http://www.bradenton.com/opinion/story/138775.htmlGreen hair lesson
School is for learning, not self-expression
Manatee High student Sarah Miller has green hair . BRIAN BLANCO/bblanco@bradenton.com
BRIAN BLANCO/bblanco@bradenton.com
Manatee High student Sarah Miller has green hair . BRIAN BLANCO/bblanco@bradenton.com
Readers of a certain age reading the Bradenton Herald's coverage of a flap at Manatee High over green hair may recall the 1948 movie, "The Boy With Green Hair." In that film, a boy of about 8 or 10 named Peter wakes up one morning to find that his hair has turned green. Picked on by the other kids and shunned by his elders who try unsuccessfully to wash the color out, Peter ultimately has his head shaved, then is hounded out of town into a nearby forest, where he discovers what his green hair means and why he has it.
The movie was a powerful social commentary about war and its victims, especially children orphaned by it, of which Peter was one.
Today green hair has an entirely different meaning - and, like beauty, what that meaning is can be interpreted by the viewer. Senior Sarah Miller says green hair is a form of self-expression, a way to "express my individuality." No rebellious punk hellion, Sarah is taking four advanced-placement and honors classes, plays varsity softball and is considered a good daughter by her parents.
First-year MHS Principal Bob Gagnon considers Sarah's green hair a distraction and told her on the first day of school it was a violation of the school dress code. Sarah and her family are puzzled by the ruling, as in the past she has gone to school with blue hair, red hair with crimson streaks and a spiked yellow Mohawk with leopard spots. No one told her through those three years there was anything wrong with wildly colored hair, she says.
Principal Gagnon says, in effect, that was then; this is now. The school dress code, while not specifically addressing hair color, gives him the discretion to decide whether a student's clothing or appearance "creates a climate that is distracting to learning."
And green hair, he rules, does. "We want (the school environment) to be free from distractions and disruptions," he said. "We want to enforce the rules as they are written. . . . Natural hair color was a rule at Manatee High School."
While we as paid opinionists are all for free expression, especially of political views, we recognize legitimate limits on that constitutional right. Yelling fire in a crowded theater is the most basic example. Committing libel - printing lies about a person - is another. And another is a principal trying to foster a safe, orderly learning environment.
While we may not agree that green hair disrupts achievement of that goal, the principal does. And he is the boss of Manatee High. That should be enough to convince kids not to dye their hair other shades than blond, brunette or red. Fair or unfair, bosses get to make the rules, and all under their supervision can either comply or leave. Sarah and her classmates will discover that soon enough in the workplace, where dress codes and personal appearance standards abound.
Indeed, as more than one former teacher has opined about this issue, high school is a good place to learn about rules, discipline and surrender of individual will to achieve a greater goal than fulfillment of one's self-expression. As a 30-year veteran of the classroom wrote, "In the real world each day at work may not be 'fun.' There are lessons to be taught that may not be 'fun.' There are tests and evaluations that are not 'fun.' "
Many believe that the decline of education began with the free-expression revolution of the 1960s. Anything-goes clothing and hairstyles led to wider challenges of rules. Before long, classroom discipline broke down.
Indeed, strict dress codes such as the one enforced at MHS are a reaction to the permissive environment that prevailed in education for too long. It is an attempt to refocus on the essential purpose of going to school: Education. It is not to socialize with friends, to show off the latest fashions or to win a popularity competition. Learning - preparing for adulthood - is why children are in school, and the sooner they realize that, the better.
As the old movie proved, green hair can be a powerful symbol and can have many meanings. But mastering geometry or biology isn't one of them.
Do you agree that hair dyed unnatural colors should be banned from local high schools? Share your view in the Opinion section of Bradenton.com.
http://www.local6.com/news/14099857/detail.html70 Students Suspended Protesting Shirt-Tucking Rule
POSTED: 3:38 pm EDT September 12, 2007
UPDATED: 3:55 pm EDT September 12, 2007
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About 70 students at Rogers High School in Tulsa are being suspended after they protested a new requirement that they tuck in their shirts.
Officials said the students are being suspended for five days for breaking a rule that prohibits "encouraging other students to violate school rules or regulations."
Tulsa Public Schools spokeswoman Tami Marler said the protesters were distracting students who were in class and were trying to attract students between classes.
The shirt-tucking rule was instituted by Superintendent Michael Zolkoski after he visited the campus on the first day of school.
"Someone who wore a shirt that was too long, they hid a weapon in it and now everyone one else in the Tulsa public school system has to suffer," a student said. "I don't think that that's right."
Marler said the protesting students spent nearly five hours across the street from the school and the school was locked down at the recommendation of police.
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
