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I just wanted to post this. Usually females don't get harassed about their hair. So I was surprised to come across this. Can anyone tell me why people can be so stupid?
Ted
You beat me to it. I came here to post the same story. I am surprised to see a story about a girl being harassed about her hair by school administrators. It's usually a boy in these stories. Not that it's any more or less appropriate, but it's unusual.
Sorry about that, Michael! These stories just drive me crazy! I am so tired of some people and their expectations/views. I almost didn't post this because it was a girl. But we have female members here so I felt it was appropriate.
Ted
Hi Ted,
Even though this concerns a female student and not a male it still is really odd why,all of a sudden, the hair became an issue.That news clip mentioned that she was being bullied about her hair which triggered this controversy.I guess the school figured if she tamed her hair the bullying would stop and no further action would be necessary on their part.Funny how the bully prevails in this instance so where is the justice?I couldn't help but notice the school manual commenting on boy's hair but the camera cut away before I could read much of it.Oh well hopefully she gets her way and keeps what she says is her identity which is the same for guys too! Yes, we can have an identity too,we are not all clones.Cheers
Mârk
The camera didn't show much (pic above) but I imagine the rules included most of the usual draconian stuff that manuals of schools of that type normally contain. Basically, this kind of school prides itself on turning out conformist clones.
Damon
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I just noticed. The last line in that snippet of their manual reads: "Dress code violations will result in discipline action". D'oh! The correct adjective is "disciplinary".
If the school can't even get its own grammar right, they really shouldn't be teaching kids anyway!
Damon
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And yeah, I KNOW there shouldn't have been an apostrophe in my heading - but I ain't writing school handbooks! :)
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What is even more odd is the fact that she has gorgeous hair!
I would definitely have to agree with you here, Tanuj! She is beautiful and her hair is gorgeous! Thanks for the reply!
Ted
IMHO she is getting hassled for one reason and one reason only:
racism. Being a private school they can pick and choose
who they allow to attend. (Read: no minorities, only students with rich parents, no disabled students, no students with bad grades, etc.)
To really grasp the roots of this issue I would suggest watching the Mellissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC on Saturdays and Sundays.
In the past she has done a few shows on blacks and the
battles they've had over hair.
As far as a distraction: lets get real here, when you're in a class at school and the class is boring you're going
to search for something (anything) that is a distraction.
If it's not this girls hair, it's the cars going down the stret
outside, it's the pencil you're holding (tossing in the air),
the lights on the ceiling, anything to take your
mind off the mind numbingly boring teacher.
Personally I find nothing wrong with her hair. But I bet this goes far beyond her hair.
Indeed, I can't help wondering. I suspect that if her hair was the same length but straight, there would be no problem. But she has naturally curly 'afro' hair that tends to bush out - and it is THAT that seems to bother the school. And discriminating against someone for an ethnic trait is indeed a form of racism.
What a disgusting school!
Damon
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Note that the article discusses other instances where girls have been hassled about their hair, and that in one of them, "The dean of students quickly apologized and said the rule was not directed at girls' hair but aimed at male students who were expected to be 'well groomed.'”
So girls are not expected to be "well groomed"? Isn't fastidious grooming more of a feminine trait? So they want their boys to look more girly?
Men are more hairy than women, and we have in some places seen the same prejudice against masculinity when it comes to beards.
The hassle many students have gotten about their hair has been racist, in particular anti-African racism. And in some quarters, when boys have been hassled it is sexist. Underlying both of those prejudices is a prejudice against certain social groups, such as Africans, American Indians, hippies, etc. Social groups come in all sizes, and some people are called to be unique in some ways, and they find themselves in a small group such as a school to be in a social group of "one".
Yes, people in small social groups are not as powerful, and they often become targets for bullies. But in this century we've learned we don't blame the victim.
Over the years the courts have been attacking prejudice piecemeal. When are they going to just say "all prejudice is illegal" and be done with it?
Bill
I'd chalk this one up to racism and retaliation.
As long as there are people in power who support institutionalized racism, classism, and the use of discriminatory policies to defend their power and place.
Hi everyone,
I had a funny feeling this would generate some replies! I do appreciate your viewpoints on this matter! Thanks for replying!
