In our city-suburb town, a controversy has been brewing. No, it is not over something monumental such as politics, religion, or even a prostitute murder mystery. No, our little controversy is over none other than a hairstyle.
Remember in the old days (ok, the eighties) how the infamous mohawk was supposedly thought to be worn by those who were rebelling against society? At least that is what the older people thought.
For the first time in my adult life, I have seen that same kind of uncertainty and discrimination. We are fine as a society as long as we are all in line with the norm-at least that seems to be the case in my son's school.
You see the hairstyle is once again popular except this time it isn't the teens, but elementary kids. I am not talking about a full-blown mohawk, although some kids have taken that next step. Instead I am talking about what is known as a Faux Hawk. When my son was in kindergarten, he asked if he could wear his hair in that style. Looking at him, I thought it was cute. It wasn't long until I realized that a lot of the five and six years olds were wearing the style. I was considering at the time writing an article about how the mohawk was making a comeback in an easier, less permanent style.
So after a summer of kids parading at the pool with their cool faux hawks it seemed to become the norm. His hairstylist even turned us on to new products such as hair glue “that all the kids were now using to make it last longer."
My husband, always trying to be young, also would sneak and do the faux hawk every once in a while. Then the news came out that a school district near us sent a kid home on the first day of summer school for having a faux hawk. Sent him home during breakfast, stating that his hair was distracting other students. As a former teacher, I am not sure how much hair can distract in the cafeteria.
As a mom, I sat and wondered how close-minded these administrators were becoming. For goodness sakes, an elementary student doesn’t know to rebel and try to be a distraction. I felt like we were being transported back in time.
I felt confident, however, that our school would not enact the same policy. After all, we are closer to the city and aren’t supposed to be so close-minded about individual style and honor diversity of personalities.
So we started the year wearing the faux hawk off and on depending on if my son wanted to or not. It wasn’t until this past week when we ran into his counselor at church that she asked if our son had mentioned her fixing his hair.
What?
She explained that several students had been sent home for the faux hawk and the real mohawk so she had stopped him at the door and just made it spiky all over so he would not get in trouble.
Appreciative, I said thank you. I then said that was the style for the first graders. She responded by saying that it was hard to know what was style and what is considered a disruption. I think my jaw dropped.
Our school district has always had the 1950’s hair policy that the hair could not be longer than the collar on a male, but it is seldom enforced. In fact, I know that the longer 70’s style happens to also be in style with the older kids and I have not seen any sent home.
I guess my concern is that my son is extremely brilliant, people pleaser, in the gifted program, known for being very respectful to his teachers and friends, never a discipline problem ever, but yet would be considered a disruption because of a hair style?
It isn’t hard to tell that it is the style. It becomes an issue when administrators and older teachers decide that it is an issue. How many elementary kids are into rebellion enough to think: hey I am going to wear my hair this way and make my teacher mad?
I have always supported dress code rules, etc. so that a school can run efficiently with little or no distractions, but this time I find it difficult. How many six-year-olds honestly have malicious intent when they style their hair?
My son, of course, sees no difference. He has just stopped asking to wear the faux hawk to school. Our soccer games are a sight, however, with a multitude of players sporting the faux hawks. He also has no problem with the style at church, often garnering many compliments. How backwards is that?
As a mom, I support my son and his ability to not see this as an issue, but I can at least vent to you guys, right?
