4-Year-Old Hippie Suspended For Long Hair

The kid obviously likes his hair, so why should they cut it and why should his hair be a distraction to the other kids? It's not even that long. He doesn't seem like he's dumb, slow or disruptive. In fact, he seems like he's well-behaved, which really makes you wonder why this child isn't allowed to learn. This is just another overbearing school trying to control how the kids look. They can always take their child to another school whose rules are not as strict.

Also, from your comments you seem to either not have children or not be very good with them. I feel sorry for the children growing up in your home.

Hey, or maybe the school should stop being a bunch of Nazis. Why does the kid have to cut his hair just to make the establishment happy?

You aren't a four year old in Texas. They only pick on people 3 feet tall there.

where?

Why are you being such a dick man? some of us are just mad because i child can't express himself and you keep yelling at everyone

I think you're misunderstanding me.

I am indeed enthralled by all the things I might say to this school district via email.

I lived through a very similar situation as a kid and regardless of all the ideologic rants here, the kid will suffer if he's kept in this situation. The most reasonable thing to do is simply to cut his hair. If there's a private school nearby that the parents can afford that's FULL of hippies, that'd be awesome, but I doubt that's the case. I would have loved such a school.

I know it's hard to wrap your head around, but the well-being of the child is the most important thing, and at 4, when he's just starting to get a sense of what it means to be a social creature, it wouldn't be good to endure such abuses and isolation.

It could fuck him up......permanently.

In other words, rather than yelling (odd that you perceive it as such), what I'm trying to do is get these people to realize that their ideologies and ideas about how things 'are supposed to be', are not in fact what's best for the child.

It's nice for us as adults to choose whatever course we see fit, and nice when that works out for us, but a 4 year old has no capacity to understand the situation he's in nor any idea regarding the possible consequences of his actions.

If someone were to sit him down and explain that his options were A) to cut his hair, or B) to sit in a room, by himself, for 7 hours a day, for the next 4 months (and of course have him understand the meaning of 4 months, which he certainly cannot), I guarantee you he would choose to cut his hair.

I tried but it requires that I join something and put in my personal info in order for them to send it.

No thankyou.

Change.org is a credible organization. But you can email her directly at ljobe@mesquiteisd.org

Thanks for that link and the address. I will register my displeasure at this oppression of my little hippie brother. :)

That'll show those facists! JUST TYPE IN ALL CAPS< YELL AND SCREAM< AND MAKE YOURSELF LOOK LIKE AN IRRATIONAL AND ANGRY SOCIOPATH.

nah....it's not quite so easy.

And the fact that you call yourself a hippie.........well, probably means you're just conforming to a different set of standards.

No offense. I was a punk, an equally silly attempt to fit in by calling yourself something and dressing a particular way.

my parents are deadheads, the most peaceful people in the world, and they love everyone and everything. I'm exactly the same way. I'm not a punk. so don't even go there

that and i accidently left cap locks on, i don't use shift to capalize my words

I think you miss my point.

Conformity is conformity....... whether you're a hippie, a punk, a baptist, a muslim, a republican, etc. etc. etc.

Using social groups to define an identity is all the same BS, no matter what group you claim affiliation with.

so then you're mad because he's calling himself a hippie? or is it the fact that no one else has the same views as you on this story? i'm not comforming or anything so why do you keep talking about that stuff? i understand what that stuff is and i'm not conforming. I'm just showing my views by saying i'm a hippie becuase this group of people have the same views as me.

And that's the problem......

it's a slippery slope when you start identifying yourself by group affiliation.......most people....maybe not you......but MOST people eventually start defining their beliefs based on what's considered appropriate by whatever group they think is most like them.......in other words, they conform.

And I'm not mad at all, and couldn't care less whether any of these people agree. They're only looking at this from their own ideological framework, not from the realities of the effects such an experience will have on the kid.

And actually, on an ideological basis, I'd say Fuck Those Evil Bastards as well......you can see this in many of my posts.

But from a pragmatic standpoint, it's irresponsible and inconsiderate for his parents to put him in such a position.

And by the way......he's 4.....he's not a hippie.....he's 4......barely has any idea that he's even human.