Ted
Hi Ted,
Thanks for posting this story.
What a foolish school. It's those stupid school rules that need to be examined and pressured to change, NOT that beautiful young girl or her parents forced to conform to a racially bigoted rule...
This is so annoying. She is an honor student, for Heaven's sake! I think her parents should transfer her to another school, asking for a full refund of their $$ back!!!!!
- Ken
Hi Ken,
I would agree with you my friend! It is truly amazing how ignorant and bigoted our society can be!
Ted
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You can see the school's rules at this link: >A HREF="http://www.fcalions.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/FCA-Large-Student-Handbook-12-13.pdf">Faith Christian Academy Student Handbook
Excerpts:
All uniforms MUST be purchased at Sunshine School Uniforms located at 617 N. Primrose Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, 407-896-9179. Proper attire is required at all school functions.
SOCIAL POLICIES
All FCA students must have as their goal to put God first in all things. Each student must show respect for those in authority including teachers, staff and administration. Students must submit to the Godly authority that has been placed over them (Romans 13:1-5). Students must also respect and treat fellow students, teachers, staff and administration with the Golden Rule as their guide (Matthew 7:12)
Students are expected to exhibit good sportsmanship. Any type of jeering, taunting, or provocation are not appropriate actions during an athletic event. [Apparently these are okay at other times????]
Students should only participate in wholesome Christian and secular activities off campus.
Students must avoid inappropriate movies, lewd shows, degrading performances, and secular rock concerts.
Public Display of Affection (PDA) is not permitted. Please keep hands to yourself. This includes playing with or picking on another student and social familiarity with the opposite sex and same sex. FCA policy requires students to maintain a six-inch distance between one another. [Do teachers carry around a ruler to enforce this, and slap you with it if you transgress?]
Faith Christian Academy Student Handbook
Excerpts:
All uniforms MUST be purchased at Sunshine School Uniforms located at 617 N. Primrose Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, 407-896-9179. Proper attire is required at all school functions.
SOCIAL POLICIES
All FCA students must have as their goal to put God first in all things. Each student must show respect for those in authority including teachers, staff and administration. Students must submit to the Godly authority that has been placed over them (Romans 13:1-5). Students must also respect and treat fellow students, teachers, staff and administration with the Golden Rule as their guide (Matthew 7:12)
Students are expected to exhibit good sportsmanship. Any type of jeering, taunting, or provocation are not appropriate actions during an athletic event. [Apparently these are okay at other times????]
Students should only participate in wholesome Christian and secular activities off campus.
Students must avoid inappropriate movies, lewd shows, degrading performances, and secular rock concerts.
Public Display of Affection (PDA) is not permitted. Please keep hands to yourself. This includes playing with or picking on another student and social familiarity with the opposite sex and same sex. FCA policy requires students to maintain a six-inch distance between one another. [Do teachers carry around a ruler to enforce this, and slap you with it if you transgress?]
Faith Christian Academy Student Handbook
No hats are allowed in the building. If it is raining and you are wearing a hat, we have provided bushes by the front door to toss your hat into. Hats are not allowed in the building.
Regular shoes, sandals or shoes with backs can be worn (no bedroom-type). But that sentence doesn't say they have to be. You can go barefoot, like Jesus did.
Boys’ hair must be cut to above the eyes, mid-ear, and to the top of the collar. Boys must be clean shaven. We would not let in Jesus, but Jesus would not be admitted to our school anyway, because Jesus was Jewish.
This includes but is not limited to beards, sideburns, mustaches, goatees, etc. The "not limited" part is about the only hair that is left, which is underarm and crotch hair. Our men of the cloth have razors and delight in assisting male students with this Godly task.
All FCA students must have as their goal to put God first in all things. Each student must show respect for those in authority including teachers, staff and administration. Students must submit to the Godly authority that has been placed over them (Romans 13:1-5). Interesting that they lump the school administration in with God. The Trinity there has four parts: The Father, The Son, The Holy Ghost, and The School Administration.
Students must also respect and treat fellow students, teachers, staff and administration with the Golden Rule as their guide (Matthew 7:12) The Golden Rule is part of the Bible, but the Bible does not apply to Christians other than students.
