I grew up in So. Cal. The administration of the school in the early 80's decided that shorts were distracting, so they banned them. In September, in So. Cal. in a school w/ no air conditioning. We got that rule overturned, but it took a lawyer threatening a lawsuit.
My son attended the local middle school, he has a mohawk. They first asked me to cut it, I refused. His mowhawk, as long as it wasn't spiked, did not violate the dress code. He was continually harassed about his hair by the administration and teaching staff . I pointed out that what they were doing was harassment, that they were singling him out over his hair, while ignoring many other blatant dress code violations, and that the only reason his hair was a distraction was that they had decided to make it one. His grades (he left the school w/ a 1.6 GPA) and education suffered greatly because of the way the staff judged and treated him. Since pulling him out of that school, I have seen a tremendous improvement. His current GPA is 3.8, his curriculum is more challenging, he is enjoying school, and is self motivated to do his work.
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