etc. And SSK, comparing temporary pink hair to permament tattoos is a stretch. So is comparing temporary pink hair to getting a job. This is 2008, not 1978 - and I attended a well-known St. Louis county private school with a strict dress code PRIOR to ‘78. This 51 year old white bread fuddy duddy salutes this girl for standing tall!

I can’t believe that most people are supporting the actions of the kid and her mom and that some think that the administrator is the one with a lesson to learn. There was a time when if a child got in trouble at school, they also got in trouble at home. Not now. Now, parents would fight tooth and nail and sometimes even go to court to allow their kid to have their “rights.” What about the rights of the school to be able to enforce rules and have order so that some learning might be accomplished by those who quietly go to school to get an education? I guess any kind of discipline and order is too much to demand of today’s society, eh, because it is everyone’s right to see what they can get away with?

SSK.
I could not agree with you more. It was that way when I attended school and it may have been that way with you. Today, the schools have to now factor in “social justice”. They sonehow lost the authority to say not in my school you won’t and now have to face the rath of parents, politcal leaders and people who just like to start issues where they are not necessary.
If the schools could gain back that authority within their four walls for the 7 hours they house and teach our kids, we would see a large change in attitude with the students and their parents. I think those days are gone so issues of girls with pink hair and boys dressed inappropriatly etc.become the main focus of the day and will probably continue for here on out.

Thank you, Gina. I was beginning to think I was living in bizarro world where everything is backwards and wrong. Not everyone supports the kid and her mom, but most seem to and that is just strange to me. Whatever happened to simple obedience and following the rule of a higher authority simply because one is instructed to do so? I doubt this is just some arbitrary rule set in place for no reason. There is a reason, so why do people feel the need to buck authority and challenge the reason? Simply because they can? What does that teach our children?

Instead of getting in an uproar about the color of a girls hair, maybe the school administration should suspend girls who wear short shirts that show the girls belly or the low cut shirts that show the girls clevage. I would love to be a fly on the wall in the principals office, I’m sure the principal has flaws too.

My daughter, who is a natural redhead, had a similar situation when we lived in Valdosta, GA.

She had dyed the underneath of her hair black, which was apparently (and questionably) fashionable, and was constantly being stopped in the halls and questioned about - not the black color - but the red! One teacher told her she would be sent to the office for detention the next day if she didn’t dye her red hair back to “normal”. Boy was she embarassed when she learned she had disparaged a student’s natural hair color. After that they didn’t have the nerve to comment on the black color.

However, my daughter’s response to this teacher and others who commented on her “disruptive red hair color” was to point out the population of Black female students who wore red, blue, magenta, green, etc., braiding and weaves in their hair. No one had complained about them, and that made it look like tremendous reverse discrimination was taking place as the teachers commenting on my daughter’s hair color were also Black in this predominantly (75-25%) Black school.

What I’m getting at is, you can’t let a single perspective rule all. What is “disruptive hair color” to one is “culturally expressive” to another. Let me rephrase this: What is “disruptive hair color” to one is “deeply meaningful and personally significant in a non-disruptive with no ill-intent way”, to another.

I think Mr. Hale is being a little hard-nosed on the issue, and I hope a line item in a school handbook does not continue to prevent him from being a more reasonable, and therefore more effective, administrator in the new school year.

SSK

Those days of blind obedience are behind us. Man has come of age, a life philosophy that is reflected in just about every segment of our life: politics, religion, life-style, child-rearing (yes!). Today’s kids are too smart to allow arbitrary rules to be shoved down their throats, and for that I congratulate their parents!

Come on, folks, gain a little perspective. How is the color of this girl’s hair disruptive? “Discipline and order”? It is pink hair for god’s sake. Get over it. It causes no distraction. It interrupts the function of the classroom in no way. The school administrators need to understand this is not 1955, kids do not come to school in bobby socks and letter sweaters, nor should they. And this crap about, “Whatever happened to simple obedience and following the rule of a higher authority simply because one is instructed to do so?” I am the father of a 16-year-old boy. I have no interest in raising a mindless robot who follows the rules simply because he is told to.

Great post, Kathi Pulver!

