<p>Has anyone bothered to ask the Mohawks or the Iroquois in upstate New York how they feel about their trademark being exploited? Hey come to think of it, I’ve never seen a Mohawk haircut while passing by Indian reservations in New York. Another big lie from Custer!!!</p>
<p>The biggest problem I have with it is the classification of the haircut as a “distraction.” What do they do about the kid who breaks his arm over the weekend and shows up with a cast - or worse he breaks his leg and has crutches or a wheelchair. Those are distracting too, particularly with younger kids.</p>
<p>But if the school policy is clear, and evenly enforced, the parents need to do something about the haircut. My youngest attends a magnet school with a strict dress code. Khaki bottom, Navy Blue polo shirt, no extreme hairstyles or unnaturally colored hair. They have occasional dress down days or crazy hair days as fundraisers, but otherwise the kids know they can’t wear their hair like kids do at other schools. The non-traditional hairstyles are a distraction. If the hair can be “corrected” they allow the kids to do so. Otherwise parents are called. If they’re out of uniform, they will also call, unless the parent has sent a note in explaining unusual circumstances for why they don’t have a clean uniform to wear.</p>
<p>Edit: “if there were”. Past subjective. Serves me right!</p>
<p>i find dialects interesting and often beautiful. perhaps some of our kids here might go on to study dialects as part of their education. i had a literature class in college once, taught by a wonderful professor of African American studies, in which we had to write a short story, complete with dialect from the time period we were studying (Slavery in the US). </p>
<p>i have/had grandparents on both (very different) sides of my family, and thinking upon it, i bet a few of them might come across with some dialect were a reporter to unexpectedly interview them. my maternal grandmother would come across most proper, as she cares about such things and strives to educate herself grammatically, though i don’t think she quite finished high school (though not for lack of desire). her husband, my grandpa, who fought in WWII and originally came from the Mid West would probably have some bit of something dialectical in his voice, which may come across a bit on paper (and he would not care one bit, though my grandmother might). </p>
<p>on my dad’s side, very different dialect, but i do believe a bit of Louisiana might have come through in my grandmother’s voice. my dad - you would be able to tell his background if you heard his voice, or read his words, as he was a ‘cool jazzy cat’.</p>
<p>i would find it sad for anyone to infer anything about their capabilities of raising children based on the way they speak, but i imagine it might happen.</p>
<p>i speak different ways, depending on with whom i’m speaking, whether i’m serious or joking or even doing an impression. 
i also don’t like to capitalize the first letter of a sentence when typing informally, which seems to bother some people, but it just really eases the flow of my words and is aesthetically pleasing to me, as well. i try to at least be consistent with it, though.</p>
<p>all this to say, i think dialects speak heavily to generation, are rich conveyors of personality, but speak little of intellect or parenting ability (though they are indicative of formal education, but as mentioned by others, many people loosen their linguistic ties when around family and friends and have no problem slipping between the two). to me, the parent’s and grandparent’s dialect is irrelevant to this mohawk issue. </p>
<p>and i do enjoy seeing a nice mohawk… i find it’s often indicative of interesting musical taste. i think hanging down long when some hair has grown in on the sides looks rather nice, but to each his own (mohawk). but i would not knowingly allow my child to break a school rule, unless the rule was immoral, though i honestly don’t know whether a mohawk would be a violation in my kids’ district.</p>
<p>I’m surprised to see someone describe the hairstyle of the little boy as “mini adult”. At our school we often have little boys who chose to wear a mini mohawk, a 'frohawk, or a mohawk cut into the shape on an arrow like Aang from Avatar: the Last Airbender. The style tapers off after about 2nd grade and no middle schooler would be caught dead looking like that.</p>
<p>I also think it’s sad when we dismiss someone or think less of them because of their use of dialect. Some of the most intelligent people I know use the dialect of their childhood in non-professional and non-academic settings, and intentionally teach it to their children.</p>
<p>A kids right to wear a mohawk…good thing to know that’s what’s concerning the parents. Happy to see they are taking this obvious quality of education issue to the highest level admired by the other like minded folks. Viva la revolution - Ugh.</p>
<p>Question…will the kid be able to spell Mohawk … and possibly offer a definition by 8th grade? Ah …not important.</p>
<p>As for dialects…google Ebonics in the Oakland school system…</p>
<p>Eats, Shoots and Leaves…Stupid grammar…</p>
<p>ebonics… wow. haven’t heard that term in some time. i was a student at Berkeley, living in Oakland, during the early to mid '90s, when that controversy was front page news. i also had a younger relative working his way through the Oakland public school system at that time, and another who was a middle school teacher in the Bay Area.</p>
<p>eta: my daughter tells me mohawks are not considered a problem here in our district. kids with mohawks are not asked to alter them.</p>
