I was talking to one of my fellow education majors the other day about schools, students rights, and several other topics when I was informed that in Ashe County students where not allowed to dye their hair an unnatural color. I don’t know if this is fact but through talking with other students I got similar responses on school systems and certain policies. I was shocked to hear that a student couldn’t dye their own hair blue or pink or what ever color they desired because the school would not let them. I think this is entirely too much and its taking away form the rights of the students. As I said before I don’t know all the underlying facts but I think this is ridiculous. What where some of the policies in your school systems and do you think we are going to far in taking away students rights

I have never heard that students were not allowed to dye their hair due to school regulations. I think that is ridiculous! I do not see what the harm is in a little self expression. We are dressing students to be the same. I have the same argument for school uniforms. I understand that certain clothing can be distrating but I do not understand why we must insist that everyone dress or act the same. We need the students' individuality to shine through. My schools had regulations on dress and expression but I think it is a drastic move to ban hair dying or street clothing (as opposed to uniforms) from the classroom.

I believe that if the students are not allowed to dye their hair then the teachers should not be allowed to dye theirs. I'm sure this rule would have the teachers up in arms. Students should be allowed to express their individuality up to a certain point.

I can see limiting tatooing and piercing, but I think we need to ENCOURAGE non-permanent, non-disfiguring freedom of expression.

I personally think it should be the parents decision as far as whether students should dye their hair or not. However, I have a different experience with this. When I lived in Montreal, I went to what was called a "semi-private" school, it was a public school but we wore uniforms. The dress code saved me from a lot of insecurities - for one, I was not allowed to wear the type of clothes that all my girlfriends wore (short skirts, revealing clothing, etc.) and even though now i look back and think how silly it was to actually want to expose myself like that, it would have been really difficult being the odd ball. Instead, I could bitch and moan about the uniform along with all my girlfriends and pretend like I would be wearing the "cool" clothes. Also, as far as hair dyeing went - we weren't allowed to do that either. My parents would have flipped if i dyed my hair blue or pink or whatever, even though I wanted to. But if I actually went ahead and did it, I would have been suspended from school. So that pressure was taken off as well. And, around the age of 16 or so, my parents decided that I was old enough to dye my hair whatever color I liked. After a couple of embarassing incidents where the color didn't turn out to be what it was supposed to be, I got it all out of my system.
Sure, when we wore the uniforms we shortened our skirts and got detention and did all that "rebellious" stuff to our uniforms (like wearing knee socks that went above the knee...oooooh!!!) but we still looked the same and in a sense, it helped me fit in.
Another reason why we had uniforms was that in the past, before uniforms, they had a couple incidents of strangers walking in from the street - when the students wore uniforms, these strangers were easily seen.
I do think that uniforms and strict codes of dress/hairstyles/etc. can hinder self-expression. But I dont' think they're all that bad.

Above all, education needs to be the priroity in the school system. If anything takes away from this aim, then it needs to be dealt with immediately.

That being said, however, hair dying should not be that big of a deal. Perhaps a deal should be set down between the administration and the students. If the students can handle a pink head without hindering their schoolwork, then by all means, go for it.

But, they should understand that this type of freedom can not be taken advantage of. Hair dying is no reason to draw attention away from learning. And if it does, then the hair has to go.

I would think that should be fair enough.

But, after all is said and done, has hair color ever really hindered your educational experience?

In regards to Dana's comments regarding limiting tattoos, I have one on my ankle. So would that make me ineligible to be a teacher? Tattoos, hair dyeing, and body piercing is a form of art. So by denying the students that freedom, we are censoring an art form.

As long as the students aren't raising hell, or causing someone bodily harm then I do not think it matters what the student does with their hair. What reasons are given for not allowing someone to dye their hair? I honestly would like an answer that makes sense to me.

I agree that unless whatever is going on is causing big distraction as far as teaching and learning and isn't offensive, then they shouldn't worry about it.

I didn't have uniforms in high school, but I can definitely see how that would be nice though. I think it would be really nice not to have to worry about one more way of not fitting in like Cindy mentioned. There are so many silly worries in high school and taking "What am I going to wear?" out of that list would probably make everything else a lot easier.