Let’s see if I can get this straight. The girl broke the rules, correct? Could we agree that, in school, rules would be considered “laws”? If so, then the theory would be that the girl broke the school “law”. Perhaps it’s just a minor “law” which lends itself to civil disobedience or protest, but it’s still the “law”. Breaking the “law” is wrong and should lead to punishment.

What type of lesson is being taught here? What do you think will happen when this girl gets out of school and wants to break more rules? Laws?

Pink hair seems so minor in the general scheme of things, but it’s the principle (no pun intended) of issue. Let’s say she’s allowed to wear pink hair. The next person wants to wear a mohawk. The next person wants to wear a sports bra to school. The next person wants to go to class and speak nothing but pig latin in class. The next person wants to wear a sports bra and speak pig latin. Etc. The point is, it becomes a slippery slope. Does it disrupt class? Sure it does. When someone comes into class being the center of attention, the focus becomes that person and not the teacher or subject.

Wear your pink hair at home and quit breaking the law/rules.

Most are saying that the rule has absolutely no merit. So, the kid has pink hair, I agree no real harm done (except for defiantly and knowingly opposing the school, and apparently having full support to do so by her Mom, which I think IS harmful). Then next week another kid comes in with green hair. Again, no real harm. But, where do you draw the line? I mentioned piercings, brandings etc. in one post and someone said there is a world of difference between pink hair and piercings. True. I know that, but where do you draw the line? Rules are made for a reason. If one ignores one rule, how does one choose which ones to obey, why not ignore all of them? How exhausting and unproductive would a school year be if the teachers and administrators have to spend it fighting with kids and parents about rules instead of teaching them something? I think it is ridiculous that kids go to school with front cleavage and butt cleavage hanging out all over, with their stomachs exposed and their bottom cheeks hanging out of short shorts. Some are comparing the pink hair and the exposed skin and saying the exposed skin is the greater offense. Sure it is, but they are ALL unnecessary distractions. Is it not understandable that they are related offenses, that the common theme is a lack of respect for authority and lack of obedience? Sure, it is a difference of degrees of offense, but how do they decide where it stops?

Logicprevails, you and I posted at the same time, 8:34, and said essentially the same thing, so there are at least a few people out there that get where I’m coming from.

Have any of you visited a highschool campas latlty pink hair is the least of the distractions I belive if you don’t let kids express themselves while their young it will come back around and kick you in the keister!

Some of you could lighten up a bit, I may be 40 but I remmember those days far to well, ofcourse having two teenagers of my own keeps those memories fresh.

Even leaving aside the question of self-expression, in today’s age, is pink hair really a distraction? Give me a break. If you consider pink hair a distraction, then you are very distractable.

It appears that my 12, 10 and 5-year old children have more respect for authority, discipline and rules than most of the adults posting here. What a sad thought. And, I guess considering that, it is not surprising that we have this news story about the girl being suspended from school after attending with pink hair. The girl was warned once to lose the color because she had attended school with pink streaks. Then she defiantly and disrespectfully dyed her whole head pink with full support of her mom and attended school like that and that is okay and actually applauded by a lot of folks. That is truly an indicator of the very sad state of many things in this society, some of which Ryan on the Euphonium mentioned: religion, life-style, child-rearing. Very sad, indeed.

SSK,
Its called picking your battles, your kids are still young please don’t judge others on their parenting until you have been there. My 16 yr old daughter is a 4.0 student with pink hair tell me exactly how she has let me down?

At my daughter’s Catholic school the children, male & female, are mandated to have their “God given hair color” otherwise they face reprimand. I have asked the principal to apply the standard to the teachers as well. Maybe Amelia’s mother should fight a bit harder. Let the school concentrate on the important things, mmmmm… like teaching!

Meme, I didn’t say anything about letting anyone down. This is really basic stuff as to the differences in your situation and Amelia’s situation. Does your daughter’s school have any problem with her pink hair? Has anyone in authority there told her not to dye her hair pink? If not, you are not part of the problem I see. The girl in question, Amelia, DOES go to school where the administration specifically told her NOT to dye her hair. She did so anyway, with the support of her mother. Do you not see the problem with that?

