Originally published at: Lawsuit filed after schoolteacher cuts mixed-race kid's hair to "even it out" | Boing Boing
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Ok, so let’s just assume in good faith that this is the one time there isn’t racial animus or prejudice involved; why in Dog’s name would a teacher ever think they have the authority to do this to any kid? Why would they even want to put themselves in this situation? When I ran an after-school program we were trained to only hug kids with one arm to avoid any accusations of sexual exploitation, which is sad on so many levels… but cutting a kid’s hair? I just don’t get it.
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It’s funny (outward smiles and inward screams!) because there’s always the part of us that hunts for the good-faith, inadvertant, well-meaning mistake. But then the facts just sort of roll in like the tide.
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The fucking audacity. If a teacher cut my kids hair - holy shit - I would not want to be them. They would have a job anywhere near kids as long as I knew where they were.
The other kid needs to be disciplined, but 7 year olds are idiots and I can’t fault them too hard. A grown adult shouldn’t be touching another kids hair with out expressed permission.
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Not some of us who are on the receiving end of such racist microaggressions; we know from experience not to search for what doesn’t exist.
We know animosity when we see it.
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I guess that the reverse could be more liberating.
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The only defense of this I can think of would be due to several factors:
- Kid was very embarrassed and/or upset about uneven hair. Teacher noticed, and asked if they wanted to help. Received an enthusiastic yes.
- Teacher sent several notifications to parent(s), asking for permission to even their hair. (Hopefully by something traceable, like certified mail, email, etc)
- No response after several days. Kid is getting traumatized by classmates.
- Parents brings kid to hairdresser. Kid is still unhappy with the uneven hair.
- Teacher gives the kid a haircut, matching the length on both sides. Parents are upset/embarrassed/smell easy money when they notice it, as they already brought the kid to a hairdresser.
- Lawsuit happens
- Lawyer tells teacher not to present her arguments in public, as anything could be misconstrued & taken as waving their 5th amendment rights.
Very unlikely it happened this way, but if so, I could see the teacher’s point of view. Shitty parents happen. Shitty teachers also happen. But teachers often have to go above & beyond just teaching and the rules as written for their sanity’s sake. Without knowing the whole story, I can’t 1000% bring out the pitchfork.
Also missing from the story: Did the kid that initially cut her hair get suspended?
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My faith in humanity will be restored when I read a story about a white teacher who cut hir own hair in class because a minority kid’s hair was “crooked” or whateverthefuck, as a way of showing support for the kid.
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Imagine being so entitled you feel entitled to another human being’s hair
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God, I wish I had ever had hair like the before pic.
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How is this relevant to the topic?
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Is Mike.71 trying to argue it might not be racially motivated/associated? I’m just curious, like you, where this seemingly out of left-field comment is actually coming from?
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If the kid is THAT upset, it’s time to take them out of the situation that’s upsetting them and send them home. That is the ONLY correct response to this situation. 
Which, frankly, is bullshit.
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Holy fucksocks, I hope not, and that’s why I asked.
Clearly, not ‘only’ people of African descent can have curly hair, but it’s highly un-fucking-likely that racism was somehow not the motivating factor in the teacher’s choice.
Had it been a White student whose hair had been cut, would the teacher in question have still tried to ‘even it up’?
I seriously doubt it.
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It’s good to know the parents have full support from the “my body, my choice!” anti-vax crowd.
Oh, they don’t? I wonder why that might be…?
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As a white person of Mediterranean descent who had Type 3 hair growing up, nobody has ever cut my hair without my permission.
If anything, this is more evidence of racism and makes the teacher even more racist than we thought she was.
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I’m sure if any of that had happened the district would have flooded the news with it.
I’m not a big fan of draconian punishments for kids. A seven year old doing something like this is an opportunity to teach about personal sovereignty. The teacher on the other hand is a grown-ass adult and should have known better as baseline common sense.
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Yep- not only racist, but so racist that the teacher was willing to go out of their way and put themself at risk just to make the scary hair go away. No teacher in their right mind would think messing with a student this way wouldn’t end in consequences, but racists often just can’t help themselves. Cruelty is the highest priority, even before self-preservation.
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