If Not Hair, Then Where?
If good looks was a minute/ You know that you could've been an hour- Smokey Robinson, 'The Way You Do The Things You Do'
Listen Bill, this IS my Mustang pride!
Something strange and disturbing is happening to a public high school outside Chicago. Something never seen or heard of before. Something that disturbs the mind. Something that rips at the core of public high school stereotypes. And it all starts here, or rather, hair…
“What we don’t want are the pinks and greens and blues,” said Evergreen Park High School (EPHS) principal Bill Sanderson.
Yes, that’s right; he’s talking about hair color, specifically the hair color of EPHS students. A new rule in the EPHS handbook this school year prohibits students from dying their hair “unnatural colors” such as those Sanderson listed. Last time I checked, EPHS was a P.U.B.L.I.C. high school. To me (and the rest of those who attended a private high school), this translates to People Use Bold License in Coloring Hair School. It’s right there in the acronym, right?! Dyed hair is one of the principle clues to identifying public school students. They wear jeans, ripped t-shirts, XXL sweatshirts, and sulky ‘I hate my life’ facial expressions to go along with their unique locks. What’s a good eye roll to an authority figure without spiky green hair? What’s a nose piercing without subtly arranged pink highlights? How can you strip away a group’s identity?
So why would an institution take away its student’s source of creativity, individuality, and expression?
Reason One: Unnatural hair is not appropriate in the real world. In the real world people have natural hair and those who do not are the ones who cannot get jobs. Think the recession is bad? Try living in it with blue roots and frosted tips!
OK, this reason makes sense on the surface. However, I then looked at my own workplace and realized this does not ring true at all. I am surrounded by a sea of unnatural hair! Example: the woman who works in the cubicle next to me is a grandmother. I’m not saying she’s old, I’m merely saying her grown child also has a grown child. Anyway, this woman has orange hair- I’m talking the fruit. It appears this real world accepts (and even hire!) people that are a bit unnatural.
Reason Two: Unnatural hair colors distract students from learning. In fact, two EPHS students sat on a committee and helped enforce this new rule.
Blame A.D.D. on something more convincing. Someone texting, listening to music, or passing notes is much more distracting than hair dye. People wear brightly colored clothes, but when those colors are seen above a person’s forehead they become distracting? And as far as those two students are concerned, let’s just say there are traitors among us all.
Exceptions to the Rule: If the hair dye is used on sports teams to promote unity or if students are dying a portion of their hair pink to support Breast Cancer awareness.
These exceptions are not surprising at all because rule bending in the real world is often overlooked if the rule breakers are members of elite groups (professional athletes getting pardoned for ridiculously inappropriate behavior sound familiar?) or if they are doing the rule breaking for charity!
I hope that the students of EPHS fight this new rule and not just so I can more readily identify the public school student. It is an issue of teen rights. The right to express oneself through one’s appearance is an important part of growing up. And if not permitted to do so in high school, then when? Let the kids dye their hair and focus on more important issues like increasing test scores and graduation rates. The education is the most important thing, not the hair. Leave that issue to the parents, or the fashion police. 
O'Hare Arpt., IL
Be the first to comment.