Gerard, again, this is a different situation altogether. How many folks on staff at your daughter’s Catholic school have pink hair?

My son got in the van at the end of his first half-day at school this year and told me he would receive a demerit if he did not go to school wearing a belt the next day and every day after that. Five demerits result in detention. He started to whine at me that I should talk to the principal to make a deal that he shouldn’t have to wear a belt because it is uncomfortable and he has never had to wear one before (this is his sixth year attending school there). The last principal mandated that socks had to cover the ankle bone. That didn’t make sense to me, who cares if someone’s ankle bone is showing or not, but I bought longer socks than most kids wear these days because that was the rule. My son has never worn a belt with his navy blue pull-on twill shorts/pants. He doesn’t really need a belt to hold his pants up, but the new principal this year mandated that boys wear belts at all times simply because it looks nicer to wear one. So, I quashed his whining and told him that if it was impossible to follow the rules, then we would have to discuss it with school administration, but since it was not impossible, then we certainly were going to do so. I was not thrilled because it cost me more money, but we immediately went shopping for clothes with belt loops and a belt. He went to school the next day wearing new shorts and a belt. Neither of us was thrilled with the rule, but we followed it. I hope my son learned that rules are meant to be followed, they are meant to apply to everyone and that everyone in life answers to someone for something.

This is a tough one for me. I see the value in obedience, a society without rules will devolve into anarchy. But I also see value in civil disobedience, without which the rules of a society will become stale, outmoded and potentially abusive. Since lot’s of people here (SSK) have made strong cases for obedience, allow me to make a case for civil disobedience.

In life, there are rules (laws) that you sometimes disagree with. How do you change them? Well, in some situations, there is a system set up that you can use to get the rule changes you desire. For example, if you want to build a store, but the area is zoned residential, you go to the zoning board and present your reasons why the zoning for that area should be changed. If you are successful, you get the change you want – the rules are changed for you. Civil disobedience wasn’t necessary here, because there was a system set up to deal with potential conflicts or disagreements with the current rule structure.

But what about when there is no system of redress? Lets say you were a black person back in the days of segregation – who do you appeal to for a change of the rules? Who will listen? Segregation was the law of the land – if you didn’t like it, you were free to leave. In these cases, you can sometimes opt to fight for change – and this is where civil disobedience comes into play. It could be something as simple as not giving up your seat on the bus, or sitting down at a lunch counter – but these small acts can sometimes get people to discuss the true worth of the rules being challenged. These little acts of civil disobedience forced us to confront the question – is it really right to discriminate against someone based on the color of their skin?

In the present case, certainly the stakes are lower. We are not talking about equal treatment, or overturning decades of discrimination. We are talking about a girl violating her school’s dress code. Still, just as adherence to arbitrary rules in school can prepare a child for the arbitrary laws we deal with in the adult world (just on a smaller scale), carefully considered disobedience can also prepare them for those times in life when we have to fight for change. In this case, she has succeeded in provoking a debate, but now she has to consider if it’s worth continuing the fight. This is never an easy decision, and it reminds me of the old prayer:

Lord, give me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I can’t, and the wisdom to tell the difference.

Meme, I think it’s great that your 4.0 16-year old has pink hair and I wish her luck when she goes in for her first job interview with that hair color. I bet my 17 year old with a 3.4 average and his God-given hair color gets the job first!

SSK hit the nail on the head, if the rules say no pink/dyed hair..then no dyed hair. Work to CHANGE the rules at the school instead of working to BREAK the rules.

I remember reading an article for a Social and Personality Class in graduate school that sent this message: The young always have the same problem—how to rebel and conform at the same time. So they defy their parents and teachers, and they copy one another.

This whole thing is stupid. The district is plainly overreacting and attempting to bully a girl, as a result she has dug in. If the district was a bit more sensible then this would have probably amounted to nothing.

What needs to happen is for bunches of other students in this district to dye their hair pink (or other colors) in solidarity. What would the school do in this case?