I'm not someone who would say yes to things just because the group i hang with thinks that they're views are right and no i would never conform and you didn't need to explain what conforming is, i knew that already like i said before. I'm a free thinker and even though he's 4 he said he likes his long hair and i know his parents might tell him to say that but maybe he's mature enough to tell what he likes and what he doesn't. And i totally understand your point of view now man, sorry i got all worked up about all of this. Buddies?

I hope what you're saying is true and that it continues to grow.

Buddies.

But the kid's 4 and has no idea what's going on or what's going to happen if he refuses to cut his hair.

conformity is conformity?

Taylor stands alone with his long hair. suspended, threatened with expulsion and now isolated. Who the hell or what is he conforming with?

you should probably read the thread in it's entirity before commenting. Your quote refers to Manatee.

High Five!

Public schools serve the community not the other way around.

ummm....I think most of us would oppose that....perhaps even more.....hair is hair.....religious identity and custom is something quite different.

You forget that it is a public school. Which means that it is a government facility. And the rule is punishing him for doing something that does not impede or conflict the rights of others which is unconstitutional. Just like illegal drug laws. Not to mention that it's just stupid.

The school would say that by distracting other children, that it impedes others right to a reasonable eductation.

Bogus of course. But defendable.

That is logical, but the school you attend depends on where you live. They'd probably have to move, and in this economy who can afford that? They'd probably be better off giving the kid a $10 haircut.

Drop them two or three grand for the move and another couple hundred thou to find a new place to live. Yeah, that'll work.

yeah....he should just get in his car and move to another city.......

And I agree, Fuck Them......but we have to be realistic and pragmatic about this. The kid will suffer if kept in this situation

Right on fallenmorgan

Home schooling is just another method of socially isolating and marginalizing the kid. It wouldn't be good for him. Probably isn't good for anyone.

He should either be told that just as his parents believe that his hair shouldn't matter, that because of that it shouldn't matter if he cuts it off. In other words, it's inconsistent to say that his hair isn't a big deal, and then have his parents make a big deal about it. It really ISN'T a big deal. It's hair, not the kid's identity.

Or he should be placed in a school that has no such restrictions. There are certainly better schools out there than the public school system, probably even in Texas.

Either way, the reality of life is that people will treat you in the way they percieve you. His parents LOOK like tweakers, and so they're being treated as such. The kid LOOKS like an outsider, and so is being treated as one.

All other ideological BS aside, the kid's parents need to face the reality of their situation and do what's best for the kid.

Nor to me, but to people in mesquite texas, he does.

If the parents don't cut his hair, the kid will be traumatized, socially isolated, and ostracized.

Being a freak doesn't mean you have to look weird....in fact, the best way to fight the facists is to look normal......If the kid's parents looked more respectable and were functional parts of the community, the school system might not be treating them the same way.

Prisoner's Dilemma

thewhompus - How do you know his parents aren't functional parts of the community? That's a pretty outrageous claim, that because of the way that they look that they aren't normal...

With that attitude, you could work for the Mesquite School district.

I know what small texas towns are like and the people that run them. These people don't fit in and are therefore being treated as outsiders. (just like I was)

They're certainly not members of the school board, nor probably engaged in their community at all, and clearly not very smart.

Of course, your retort will be that I have no way of determining whether they're smart....But I do.

The simple fact that they live in such a place and look the way they do clearly shows that they lack any common sense. Saying 'FUCK YOU!' to society in this way is no way to instigate change. It simply makes you look like a sociopath.

Looking like that in the place they live is like carrying around a menorah on the streets of nazi germany.

If you think that's admirable....fine.....I think it's plain stupid.

Change occurs by gently undermining such belief systems. Ideally, the people or institutions you're hoping to change won't even be aware of your efforts and will think of you as a valuable part of their community.

In all cases, if you want people to listen to you, you have to look and act respectable. It's just the way the world works.

right on brother

At least in Texas.......Here no one would think twice about a kid with long hair. Half the teachers have long hair.

Well actually short hair was often linked to being a slave in the past. Now in the present its linked to being a dissident. I doubt a 4yo knows or cares about that ... just that they like the style. I remember having longish hair when I was 5/6 but then when I went swimming in the summer I'd get it all cut off - let the kid alone

me too

I think the real problem may be that she's just jealous. That woman's hair looks like it came from a baby doll that got played with thoroughly for several years till it was left too close to the fire place

That was a very wise comment. I hope it will be appreciated.

I appreciate it. *Like* :D