Bad Hair Day

Reach up, and put your hand on your head. Rub it around, if you like. What do many of you feel when you touch it? Want to know what I feel? Hair. Gorgeous, brunette hair, that falls down to my mid back. I love my hair, I haven't cut it in years. For those of you who have hair, chances are, you love yours as well.

Now imagine it suddenly gone. Day by day, it falls out. Now you know what it is like to have cancer. You have no hair.

There are solutions, of course. Buying a wig would be a big one.

Where do those wigs come from, though? People. People nice enough, with hair long enough, that donate their hair to those in need.

Imagine your hair again. Imagine it being cut off. Imagine the wonderful feeling of it being donated, of knowing it is going to a good place, to help those in need.

Now imagine being punished for it. How do you feel? Horrible, I would assume.

That's how J.T. Gaskins feels, anyway.

J.T. is a 17 year-old boy from Michigan. He is also a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with leukemia since age one, and in remission since age seven. Not too long ago, he was told that a family friend has been diagnosed with cancer as well.

Wishing for something to do, J.T. made a choice: to grow out his hair. Since last summer, he has been growing out his hair to donate to Locks of Love, a foundation which collects long hair that is then turned into wigs and given to those, such as cancer patients, that have no hair. J.T.'s hair is currently two inches long. Locks of Love needs about ten inches of hair per person to make a wig.

While his cause is noble, J.T.'s school does not feel the same way. The Madison Academy in Burton, Michigan, feels that J.T.'s hair is unkempt, and has suspended him for it.

J.T., however, is not giving up without a fight. He wants to change the school's policy to allow kids to grow out their hair to donate to Locks of Love.

J.T.'s mother, Christa Plante, is also helping to support her son's cause. She recently started an online petition for her son, which has received over 14,000 signatures – mine included. I am on the page now, and every time I refresh, about a hundred new signatures are added.

J.T.'s case, however, is not the first time a student has been suspended over the length, or the style, of his or her hair.

In November of 2009, a 15 year-old Australian girl named Emily Pridham was suspended from her school for shaving her head in order to raise money for cancer research. Pridham's father had leukemia as well. The Australian Catholic school said that Emily did not follow uniform guidelines, and was suspended until her hair grew out again.

In January of 2010, four year-old Taylor Pugh from Dallas was suspended from his prekindergarten class for having long hair, which he wore up in a ponytail and refused to let his parents cut. He was separated from his class and forced to study alone in the library with a teacher's aid every day. His parents refused to braid and pin up his hair like the school board wanted. In the same Dallas school, a student in seventh grade was sent home for wearing black skinny pants. The student was then pulled out by his parents and started home-schooling.

In March of 2011, a Native American boy named Seth Chaisson, from Louisiana, was suspended for two days for having long hair. Seth refused to cut his hair because of religious and cultural beliefs. His hair broke the dress code, and the school felt that his “beliefs” were not sincere – basically, they didn't believe him. This then turned into a lawsuit, and Seth was let back in to school.

To throw someone out of school for the style of their hair is unconstitutional. Can it be proven that hair oddly styled, or colored, can be a distraction to others' learning? Can it be proven that others are willing to give up their learning just to obsess over the hair of another? While I agree with most dress code standards, telling a student how to wear his or her hair should not be allowed in any school. Is suspending a four year-old for wearing a ponytail really worth it? Is throwing out students for donating to charitable causes worth the lawsuits, worth the humiliation, worth the media attention? Is it worth stopping a potential wig from being donated? No, it's not.

Let me tell you a story. A friend of mine grew out her hair for years, and it reached to about her buttocks before she cut it and donated it to Locks of Love. She made a good three or so wigs. Had our school system ever told her to cut her hair before then, think of the people that would be without those wigs today. While it seems more boys than girls are told to keep their hair kept “nice and neat” it is still the same effect. Someone, somewhere, needs that wig, and for a school system to deprive them of that luxury... I think they're the ones who need to be kicked in the butt right out the door.

Source

School suspends cancer survivor teen over hair he plans to donate
School Suspends Teen for Shaving Her Hair to Raise Money for Cancer Research
Boy, 4, Chooses Long Locks and Is Suspended From Class
Four-year old suspended from school for long hair, then isolated upon return
Hair Suit: Suspension of Native American schoolboy for long hair brings ACLU filing
JT'S CAUSE

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