Kathi and Ryan on the E.,

Great posts-I ,too, have dealt with the strangely dyed hair when my now sixteen-year-old homeschooled son was about thirteen and first went to bright blue hair, and then a fuschia-red color.While I was less than thrilled, it was the lesser of the evils to let it run its course, and now he has a buzz-cut in his natural color hair(his choice).He also sports two earrings and has talked about tattoos(because his friends apparently think it is cool and have some),which I will not allow due to health concerns,among other things.We have discussed the whole issue of appearances for job purposes,and he understands that aspect,and if it costs him a job,so be it.I figure if wild hair color is the worst he does, I’m getting off easy.And as far as “breaking the rules”, how many here have NEVER exceeded the posted speed limit, or done a rolling stop?Not endorsing these things, just asking.

As for the principal,if he knew anything about kids, he should have seen this coming and dealt with it better,instead of being so dictatorial.There was a similar situation in the Mascoutah schools sometime last year(I think)that involved a girl giving a friend a HUG(oh, gasp, THE HORROR!)that apparently ruffled the superintendent’s feathers and garnered alot of attention,even nationwide.She ran afoul of the PDA rules. I can’t help but think maybe these adminitrators need to try and learn something about child psychology,and maybe get a hobby.There are so many worse things going on in schools these days that to get their knickers in a twist over these issues is simply ridiculous.If he (in both instances) had not blown the situation so out of proportion with heavy-handed discipline, it would have quietly gone away, and the administrators could actually be doing something productive,like dealing with school violence and bullies, or making sure kids are learning. Are we supposed to be raising kids or sheep?! Unquestioning obedience to archaic laws/rules should not be the pinnacle of education,in my opinion.How would they feel if she SHAVED her head-no color to complain about then.

Ryan, I’m a high school teacher and I so agree and understand your points about the real-life, far more important issues than pink hair, with my high schoolers. Teens are often uncomfortable with who they are, and tend to “try on” a number of personas to see what they are comfortable with. This may be the case with this twelve year-old, or it could be something else. I’m concerned about this girl, since often the outer physical expression of a teen seems to relate to some real inner turmoil. What is her homelife like? Where is Mom? Is there a male father-figure in her life who is making her feel valued and loved as a female? Or is the pink a cry for help, as extreme outer expression often is with many teens? I’d rather the administrators at her school look into these issues rather than hit the surface issue of the pink hair.

This is just another example of school administration on a power play. The girl wasn’t tring to make a selfish fashion play. She was doimg it inhonor of her father who died of cancer and pink is the color for cancer remembrance.

You know, it just occured to me, we are taking this girl’s word for the reason behind her hair color. Maybe she just wanted to dye it something unusual and knew pink had a built in excuse…

Food for thought.

Forgot to add something in my last post.

Let’s not forget that the administrators in these schools are damned if they do, damned if they don’t. There are plenty of times when kids get away with something like rainbow-colored hair and the other side of the coin complains about it. Only that hardly ever makes the news. It’s only when someone screams about their “rights” that the TV and newspaper folks come running. Think about it, if you had to enforce dress code and other school rules, would you go by the book or be lenient? Not an easy decision by any means, especially when we are talking your career here. The girl will get suspended for a day or two and be back in school. The superintendent could get fired which will follow him for the rest of his career.

Both sides make good points here, and there is no wrong opinion. All I am saying is not be so quick to judge this guy, or the girl for that matter, until you really think about all the consequences that could happen if you were coloring your hair before school or you had to make a decision about the student with that hair…

Not having “unique” colored hair isn’t in their school’s rules- a decision casually made by officials can’t fairly be enforced like this.

When I was in Paris this February, during my week there, I saw a handful of middle-aged women here and there walking down the Champs-Elysees clad in designer clothes with streaks of dark blue or purple in their hair. They were tasteful looking, trendy, and happy. No one cared about their hair.

If you don’t like pink hair, don’t dye your hair pink. By the way, how is pink hair different from a lot of the trendier dye jobs here in the U.S., where chicks have dyed black hair with chunky bleach-blonde streaks all through it? Yikes, right? Black and blonde are “normal” colors… but they sure as heck don’t naturally occur like that… what about the orange-red dye jobs with platinum bleached patterns all through them?

Don’t be so uptight- worry about the issues that deserve it.

