OK, citizens of Great Falls, tell me what you think: would it be distracting to sit next to a person with purple hair? Dark purple, blended with natural dark brown hair color. Do you think it would be distracting in an 8th-grade class? Do think it would be distracting to the point of telling the person in question to go home, because the learning process is being disrupted? Tell me what you think…I’ll have more details very soon.
Ah, have you met the hair police? My sympathy.
I find it most interesting that schools seem to think kids are soooo distracted by multi-colored hair.
I’d hazard a guess that kids are far more distracted by the teachers’ obssession with colored hair…or maybe even by the bullies in the hall who never really get punished.
I think the bigger problem is parents who can’t tell their kids no. The tattoo and piercing craze is defiantly annoying. Anybody with over 30% body fat should not be allowed to accessorize any body part where their rolls are visible. It kills me that people/kids will mutilate their body to look better (in their opinion) but will not go without a side of fries.
The schools have to set some limits and no matter where they draw the line there will be somebody left on the other side complaining. Maybe the purple hair kids could just wear a hair net like cooks do and remove it on their own time just like the cooks. I think most kids would be better served if they were required to treat school as a job instead as some sort of social club. I’m sure most will feel I’m out of touch.
Dave,
Now’s when you tell me it’s your kid in question and that you’re going to put a size 9 boot in my A** the next time you see me.
WolfPack, it’s a size 10, but I’ll try not to kick *too* hard. Heh.
I understand your point, WP, but seriously, if someone is too “distracted” to learn because someone else’s HAIR is a few shades different, then I think the problem is with the “distracted” kid, not the hair-kid.
Yep, it’s my kid. And for the record, she’s not in the “fat” category, has a 3.3 GPA, never been disciplined at school, and has always wanted purple hair. So she made her hair purple last night, and was told to leave school today and not return until her hair was back to normal.
Hair color is a little different than my complaints. I’d have to see the colors in question but your description seems fairly tame. I think there is a line not to cross to show respect for why you are there, just like your job has limitations on personal expression. The problem with the schools implementation is the zero tolerance approach (aka, zero judgment/brains required). I don’t see where a week or so for you to correct/deal with the issue would cause any major hardship on distracted peers. My wife says that purple hair dye is a hard color to fix but she thinks it can be bleached out. This could also be a problem though because some of us find blonds distracting. BTW, I didn’t intend to imply that your kid was PHAT so call off the dogs.
Middleschools are the worst for sending home kids with “unnatural” haircolor and things that are “not suitible” for school.
I don’t think it is distracting to the learning process. I think it’s another control issue.
As a parent, I think it’s up to me to decide whether or not my child can color their hair
purple, green, blue, pink or jet black. Ditto for piercings. It is also might right as a
parent to say, no you can’t do that even if Tom, Susie and Jack are. Hair, piercings and
clothing aren’t a distraction…it’s the reaction from adults that is the distraction. Just
my opinion….by the way…my children don’t have tattoos or purple hair…
[...] lor Part II
by david @ 5:28 am. Filed under Education
The purple hair in question that got my daughter sent home from school, presented for you to decide how “distractingR [...]
I would ask to see the written policy.
[...] The purple hair in question that got my daughter sent home from school, presented for you to decide how “distracting” it seems to be. I spoke with the vice principal at North yesterday (Ms Patton-Griffin?), and she explained that the primary reason for the “no un-natural hair color” is to prevent gang activity. She said that gangs often use certain colors to identify themselves, most often red and blue. Well, OK, by that logic, shouldn’t the school also ban gang colors on clothing, purses, and such? Her second reason was that the un-natural hair color was a distraction, and stated that several people asked her on Wednesday, “Why does SHE get to color her hair?” Hm. Well, if the policy was changed or rescinded, then any kid could use any color, and no one would feel slighted. And how is hair color any more distracting than green nail polish, or red eye shadow, or even big, dangling earrings, or any other such personal effect that kids (and adults) use to express themselves? [...]
I dyed my hair pink over the summer and I was sent home the first day of school. They said that I couldn’t come back to school until my hair was normally colored. There was a problem with this, one I loved my hair, two my hair was already damaged from the bleach and there was no way I could even put a darker dye on my hair without it breaking off. I didn’t go to school for a week and my principal would not let me get my school work for that week saying “It’s your fault you dyed your hair and you can fall behind because of it.” That made my mother very mad and my mother protested and sent me to school only to get me suspended. Later that day I got a call from the board of education saying that I had to either dye my hair back to a normal color or be ordered to switch schools. I switched schools and my mother filed a lawsuit against the school that suspended me. We argued saying that it was taking away my rights to be an individual “and it was by the way” we eventually won the case and I went back to the school that suspended me just to spite the principal. The day I came back all of my friends had used colored hairspray in pink to welcome me back. I ended up going to summer school because the trials and the suspension interfered with my work but I changed the school for the better and of course I get to keep my beautiful long pink hair.
Good for you Megan! What area of the country did this occur in?
I live in West Virginia. In Charleston and no West Virginia is NOT apart of Virginia still. people always think that…
I don’t think any one should have a problem with that i’m 20 and my hair is black, blood red and hot pink and i live in montana and work at a hostpital in kalispell and they don’t have a problem with it and in school i had black and hot pink hair and columbia falls school had nothing to say about it and didn’t send me home there where fine with people wanting to be different and also at work we have a cna that has hot pink and bright red hair and no one has a problem with it at all.
Your lucky..thats all I have to say cj. I dont think they should be able to control something as personal as your hair color. I think that it is your body your hair and if your not 18 it’s your parents not your schools.