I believe students should be able to express themselves. I have always been against uniforms for schools and as far as hair dying, is it really that big of a distraction? Kids are going to be kids. If school systems start preventing students from being themselves then problems will occur.

With that said, there is nothing wrong with a dress code in my opinion. But they should be simple. NO short shorts, no cutoffs, no clothes with vulgarity across the front of them, etc, etc.... But to tell someone they cant get a piercing, tatoo, or die their hair a funky color, that's just wrong and it invades a person's personal rights.

I am shocked that such rules exist! What are we telling our students and future children when we make up things like this? Aren't we trying to teach our students to be unique, creative, and to express themselves? This seems like one of those things that coincides with freedom of speech. Surpressing people has never really done anything good as we have seen through history and in class. I think that in some cases dress codes are great to prevent children from dressing too sexually. But how controlling is it to tell people they cannot dye their hair? What if that is part of their religion or culture? That is then discrimination. Sometimes I just wonder what people are thinking when they are busy obsessing over things such as the students' hair color!

I think not being able to dye your hair illustrates a great paradox that can take place in our classrooms: we encourage people to be different, to speak out about injustice, to be individuals, to think for themselves. However, when they begin to do that, it seems we immediately strap rules in place effectively disallowing students to do that. Students are thinking for themselves when they dye their hair. Granted, I don't think we should permit extreme behavior - such as piercings ALL over the place, but if we take away student's rights to express themselves, they WILL find an outlet elsewhere, and I'm not so sure it'll always be as harmless as dyeing hair.

I never had school uniforms either, although sometimes it would have been nice to not have to worry about what I was going to wear to school that day. As far as dyeing hair, I think students should be allowed to if they want and they have their parents consent. Yes some of the bright colors might be a little distracting, but some students in my high school had outrageously colored hair. It was a part of who they were in those years. It bothers me when we try to limit students and censor everything, but then again, it's a tough call. At what age do we expose students to certain things?! It is a very comlicated matter. I do think students should be able to dye their hair though.

I attended private Catholic school from Pre-K to most of high school, and we had uniforms and personal appearance codes. These codes were very strict, and if you broke them you would get sent home to change. No strange piercings, no long hair for males, no visible tattoos, and no strange hair colors. Our uniforms also could not be altered in any way, and girl’s skits could not be shorter than knee-length.

Now, for the most part, I turned out just fine from all of these rules, and looking back I didn’t really mind the uniforms at all. However, some of my female classmates took the strict rules to extreme, and in turn went wild as they aged into teenage years. As soon as the bell would ring to signal the end of the day, most of the girls would instantly change out of our uniforms into clothing no parents would approve of, and head to the mall to hang out.

In my observations at local public high schools, I have seen a similar sight. A select few students would get out of their parents car in the mornings nicely dressed, kiss their parents goodbye, and head inside the school to the bathroom where they would instantly change into the clothes they really wanted to wear that day. At the end of the day they would change back and head home.

It seems that public or private, rules or no rules, kids are very smart, and will find a way to do what they want for personal expression if they are determined enough.

I think this idea is crazy. I have not heard of it before, but not to say that it does not exist. If this were true in my home district, at least half, if not more of the students in our school would have been in trouble. It was not unordinary to come in one morning and see a friend with one color hair, and then go back the next morning and they have another different color. So if this is true, I feel it should be changed. Students won this right with the freedom of speech. Schools should think twice before doing this rule.

I don't see anything wrong with a little self expression. I think there should be some dress codes enforced more. I only say this because there are some kids that take self expression alittle too far and some times the way that some students dress them selves can cause a disruption. I personally don't have a issue with hair color just how low guys wear their pants and how some girls wear certain articles of clothing. We all go through a wild stage in life. The none died hair is probably pushing it.

In my opinion there is nothing wrong with self expression. I have never heard of students that were not allowed to dye their hair if they wanted to because of school regulations. That is rediculous and it is really none of their buisness if the student wants to dye their hair. It expresses part of their indivuallity.