Students should only participate in wholesome Christian and secular activities off campus. "Wholesome Christian" activities include taunting gay people, pregnant women, longhairs, and people with AIDS. It's good that the rule says wholesome Christian activities can only be participated in when off campus. "On campus" is surely a dreadful enough place as it is.
Students must avoid inappropriate movies, lewd shows, degrading performances, and secular rock concerts. Rabble rousing "Christian rock" concerts are okay.
Please keep hands to yourself. FCA policy requires students to maintain a six-inch distance between one another. Giving food to poor students is a Christian thing to do, but do not hand them the food. Throw it at them, so you can maintain six inches of separation. [Are there any poor students other than token ones at Faith Christian?]
Plagiarism and cheating are stealing. The Ten Commandments say "Thou shalt not steal", but the operative word there is "Thou". "Thou" means "you", not "me", and those words were spoken by God. The Administration does not have to follow the Ten Commandments because, remember, the Administration is God.
So even though it against the rules the school tolerates bullying.
What give the school the right to dictate what students can
do and see off campus?
So the school can dictate that students can't watch
Myely Cyrus on tv awards show?
Does this six inch policy apply to bullying too?
The six inch rule appears to only apply to students with each other. You can get up close with members of the faculty. (Biblical measurements are usually related to the dimension of body parts. I do wonder where the six inch one came from!)
Bullying does not appear to be limited just to students, but if a faculty member does it, they probably call it "discipline".
Writ by the hand of God in His handbook:
Discipline is defined as training that develops self-control, orderliness and efficiency. Hebrews 12 declares the need for proper, love-based teaching of discipline. If accepted properly, discipline yields “the peaceful fruit of righteousness”.
FCA adheres to biblical discipline according to Proverbs 23:13,14 and 29:15 and has full discretion in accordance with the discipline and dress code policies. Faith Christian Academy incorporates many disciplinary methods. A cooperative spirit between home and school is an important prerequisite for student growth.
Proverbs:
23:13. Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
24:14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
You can't beat a student while maintaining a six inch separation. God says to beat the hell out of them, and the Fourth Branch of the Trinity is happy to oblige.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I would be damned if I would pay that kind of money to have my child oppressed like that! What a ripoff! Sometimes I wonder...
Ted
This is one item in the dress code that i'm surprised at.
The usual practice that i've notioced is that hair should be above the ears. when did mid ear become acceptable?
I saw this the other day. My only thoughts on the matter is that yes, it's wrong if the school. However, it's a private Christian school, and they're known for making ridiculous, discriminatory, backwards, off-the-cuff rules. I'm not surprised in the least by the schools position on this.
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These are my thoughts about it:
1- They are being racist for the fact that if she had straight hair they wouldn't be making any problem out of her hair. So, they are being racist. They should be aware that there are black people out there whose hair do not grow just like white people's hair.
2- They are blaming the girl for the bullies she receives instead of blaming the bastards who bully this girl. It´s a lot easier for them to kick her out instead of taking some decision against the ones who bully her.
3- Sorry for those in this forum that are catholic, but catholic institutions in general tend to be retrograde , judgmental, discriminatory so this does not surprise me at all.
4- By doing this, school administrators are telling the girl not to be herself and not to embrace the hair type that "God" gave her. So , as a school and as a religious school, what kind of teaching AND example are you giving to your own students and to society in general?
5- For this girl's parents, a good advise: Take her out of that school. Not because of her hair. But I think they are wasting their money on that place. There must be way better schools where to spend your money and where this girl will be welcome.
It should also be noted that in order for her to have straight
hair she'd have to use straightening stuff that I understand
is very harsh on hair. Probably not good stuff to use on
a 13 year old child.
Especiallly if the bullying is racially based, or the bullys
are on the football team or the bullys have wealthy/influencial
parents.
They are also able to choose the students the accept.
More than likely her parents are spending thousands of dollars t
to send her to this school. Thousands of dollars in addition to
the thousands they pay in property tax to support the public schools.
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"There must be way better schools where to spend your money and where this girl will be welcome."
