The same week his state outlawed racial discrimination based on hairstyles, a Black high school student in Texas was suspended because school officials said his locs violated the district’s dress code.

Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, received an in-school suspension after he was told his hair fell below his eyebrows and ear lobes. George, 17, wears his hair in thick twisted dreadlocks, tied on top of his head, said his mother, Darresha George.

George served the suspension last week. His mother said he plans to return to the Houston-area school Monday, wearing his dreadlocks in a ponytail, even if he is required to attend an alternative school as a result.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Conservatives don’t want schools that teach how to think. They want schools that teach kids to obey.

    The rules don’t really matter, if anything they want the rules to be as stupid and arbitrary as possible, that way they get adult workers willing to take “because I said so” as rationale for fucking anything.

    Like how in boot camp they focus on the most inconsequential details. They don’t care how exact you can make a bed, theyre just teaching you how to follow orders

    • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
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      Greg Poole, who has been district superintendent since 2006, said the policy is legal and teaches students to conform as a sacrifice benefitting everyone.

      “When you are asked to conform … and give up something for the betterment of the whole, there is a psychological benefit,” Poole said. “We need more teaching (of) sacrifice.”

      It’s explicitly said by the superintendent.

      • eric@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Follow up question Mr Superintendent: in what way does prohibiting this particular hairstyle “benefit the whole?”

        • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          There is another quote from him saying it’s a rule that’s been on the books for 30 years. As if that’s a good enough reason to keep it rather than actually being a reason to reexamine it’s worth in today’s society.

    • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      My kid is always amazed that despite violating the dress code she never gets in trouble. I told her that the rules aren’t there to be enforced equally, they’re there to give them an excuse to harass students and because she’s one of the “good kids” she gets away with it.

      • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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        1 year ago

        “There are in-groups the law must protect but not bind, and outgroups the law must bind and not protect”. This is the core of conservative thought.

    • chaogomu@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Trust me, as someone who was military, they care about how exact you are when making the bed. It’s not just about following orders, it’s how well you follow them and your attention to detail.

      Oddly, my military experience also focused on how to break rules, and how to know which ones to break. That and the knowledge that there was a waiver for everything.

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I mean, have you seen how they design schools these days? I’ve seen jails that looked less secure, and more comfy. They’re conditioning the kids knowing that 1/4 will end up in jail or on probation at some point in their lives. They don’t see them as children, they see them as potential “criminals” to wring every dollar they can out of.