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September 17, 2010
Greetings...
Another "student in the news story" surfaced after Monday's column. This
one has to do with a nose piercing on a girl, the school suspending her
over what they consider an article that is against their school's dress
code. What makes this a little different than the boy with the longer
than shoulder length hair is the claim by the girl that the piercing is
part of her religion, which is the Church of Body Modification. It's a
real church folks and is a federally-recognized organiziation...
Part of the church's teachings says, (about piercings), that it
"strengthens the bond between mind, body and soul" through piercings,
tattoos and other practices such as suspension, hook pulling, binding,
corsetry and firewalking. None of this is my business or judge even though
I have plenty of personal opinions about this...
Someone brought up the long hair issue as a long-standing history of
the white man making Native Americans cut their hair to disrespect them
and try to strip their culture and heritage from them...
Uh...I don't think this blonde kid is making a social statement for
Native-Americans...
One reader asked me to rethink and retract the "crap: I wrote...
Two things...Time out... and ....Not on your life!
Luckily, most of the people understood the point of Monday's column and
the amount of mail I received from teachers confirmed the point I was
trying to make. The boy was not a Native-American so that argument
really didn't hold water. His hair was beyond the allowed length of
shoulder length, and the basis for the column was, why shouldn't this
school be allowed to enforce a rule in their handbook that all children
and parents have or should have read?
In the case of the piercing and the claim of religious rights, it's
definitely a stickier situation and one that I can't guess the outcome
of...
For those who believe kids should be able to express their individuality
and not have to follow such "silly" rules, I wonder how they will do as
adults when certain rules or dress codes are required in certain jobs.
Will they have mommy and daddy go in and talk to the mean boss and explain
how a collared shirt will harm their 30-year-old's creativity?
You all know Flyboy is a commercial airline pilot. Before flying commercially,
he was in the Air Force for twenty years. He, as well as 50% of commercial
airline pilots were in some branch of the military flying fighter jets,
helicopters, and any other military vehicle that go airborn. Most, including
Flyboy were officers and not only gave orders, but took orders from ranks
higher than themselves. So, big deal you ask? I DO have a point...
In the airline industry, hair must be a certain length, mustaches are allowed,
beards are not allowed, however, for the interview to get their airline job
they ALL shave their mustaches off, no facial hair whatsoever. As far as I
know, no pilot ever went in with a mustache and claimed it was their right
to have one during the interview and there has never been a pilot who, after
getting hired, grew a beard and took on their employer to keep that beard...
They all dream of the job, want the job and will do whatever it takes to
get it and keep it. These are MEN and maybe it's because they are used to
strict rules they don't whine, get a lawyer, call their mommy or daddy
to intervene on their behalf, or argue with a rule they knew about before
they got the job...
I can't believe a school, trying to maintain a certain "order" should be
taken to task for it when there is a much bigger issue here. Do you argue
with a school that bans gang colors or articles of clothing? Do you
argue with a school that bans clothing on girls that leave nothing to the
imagination? Kids are there to hopefully LEARN and precious educational
time is being wasted on crap like this. I don't blame the kids, I blame
the parents for not telling them to "suck it up, follow the rules, and
make something of yourself"!!!
Do you remember "back in the day" when our parents told us, "As long as you
live under our roof you will follow our rules?" We couldn't wait to get
the heck out of there. Kids have no need to get out and learn what the
real world is like and they don't want to, why leave "Coddletown"...
I have a lot of readers in countries all over the world, I am curious
about the rules in schools outside of the U.S. I'd love to hear if
there are dress codes and situations that occur such as the two I have
written about...
Please share your comments on the gophercentral archive page...
:-)
Have a great weekend everyone!