That is the essence, for the parents at least. The young lady may not want to change schools, but if she's being bullied, maybe she will. In any case, I don't see a need to pay the scruel (sic) to oppress her!
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This is a shame that such a talented young girl is a target by the school.
Nevermind the people bullying her... it always seems the good ones hey push away, and the bad ones end up staying...
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Let me just start by saying that I agree with nearly everything that you guys are saying about this article & the school.
The only responses I don't agree with, are the people who are shouting "Racists". The school is discriminating against the girl, there is doubt about it. But they are specifically discriminating against her hair type, not her skin color.
As for my 2 cents:
Couldn't they just put her hair in a ponytail. From what other people have posted on here, it doesn't appear that the school has issues with hair elastics. At the very least it could take away enough of the 'distraction' that the school wouldn't be able to justify the way they're treating her.
And to answer your question:
I don't think they're being stupid, more like ignorant & afraid. Society fears anything it considers 'different' and for most of it's collective histories has gone to great lengths to either avoid or destroy it.
The School is just doing what it can it remove the 'different', in a country where there are enforced-laws against the kinds of things that less 'civilized' societies can & sometimes still do to remove the 'different'.
Arend
Afraid of what? What they are doing is just plain stupid. Being ignorant is similar you know?
And the school doing what it can to remove the "different" is just stupid in this case. Because the "different" is the person with her hair like that. That is just plain stupid. However, you are entitled to your opinion.
I know ignorance & stupidity are similar. But that doesn't mean that being guilty of one, automatically makes someone guilty of the other.
I'm not defending the schools actions or agree with them in any way.
The school was alerted to a situation, in this case the bullying; saw the "different", in this case the girls hair; and chose to go after the "different" instead of the situation that was the real problem.
It's a flaw in the system; but one that the school, or at the very least its board are probably well aware of.
The Girl - and possibly soon her hair - are victims of a society that will, on occasion, sacrifice ones individuality, for the sake of it's own image & self preservation.
Even though said individuality is rarely-if-ever even a threat.
It doesn't make what the school is doing any less wrong. But unfortunately, that is the world we live in.
Arend
Points well taken Arend. I think you and I would agree that this is all unfortunate.
Ted
Racism is not only discriminating other person for having a different skin color.
You can be racist when discriminating other people for having a different skin color, hair type, eye color, etc.
This is racist, which is disgusting. Natural afro hair is cool.
I never actually dated any black girls, but let me tell you a little story. When I was in high school, back in England (long, long, ago, in a galaxy far away, LOL!), I went on a one week visit during the summer to a college for people who were thinking about going there. While we were there we took various classes, and my lab partner was a girl from a private school who I thought was cute. She was black, and had natural afro hair. All week I looked forward to the dance that they had organised for us, and couldn't wait to ask her to dance. But alas, she wasn't there. She obviously left early and didn't go to the dance. So, I almost (but not quite) got together with a black girl with natural afro hair, just like the girl in this news story (and we were probably about the same age at the time as she is now). I like afro hair.
Hi Alun,
Thanks for the great reply! I also love afro hair! I have met too many black girls that were hot. And they looked awesome with afro hair! Heck I actually had a very cute black college girl tell me she loved my hair! And that was before it was as long as it is now! I was floored! Talk about a big head!
I absolutely loved your story! I am getting very tired of society imposing on "the other". I was raised to be very tolerant and am very happy my parents did that. I cannot even imagine being that way. Live and let live I say.
Ted
I have never met black people because in Argentina there are no black people at all.
The only black people that live here are immigrants from African countries, but there are no black people born here.
So the first time I actually met black people, was when I visited New York City and I am fascinated with them.
This news crossed the border. It is now on an online news site here in Argentina.
Wow.... thanx for posting...
Hi Dave,
Thanks for posting this! Ignorance knows no borders my friend! She looks so beautiful in that pic!
Ted
This is downright sickening...
I can't believe, in the year 2013, that we're STILL not all free to just be ourselves. Be it hair length, style, or whatever.
Live and let live. It isn't a hard concept... :/
I do NOT think there's any racism involved, however. I bet they'd have a problem with a white girl with extremely curly hair too. Probably ANY girl with really "big" hair like that.
So no, I don't think it's a race issue.