Another misleading headline

[zxcvbob]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/08/28/first-grader-faces-in-school-suspension-for-growing-hair-long-to-donate-to/

So the hair (allegedly grown long to harvest for cancer wigs) is not the real problem, the earring is.  Fox reported it first, but it looks like (google news) everybody else picking up the story is running with the same deceptive angle.

Another parent using their kids to try to earn their 15 minutes of fame vicariously.

[griz]

A six year old has been wearing a diamond earring for five years?

[wmenorr67]

My only arguement would be then girls can't wear earrings either.

I see it as an equal rights issue.  And long hair can be clean and neat.

[HankB]

The story says the kid has been spending his days in the principal's office . . . unless he's been getting tutored/taught there, it would seem that they have the basis of a lawsuit for denying the kid a public education.

[Perd Hapley]

My only arguement would be then girls can't wear earrings either.

I see it as an equal rights issue.  And long hair can be clean and neat.

And boys can wear dresses, too, then. I'm not necessarily saying schools should stop boys from wearing ear-rings, but they certainly don't need to push the fiction that boys and girls are identical.

[AJ Dual]

And boys can wear dresses, too, then. I'm not necessarily saying schools should stop boys from wearing ear-rings, but they certainly don't need to push the fiction that boys and girls are identical.

What about a Scottish immersion school? 

Honestly, I'm kind of simultaneously bored and irked about these cases of school kids and gender-bendering. They never really have anything to do with the kid in question, but instead just serve as a focus node in the culture war for people's hopes, fears, and insecurities on both sides of the "argument".

IMO, there's much bigger fish to fry right now, like if there actually will be a United States, or a U.S. Dollar in the next four to eight years.

And I think that any national hand wringing over these cases actually weakens the concept of Federalisim in general. As disturbing, or interesting, these cases may be, they ought to be handled and decided by local people, and local institutions whenever possible. Taking these situations and sensationalizing them, and the media trying to make them into some sort of implicit national referendums on sexuality and gender identity debates serves no greater good.

[Perd Hapley]

I don't want to see federally mandated dress codes, either. But of course, that doesn't mean that sch personal matters are less important than national issues.

[BlueStarLizzard]

The stupid here... It hurts.

A lot of people peirce ears very early on little girls, and if the boy has the one ear peircing that so many guys have, I don't feel its a gender issue.

The thing that cracks me the hell up is fashion is very changable at times and overtime both gemders have worn pretty much everything.

And why the hell arn't these schools using a golden oppertunity to teach kids tolerance at an early age rather then doing the oppisite?

[wmenorr67]

The stupid here... It hurts.

A lot of people peirce ears very early on little girls, and if the boy has the one ear peircing that so many guys have, I don't feel its a gender issue.

The thing that cracks me the hell up is fashion is very changable at times and overtime both gemders have worn pretty much everything.

And why the hell arn't these schools using a golden oppertunity to teach kids tolerance at an early age rather then doing the oppisite?

Because that wouldn't be PC.

[Perd Hapley]

And why the hell arn't these schools using a golden oppertunity to teach kids tolerance at an early age rather then doing the oppisite?

Because a dress code isn't supposed to teach tolerance, or whichever moral teachings you want public schools to teach kids. They are intended to avoid such areas of controversy, to allow classes to focus on academics.

[BlueStarLizzard]

H

Because a dress code isn't supposed to teach tolerance, or whichever moral teachings you want public schools to teach kids. They are intended to avoid such areas of controversy, to allow classes to focus on academics.

Apperently my cousins high school has banned yoga pants and leggings and may go for skinny jeans.

I remember high school (and middle school) pretty clearly. The thing I remember most was that these types of issues where always more in the adminastrators head then with the kids.

And the real cause of disrption between kids was related to how much money your family had, and thus how much "cool" stuff you have. From there it was all based on personality. Thats where the cliques lines got drawn and the cliques where the cause of most trouble.

Most dress code issues caused more trouble in the enforcement and protest then from what items where banned.

Teenagers are perfectly capable of "enforcing" their own "dress codes" and as long as their not walking around naked, its less trouble just to leave it alone.
Or go over to uniforms.

[zxcvbob]

...as long as their not walking around naked, its less trouble just to leave it alone.
Or go over to uniforms.

I don't think they even walk around naked in the locker rooms anymore.  Showering is so 1900's.

[AJ Dual]

I don't think they even walk around naked in the locker rooms anymore.  Showering is so 1900's.

Yeah. Go to any High School the first and last warm weeks of a school year, and smell the air.

Then go to the nearby mega-pet store with a big rabbit & rodent section.

Same smell.

[BlueStarLizzard]

Actually, thats not the kids fault.

They barely give you enough time to get dressed after gym class, much less take a shower.
My middle school tried to enforce showers after gym class. But then they had one too many kids either tadry for the next class or (and this was the death knoll as irate parents got involved) for kids with gym as last class, missing the buses.

they gave us less the fifteen minutes to go from gym to the next class and we were supposed to take a shower somewhere in the middle of that.   

[Tallpine]

What about a Scottish immersion school? 

Dè tha fo feileadh agat?

 

[Hawkmoon]

Dè tha fo feileadh agat?

 

fior-cinnte

[RoadKingLarry]

My only arguement would be then girls can't wear earrings either.

I see it as an equal rights issue.  And long hair can be clean and neat.

This.
We've been on the "equality" trail so long I'm pretty surprised this crap still goes on.

[lee n. field]

A six year old has been wearing a diamond earring for five years?

I've seen infants with pierced ears.  (I do not approve.)

[Perd Hapley]

I remember high school (and middle school) pretty clearly. The thing I remember most was that these types of issues where always more in the adminastrators head then with the kids.

And the real cause of disrption between kids was related to how much money your family had, and thus how much "cool" stuff you have. From there it was all based on personality. Thats where the cliques lines got drawn and the cliques where the cause of most trouble.

Most dress code issues caused more trouble in the enforcement and protest then from what items where banned.

That may be true in some situations, but that doesn't mean all dress codes are like that. It also doesn't mean that a dress code can't serve the legitimate purpose of keeping kids from wearing inappropriate things that distract the class, whether it's a racial remark, or a see-through blouse.

Teenagers are perfectly capable of "enforcing" their own "dress codes" and as long as their not walking around naked, its less trouble just to leave it alone.

Well, the child in question is six. But it is true that these first-graders did enforce a certain dress code, by making fun of the kid's ear-ring. The sort of thing top-down dress codes are supposed to alleviate, by banning the more egregiously disruptive or controversial stuff. Which perhaps in this part of Texas, in first grade, is an ear ring.

And laughing at what other kids wear is about the only way that teenagers are going to be enforcing their own dress codes. I don't know why anyone would want that, but you have a right to your opinion.