new thread
Here's an update article regarding the students at a Texas high school who have been ordered to cut their hair.
Jason, thanks for bringing this to our attention. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out.
--Val
Thanks for the update. It sounds like he won't budge no matter what.
One thing aggravated me though. His mother said:
" "It's not the '60s anymore. They aren't hippies, and they aren't radical anti-war tree huggers," she said.">
and so what if they were that? As long as they're not hurting anyone should they not have every right to have those feelings?
I agree with Jason, What the hell is wrong with being anti-war!Another thing that annoys me, why do people that have a concern for the forests of the world and the environment in general, get called hippies or tree huggers?
Because most people who are pro-war, and have no concern for the environment, are afraid of the truth, and prefer to simply dismiss others as undesirables, creating an image of them as drug addicts and idiots.
In other words, the straw man fallacy. It's a shame really, but that's the world we live in.
I think part of this stems from the 1960s and in the case of the U.S.A. the talk-radio neocons, who are known to use such epithets.
it does not imho help eliminate the already existing prejudice towards long haired males which seems prevalent in the culture of the U.S.
the UK, to my knowledge and many other European countries appears much more tolerant toward long hair, but I could be wrong since I don't live there I don't know what it's like there.
I totally agree that there isn't any problem with being anti-war or a tree hugger. On the whole, though, it's great that he has his mother's support in the process. How many young (and not so young) men on the hyperboard have wished for as much support from their families?
Mouse, an anti-war tree-hugger. :-)
*grin* you and me both
I'm also:
anti-bush
anti-cheney
anti-imperialism
anti-interventionist
anti-rudy
anti-giuliani
anti-romney
anti-mccain
anti-PatriotAct
anti-USA-as-the-world's-policeman
pro-ron paul
pro-privacy
pro-individual's rights
pro-US Constitution (what's left that hasn't been raped)
pro-get-the-government-out-of-my-life
oh and definitely pro-humans-to-mars We need a new world.
Hey Jason, Woohoo!!! Right on with your anti and pro list!!! Refeshing...
Cheers,
Max
That list makes me smile... thank you, Jason. =)
Jason is...
RIGHT ON.
--Val
We just need to send the neo-cons to Mars!
He aught to sue them for violation of his civil rights. Take them for every penny he can scoop up.
Or sexual harassment. They're discriminating against men.
In fact, it sounds like a fairly blatant violation of Title IX.
this doesn't surprise me knowing the politics of that state.
it's very Pro-Bush and very Pro Republican.
So that's why they have Superintendent's in schools over there to enforce the short rules, now that's a job function!
Cheers,
John.B
I guess enforcing petty policies is more important then education and seeing that every student graduates and goes to college.
"ponytails can be no longer than a half-inch."
Who the hell's ever heard of a half inch ponytail? How would one go about making a tail with only 1/2 inch of hair sticking out?
"By December, Superintendent Kevin Stanford came up with a solution to repeated complaints about hair length: All high school males with long hair must get haircuts."
Makes me wonder WHO complained or if it's a trumped-up vendetta. I wish we knew what we didn't know about all this.
this sounds like public pressure put on the school board to me.
some folks that obviously don't like the idea of school age boys having long hair.
there needs to be an amendment to the constitution that stipulates that no institution has the right to regulate hair length on a person.
Here's what I see. I filter this through being a teacher for 19 years, in the South, and having grown up in small town in the South.
1) This is a tiny, economically depressed town. The whole school, k-12 is in one building.
2) All of the players with power know each other and have all their lives. They go to church together, probably First Baptist church.
3) The Superintendent and the principal have been told in so many words that if they cannot handle a few sissy boys with long hair they might want to check their resumes and look for new jobs.
4) The school board is likely elected. They've all been told, in so many words, to handle this, or else.
The boys don't have a chance in this heap of small town power, except to get out.
Bob Patrick
Reminds me of the Ray Stephen's song, "Mississippi Squirrel Revival." HA!
"The day the squirrel went buzzerk in the
First Self-Righteous Church in that sleepy little
town of Pascagoula. It was a fight for survival
that broke out in revival. They were jumpin' pews
and shoutin' "Hallelujah"." (sic)
For those unfamiliar with the song, I have a clicky to the YouTube video.
Mississippi Squirrel Revival
A "clicky"? Is that baby talk for what you do with your mousie?
Bill
Indeed, it would be cute from a preschooler, but it seemed quirky from the age group this site attracts, and thus the comment. Most of us quit talking like that about the time we were in kindergarten, and I just didn't see anything in the thread that would make baby talk "fit". So it just seemed quirky.
Bill
She's a girl!
Alun
The name could be short for "Julio" or "Julia", but why would that matter? Do girls cling to baby talk for years after guys do? They didn't in my generation anyway. I can't say for the youngest one nowadays, of course, since like most 61 year old guys, I don't hang out with underage girls. [grin]
Could this be part of the cultural divide that underlies why there's an MLHH and an LHC?
Bill
Our local Fox tv station had a story on this guy. They say in the article his hair is 2 feet long but the video on TV shows
it about shoulder length.
" The policy for male students at Kerens High says hair may not go past the collar, below the eyebrows or a half-inch over the ears. Ponytails can be no longer than a half-inch.
To meet the dress code standards, Matthew's mom braids his hair and then tucks the braids to shorten them and keep them off his collar. He slicks back his hair on the top to keep it out of his face and from covering his ears. After the five-minute process is over, it's hard to tell that his hair is nearly 2 feet long, Matthew said."
Not like any part of the situation makes sense but what I really don't get is the order that all the young men must cut their hair even if they have been in compliance with the rule. It sounds like Matthew Lopez-Widish has been diligently following the restrictions placed on him and still he risks suspension because *other* boys have been seen with loose hair. He is told to cut to prevent his hair from falling out of his compliant style. How can he be punished for doing nothing wrong himself?
What he is clearly being punished for is not instantly bowing to a capricious order based on a lapsed rule. What a lesson for the kids, blind compliance to authority on a power trip is more important than justice, fairness, and logic. The authoritarian principal seems clueless that this situation and publicity don't reflect well on him. He's likely only worried he looks bad for being disobeyed when the real problem is that he looks like a fool for enforcing it. I'd like to know how stringently he applies other rules such as the ones about athletes keeping their grades up.
Elizabeth
I already posted a more recent article than that one in the previous thread. I guess no-one much bothered to read it? Jack commented on it, so I know at least he read it.
Matthew is transferring to another school district nine miles East of there, and at least one other boy is considering going with him. However, there is apparently a rule that says his new school must inflict on him whatever punishment his old school cares to set, and we don't know what that will be yet.
If you want the link, go back to the other thread and look for my post. I guess I should have started a new thread with it.
I agree with Robert. This town is so small that the superintendent can probably only keep his job by doing whatever anyone so much as suggests, even if the person making the suggestion is the village idiot.
OK, this thread started eight hours before that one. Now I'm confused.