Oh my word! Well I have to say that pink hair is not the issue! The issue is an arbitrary rule, that is set for who? Will her pink hair disturb the class? Well I guess it will if the teachers and the administration make a big deal out of it! Our educators have a tough job, as do our children! Teaching and learning! That’s it! Teachers: molding young minds, helping them to establish themselves into a knowledgeable, literate human being! Children: learn, learn, learn……become something better by retaining the information afforded them!
We need to show our children that pink hair is not such a big deal and it won’t be unless we make so.

Lenny, What will our children learn WHEN we elect Barrack Obama president? They will learn that in America you can be whatever you choose, that the color of your skin, what faith you are, or what decent you are you too can be president! And a great president he will be!

I wish some of the parents in this school district had the guts for everyone to show up with pink hair, at the next school board meeting! LOL Jane

If this girl was actually warned about her pink hair last year and the rules actually state something about “unnatural” hair color, then yes, she deserved to get in trouble for what she did. If these two thigns were explained to her, then she did this out of pure defiance! Why couldn’t she have found other ways to show her cancer support? Pink clothes, pink accessories, pink whatever, but if she was told specifically about her hair, she got what she deserved. Had she tried to find a way to get the rules changed, she may have gotten further than just going against them! There are peaceful and less defiant ways to get rules changed. Kids have to be taught the value of following rules EVEN IF THEY DON’T LIKE THEM!
My employer has specific rules about what I can and can’t wear to work etc. If I violate those rules just to violate them, I deserve what I get, even if that means I’m asked to leave my job. I know the rules going in and unless I fight to change them, I’m stuck abiding by them.

Logic,
My pink haired daughter has been gainfully employed at our local YMCA since she was 15 but thanks for the advice I’ll be sure to pass it on.

“They can express themselves by doing as they are told and not asking questions.”

Hahahaha. Lenny, you are hilarious, and the kind of person the republican party is counting on for votes. And neither of those are compliments.

Also, to SSK, I certainly understand that rules are meant to be followed, and I have lived my entire life so far following plenty of them.

But have you never in your life questioned the reasoning behind the institution of a rule? If I told you that you could no longer wear socks, would you just do it blindly? Don’t be a sheep.

Christine,
You asked, Is there a male father-figure in her life who is making her feel valued and loved as a female? That would have been her father that passed away from cancer,thus the pink hair did you not read the artical?

I am the parent of a 7 year old with a mohawk. The school says they don’t like it so he needs to cut it I disagree completely. If my child is an A student and does not act up in school and expresses his individuality in this one harmless way what is the problem? His hair does not hurt anyone and if a child is distracted from the teacher, it probably isnt just the hair. The newness of his hairstyle will wear off and kids will get on with their lives in about a week, just like they do with Christmas toys! Schools tell our children to be individuals and not to fold to peer pressure to dare to be different, yet when they dare, they are told CONFORM! So which is it? Studies show my child who choses to be different has less of a chance of falling to peer pressure because he’s already used to not being like everyone else. Not to mention lets look at all the “different” people who have made this world what it is! Einstein was thought to be stupid as a child, then insane with his ideas. J.K. Rowling was told multiple times her book would never sell and she is filthy rich now. Mozart, Columbus, the list can go on and on! I would rather my child learn to be different and that its okay to think differently from the whole! I want him to explore new ideas. He is an individual and if others want to copy him, let them it doesnt hurt anyone and if many are doing it, its not a distraction anymore since everyone has the same thing! My son is very intelligent, obedient, and defends his morals and his beliefs even when he’s out numbered. I’d say he’s already better off them most of the sheep at school, who are just following the herd. Another thing I attended a private school with uniforms where our hair was the only thing we could use to be different and it was allowed for boys to have long hair, and girls to have colors in their hair. It never distracted anyone and everyone in my graduating class now makes over $50,000 a year. Here in my small town where everyone has to have the “normal” look, over 60% of graduates do not go on to college and end up in low paying jobs. Being different and facing the challenges brought upon by being different helped my classmates become stronger and decide they were going to make their dreams happen and fight for them, I don’t think my son would do bad to learn those same lessons.