Habitual Offender
On July 8th, I shared a story with you guys about a school that had proposed a new school dress code that would prohibit children from wearing most natural hairstyles claiming that they are distracting, unprofessional and faddish. After much opposition, that school quickly revised the dress code. But, Deborah Brown Community School seemed to be harboring similar feelings and had no intentions of making changes until a 7 year old child was forced to switch schools due to her locs.
It hurt my heart so deeply when I watched the video of this 7 year old girl crying because she had to switch schools due to her hair. Tiana’s father, a barber, stated that he takes pride in his children’s appearance and would never allow his child to leave his home not looking “presentable”. He even attempted to compromise with the school by discussing different styles that Tiana could wear in her hair to make it “less distracting”. But, after not being able to find the middle ground he decided that his daughter was not wanted at the school and it would be best to find another school for her.
While it was in the dress code since 2007 that dreds were considered an inappropriate, Tiana’s father states that she has wore her locs to school in the previous year and met no opposition. Deborah Brown Community School has decided that they will now allow students to wear faddish hairstyles, such as afros and locs, as long as they do not present a hygiene issue. But, Tiana’s parents said that this does not change the fact that their daughter came home crying after her school made her believe that something was wrong with her.
When Tiana was asked how she felt, she choked back tears and stated “I think that they should let me have my dreds”.
Tiana's response to having to leave school <<--- click here!
Many people at the board meeting to make this change in dress code felt a great relief at this dress code change. A board member stated that there were more important things to tackle than hairstyles and too much energy had been invested in prohibiting this style in the past 10 days.
I have expressed before how important I think it is for our children to learn to love themselves exactly as they are and I am very happy that Tiana’s parents did not succumb to the school’s rules of discrimination. But, I do wonder how many other parents were faced with this dilemma and dimply changed their child’s hair as a way of saying that “this is life”. I do understand that we have to teach children that we are sometimes not able to do what we want, but we also have to know the difference. I could understand if Tiana was coming to school with neon purple and blue locs or something that was actually distracting. But, natural hairstyle such as afros and locs being banned as unprofessional is definitely not a lesson that we want to teach our children.
What is your opinion of the ban of these hairstyles as faddish?
How do you feel about children and natural hairstyles?
Would you have handled this differently?
I think its ridiculous that they are banning certain hairstyles in schools. like who are they to say whats a normal hairstyle and what isnt? everyone is diffrent and schools supposedly encourage and welcome individuality but obviously that includes diffrent hairstyles from children of diffrent backgrounds.
ReplyDeletei feel that it makes situations for some kids worse bc I know that some kids are finding it hard to accept their hair from lets say another child who has pin straight hair. so if children are having a hard enough time accepting themselves and natural hair styles I cant imagine being told that you cant go to school with the hairstyle you have. I know when I was in school I always felt bad about myself when I would see other girls with straight hair or really long hair so as far as schools banning hairstyles I know for me it wouldve made me feel even worse that my school which is supposed to accept me no matter what is telling me they cant accept me bc of my hair.
I wouldve absolutely handled it diffrently by not even bringing it up! I'm having a hard time understanding who it's a distraction to....were other students complaining or was it just the staff? I could totally understand if it was children coming to school with colorful weaves shaped into easter egg baskets or other over the top weave hairstyles ive been but as far as a little girl with dreads I believe its completely unfair & disresprectful to have a say on how she can or cannot wear her hair. I would be devastated if my little girl ever ran into that issue I want her to love herself & her hair no matter how it looks or how nature intended it to be.
-- Roseiby
I completely agree Rosei. It is ridiculous that something as simple as dreds, which are definitely a natural and not "faddish" hairstyles is causing such an uproar. It is like telling the little girls that they can't wear their hair in a ponytail. Even more disturbing is that dreds are a part of some people's religion and lifestyle, this could have been the case with this little girl and her family. It is sad that this open discrimincation is occurring and not just at this school, and people are just shrugging it off as a policy.
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