Dress Code Goes Too Far

Most schools have a dress code, be it that flip flops are banned or provocative T-shirts are not allowed to be worn. At Robert Pattinson School in the UK, as well as other schools across the globe, one of the items banned by the dress code is a hat.

Unfortunately, for 13-year-old Dale Platts, this presents an issue.

When Dale was five months old, he was diagnosed with a severe form of bronchitis. The sickness not only sent him to the hospital but also began to tear down and weaken his immune system, causing him to lose his toenails, fingernails, and hair, a condition called alopecia universalis.

Dale's lack of hair wasn't of much concern to him until middle school when the bullying began. Kids threw things at his head and called him names on a daily basis. It is certain that getting picked on every day for being bald did not appeal to Dale, and so he soon devised a way to avoid being noticed for his differences: wearing a hat. This, of course, only presented more problems when Dale and his family were informed that hats were against the school dress code.

School officials gave the Platt family two choices: either Dale would remove his hat in school, or he would be moved to a classroom where he would be taught in isolation.

Kenina Platt, Dale's mother, is beside herself with anger at the school's decision. "It's really cruel. I'm outraged the school can be so short-sighted. He wears the hat for medical reasons - it's not a fashion statement."

Robert Pattinson School did, however, attempt to give Dale a third alternative, which was a woolen beanie. After trying it out, Dale was not swayed - he stated that the beanie caused eczema and gave him headaches. It also did not shield his eyelashes from the dust and fluorescent light in the school, since the beanie is brimless.

The first day of school rolled around, and there was Dale Platt, strolling through the doors proudly, calmly - and sporting his New York Yankees baseball cap. He was caught by school officials and sent home, where he remains today and has yet to return to school.

Later, a school spokesman stated that they might take medical and religious reasons into consideration when it came to the dress code, but this has yet to be confirmed.

The Platt family, strong as ever, is not backing down just yet. Mrs. Platt still remains to be heard: "Dale has to suffer at the hands of child bullies. Now the school itself is pressurising him and bullying him. He is too ashamed to take it off. To say he would be taught in isolation is madness. It is like putting him in solitary confinement. It is punishing him for being bald."