Robyn Urback: When did education get so stupid?

Kamryn´s, an 11 years old girl from Grand Junction, Colo, decided to shave her head as an act of support for her best friend, who had to take chemotherapy because of cancer. This is a memorable decision which clearly shows her affect to her best friend by putting herself in the same situation. However, in spite of encouraging her friend to carry forward, the school has banned her, and unless she wears a wig or her hair grows back she can´t get back to classes.

The reason of this incredible reaction of school is the school´s dress code. Kamryn has violated it because the school has perceived her act as distracting, as it brakes the environment of uniformity and safety that it is supposed to have. Under this policy, shaved heads are not allowed, but is it only a simple shaved head?

The girl´s mothers don't perceive this act as the school does, and their reaction impressed them so much that they decided to take the issue to social media. Once taken the issue to higher levels, the school seemed to realize about their fault, and welcomed Kamryn back to class, even without hair.

The article opens debate about the importance of following rules. Obviously they are made not to be broken, it is important to set limits in order to keep things in line. But the point is if they must be followed with no exception or not.

This article shows how important are rules, but also how important is to value the subject before taking measures. There are more cases apart from this one in which punishments have been taken without considering the further aim of braking rules, the aim that shows that rules can have exceptions. Schools end up focusing so narrowly on their own rulebooks that they ignore the bigger picture. But where’s the education in that?

Link: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/03/25/robyn-urback-when-did-education-get-so-stupid/