Maybe they just wanted to touch it.
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Valid reasons for school faculty or staff to cut a child’s hair:
- The child got their hair caught in a paper shredder or pencil sharpener and cutting it is the only way to free them.
- A student who recently acquired spider powers accidentally adhered his hand to a fellow student’s head and cutting the hair is the only way to separate them.
That’s about all I got.
Even in those cases, you only cut away the minimum amount required to stop the problem from getting worse and leave it to the student and their family to figure out how best to “fix” the problem from there.
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No and no and no. I know teachers, my husband was a teacher. Cutting a kids hair is almost always explicitly against the rules and absolutely inappropriate in any circumstance that doesn’t involve the kid being caught on something because of their hair.
Kid is upset about her hair? Teacher does not offer to cut it. They send an email to the parents or call the parents.
This teacher cut that poor girl’s hair because her hair looked like Black hair. She thought Black hair is ugly because she is racist. She thought the girl would look better with her hair cut because then she could pass as white. The teacher probably had all kinds of excuses. Like the excuses you listed. But she did it because she is a racist who cares more about her racist beliefs then the feelings and bodily autonomy of a young child.
The parents tried to address the issue through appropriate channels. It didn’t work. They absolutely should sue because right now that’s the only way get some rules in place that have the teeth to stop shit like this.
Racist treatment involving Black hair in schools is such a big problem people who care are trying to pass variations of the CROWN Act all over the US. https://www.thecrownact.com/
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Absolutely true. One of the insidious aspects of racism is just the “blind spot” casual racists have for the bodies of people who aren’t their racially privileged in-group.
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They do. And I have to ask about a school where a seven-year-old has the wherewithal and time to cut that much of another kid’s hair without getting intercepted. (Though I am assuming it was a classmate and not a much older kid.) That looks like it took several cuts. Did the kid not notice or loudly object as it was being done?
But that’s a rhetorical question - in any event, teacher’s response was way out of line; they surely must have known this was a major no-no.
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When the fuck will women, POC, and LGBT+ be allowed to fucking live our lives like the human beings we are?!
ETA: Meant to say from the beginning that her hair is gorgeous. It’s still gorgeous, despite that “teacher’s” best efforts.
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Its possible the little shit was behind her and did it with out her knowing at first. I remember one kid did that to another in like 2nd or 3rd grade, but it wasn’t too severe. And who knows, maybe they were playing “barber/hair stylist” on the playground after sneaking out some scissors.
Depending on the circumstance, the kid should be reprimanded, but they really are not the focus, as another 7 year old doesn’t know better. The teacher needs fired, for starters.
Maybe gum, if its a small amount you can trim to get it out?
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If only there were some sort of profession where people taught others to keep their hands to themselves. She could have learned better had she been part of such a curriculum.
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Flat out blanket statement: teacher should not have cut the kids hair
However, I think we’re overlooking an important part here
a classmate hacked some off
That is a very serious issue that should be addressed even more than the teacher trying to fix it (which, again, she should NOT have done)
Are you serious? Who should know better, the teacher or the elementary school child?
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At THAT point, the right thing to do would have been to take both children to the principals office and call in both set of parents. Not hack off the rest of the kid’s hair.
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The silver lining to this story is that the hair will grow back.
I hope her parents use the money they will inevitably be awarded to further facilitate pride in her Afrocentric beauty.
Full fucking stop.
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Unless it’s a dire situation in which the child has her/his stuck in some way that clearly presents a danger where immediate action is warranted, I would not cut a child’s hair w/o permission from the parents or guardian. I told this story once before, so I’ll keep it short: When of pre-school age, I cut my baby sister’s hair (at her request); when my mom saw my wretched handwork, she cried and cried (pawing at my sister’s remaining hair). With a White schoolteacher and a mixed race child, imagine the parents’ horror and feelings of violation. Apart for the one exception I put forward at the top, there’s no excuse.
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A point that I haven’t seen covered yet- the teacher’s story may not even be true. Maybe they cut the kid’s hair and then afterwards made up the story about trying to “help” because another kid had messed it up.
With someone willing to do this to a kid, I think it’s fair to also question their version of events. If there’s evidence that it did happen as described, great. But believing their story (even when they look like a monster in their own version of events) should not be the default.
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I know that some of us grew up in a world where teachers and school administrators could act as our parents in situations like this. But times have changed. Teachers need to consult parents when problems with their kids arise, because most of us won’t stand for teachers thinking they can act as our kid’s parents when we’re not there anymore.
Right?
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