<p>Was wondering when the “ebonics” red herring was going to rear its head. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>No one’s asking that the students be taught in dialect. Just to recognize that dialects are legitimate uses of language.</p>
<p>I don’t care how the parents talk. I’m just looking at the haircut. It’s awful. I support their right to do it, but I cannot tell a lie. I feel the same about rat-tails and mullets.</p>
<p>^^^ Oh that will leave soooo many ‘reality’ cable programs off your list of optional viewing!</p>
<p>@garland…glad the wait is over ;)</p>
<p>Well, yeah. that other shoe to drop thing can get suspenseful.</p>
<p>True confession–my son had a tail for years; I think most of his elementary schoolmates did in the early nineties.</p>
<p>Well, at some point my bad opinion shifts from the parents to the kid. I don’t blame the parents of teenagers for “letting” their kids have unappealing haircuts.</p>
<p>As I say, I’m willing to let people dress or cut their hair however they like. But I don’t have to like it.</p>
<p>This is obviously regional. My Native American friend’s son is 7 or 8 and he had a Mohawk through most of the school year. And he wasn’t the only one. But, they attend a Native charter school where they have Native ceremonies and learn Native practices. </p>
<p>In Seattle, I haven’t seen any little kids with Mohawks, but I DO see kids with pink, green or purple hair all the time-and often in uniform schools. And, at one of D’s elementary schools, there was a kid who came to school in a super hero costume more often than not, and in another class, one kid wore dirty sweats every single day all year long. No one said a thing about either of them.</p>
<p>It’s interesting that some districts and schools get so wound up in knots about clothes and hair to the point of having a child lose a part of their education to prove a point. I’ve never understood that. And I don’t for a second buy the “distracting” argument. As someone up above pointed out-neon arm casts or crutches wouldn’t be “distracting”?</p>
<p>They have started relaxing some of the rules in our region just in the past couple of years. One nearby school had ALWAYS required short hair on boys (above your collar) and NO facial hair, no tattoos and no piercings. They have since revised that very recently. Now tattoos and pierced ears are allowed and regarding hair and beards:</p>
<p>Students’ hair shall be clean, neat, and well-groomed. Hairstyles shall not, in the
opinion of the administration, cause a health or safety hazard or cause disruption of
the educational process. Exotic hairstyles are not permitted.</p>
<p>Facial hair must be neat, clean, well-groomed and not cause a disruption of the
educational process.</p>
<p>Exotic hairstyles would most likely include mohawks, though.</p>
<p>Our high school also recently allowed tattoos and pierced ears for boys. They used to require shirts to be tucked in, no flip flops, and skirts and shorts couldn’t be shorter than a dollar bill’s width from your knee. They have also recently rescinded those.</p>
<p>I don’t like rules that prohibit things like “exotic hairstyles,” because it’s too subjective, and can be used to selectively prosecute disfavored groups. I wouldn’t want a principal to be able to say that cornrows are exotic, but not a mohawk–or vice versa.</p>
<p>Hunt - I hear what you’re saying - absolutely. But I can tell you that here, they wouldn’t touch that controversy with a ten foot pole. Corn rows are VERY common and fine. Afros, as long as they’re not HUGE are common and fine. Dreds, as long as they’re kept neat and clean are common and fine. No one ever says anything to a kid really over hair unless it’s blue, pink or purple, big spikey mohawk or has bugs in it.</p>
<p>Here you could PROBABLY get by with a low-key mohawk.</p>
<p>“Exotic” can be used to mean “ethnic”, Hunt, exactly. I have a friend who used to teach in Texas and that’s exactly how it was used in her school by certain administrators. It drove her crazy. As long as something is neat and clean I don’t think MOST hair styles would be a problem. </p>
<p>And the same can go for clothes. When we lived back east, my son when in middle school was told not to wear a certain style of pants by an administrator because “the wrong element” wore them. Pants were neat, clean, not too long, not sagging, but more commonly seen on non-white kids. The kind who didn’t go to that school.</p>
<p>sseamom, that’s wrong. Sorry that happened. Here the kids can wear any pants they want as long as they are not sagging and don’t have holes or rips above the knee. Lots of kids here wear the kind of pants you’re talking about.</p>
<p>But our school, and this region in Texas is very diverse…there’s no way they’d get by with that kind of discrimination. Actually, since our administration and school board are ALSO very diverse, they wouldn’t discriminate that way anyway. </p>
<p>Just know that’s not all over Texas. We have pockets of bigoted backwardism, but it’s not everywhere - not by a longshot.</p>
<p>Cromette-with my son it was years ago-he’s now 28, and the area where he grew up is changing. There may even be an “ethnic” kid or two at his old middle school now! </p>
<p>And trust me, I know all of Texas isn’t like the place my friend taught. Her school in particular seemed to have issues-it wasn’t only ethnic stuff, but kids who were different in any way seemed to be singled out there. I know that when she moved into admin she worried about “her” kids that she left behind.</p>
<p>This why most Jerry Springer guests come from Ohio. Endless self-replicating supply.</p>