Every once in a while I like to dig around through the online news and see what types of crazy things parents, kids, and their schools are up to. I thought this was a good one for us to talk about, so here you go.
A five year old boy was sent home and suspended from his kindergarden class because he had a mohawk. We could probably start the debate right here about whether or not you would give your five year old a mohawk, but I thought we could discuss the bigger issue here, the suspension. This kid was suspended, until he changed his haircut. Suspended. Seriously.
The school sent the boy home because his hair was disruptive to the educational process, which is a violation of the school dress code. As a former teacher, I know first hand how much of a pain it is to split hairs (pun intended) over what is and what is not a disruptive dress code violation. I guarantee you, right now, at the middle school where I worked, there are teachers wasting too much time enforcing dress code violations. Whether it’s short shorts or goofy haircuts, kids are always pushing the limits of the school dress code.
Some of you may think, no big deal, shave the kid’s head and stick him back in the classroom. Others, I’m sure will be outraged that the school took such drastic measures for such a seemingly minor offense.
I don’t know the whole story, maybe this kid is always pushing the limits of what’s acceptable and the administration felt he finally went too far. Personally, I think the school may have gotten this one wrong. After looking at the picture, it appears pretty harmless. Lets face it, the attention span of a kindergartener is about as long as a Where the Sidewalk Ends poem. It seems like this “problem” may have gone away on it’s own after a very short period of time.
So, what’s your take? Cut the mo? Or let it go?
-Pete