Mohawks and Extreme Makeup Are Now Punishable Offenses, Say Florida Schools

Mohawks and makeup are now punishable offenses, right alongside violent behavior and inappropriate dress. At least that's what schools in Lake County, Florida are saying. If the school board passes the proposal on the docket for August 22, 2011, which happens to be the first day of school, students will be banned from sporting all "extreme" hair and makeup at school.

No extreme makeup. Does that also apply to the substitute who shows up with her makeup plastered on so thick it forms a mask? No unnatural hair colors. Well, I guess the band leader with his "radical" comb-over and the sweet elderly teacher whose hair has been dyed so many times it's now a very abnormal hue of pinkish purple had better look out. After all, they cause distractions for the students.

Of course, I'm being facetious. But it does raise a serious concern. Are students merely expressing themselves or distracting the class?

"To say that banning extreme hairstyles will keep teenagers from being easily distracted is absurd -- they're distracted by anything that moves. That's part of being a teenager," says Kim Morgan, a former teacher at Stranahan High School in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. "Why not let them express themselves? Time policing little things like this is time taken away from lessons. Those are interruptions in and of themselves."

In a July 19 interview with WOFL FOX 35, school spokesperson Chris Patton defended the policy by saying, "It will minimize disruptions in the classroom." Interestingly enough, I've taught kids of all ages for over 15 years and have never been so disrupted by a spiked hairdo or an overly made-up face that I was unable to teach. My bet is that any teacher worth their degree would agree. Hair and makeup are not the real problem.

Maura Nicholson, who teaches at three Paulding County Schools in Hiram, GA agrees, "If the public schools would concentrate more on the kids' education rather than trying to control the kids' mundane teenage behavior, I think education would be better off."

Are schools sending kids mixed signals by teaching about tolerance for others in one breath and then taking away their rights to harmlessly express themselves in the next? Possibly.

"I've never seen these types of self-expression affect safety or classroom instruction," says Sharon Oshita, a teacher at Lexington Middle School in Lexington, Missouri. "A teacher who can't teach with a head of purple hair in his or her room because 'it's too distracting,' makes me question the classroom management and safe atmosphere of that classroom. Is that classroom a safe place for all young people?"

One important lesson I've learned in my years as a youth leader and parent is the importance of choosing your battles carefully. Namely, deciding which issues are the ones worth fighting about. Are students' personal choices in hair and makeup really the battle on which school systems should be focusing their energy? This Floridian, youth leader, and parent says no.