Bad American

Today’s Contemporary America comes to us courtesy of Parma Community School, one of 16 charter schools run by Constellation Community Schools  in NEO.

Pain Dealer

Meet 6-year-old Bryan Ruda:

Michelle Barile said her 6-year-old son usually gets compliments when he sports his newly-cut, spiked mohawk in public.

But at Parma Community School, the attention attracted by Bryan Ruda’s hair was enough to get him suspended on Monday.

The board of Constellation Community Schools — which operates the Parma school and 16 other charter schools in Northeast Ohio — decided over the weekend to bar Bryan from school.

The reason: His hair is considered a distraction for other students.

“How can they come to a decision if they’ve never even seen him?” Barile asked, referring to the board’s action.

“I understand they have a dress code,” she said. “I understand he has a uniform. But this is total discrimination. They’re singling out my son. They can’t tell me how I can cut his hair.”

Principal Linda Geyer was hesitant to talk about student matters, but confirmed the suspension because Bryan’s hair was “disrupting the educational program” of the school. More specifically, she said, his classmates were moved to comment on the style and that may have made them less able to concentrate.

This is, of course, bullshit.

What if Bryan had, oh, I don’t know, one of several physical handicaps or other abnormalities that 6-year-old kids would normally be curious about and ask questions about?

Oh, would that be OK with the Constellation schools if that ‘disrupted’ the educational process?

But the kid’s hair. Oh yeah, constant comment, constant ‘disruptions.

You know what? The kid is simply aping one of the most popular harcuts in the US Armed Forces. And I see nothing unduly out of the ordinary about it.

Its JUST HAIR PEOPLE! GET A GRIP!

You mean to tell me that after a day or so the kids in Bryan’s class wouldn’t get used to it?

You’d think that after 50 years of changing hair styles we’d be over this idiotic obsession with the way people wear their hair. But you give a few adults in our society a little power over others and this is what you get. Stupidity.