The Podium
Disgruntled is not the word I'd use
Student Claims Suspension Due to Makeup
OK, short of having a penis on his forehead written in eyeliner, five days is probably a bit excessive, regardless of the circumstances. When one looks at this they can only think that yes, it is unfair. If girls can wear makeup, why not the boys?
I'll buy that. So long as no one starts a big fuss when those makeup wearing boys are being ridiculed. Kids can be mean to one another, it's part of life. Is it ok to make fun of each other? No, but it happens, deal with it, move on. The problem is any boy who wears girl makeup is going to be made fun of by his peers. That's life. No amount of education will ever change that.
But this is different. This kid is apparently wearing some religious, black lipstick and red eye makeup. Huh?
This kid is a freak, plain and simple. He should be kicked out of school until he learns some sense, because what's going to happen is he's going to be ridiculed, then blame the "jocks," bring a gun to school, start shooting others, then society will blame people for singling him out for being different.
What a crock of shit. The person who has done the singling out is the kid himself. No one is forcing this. Suspending kids for stupidity is normal. A kid smokes pot, gets suspended. No one argues that smoking pot is a smart thing to do. In particular, if caught on campus, then that is stupid. Bringing a knife to school is stupid. Theatening teachers is stupid. Vandalizing is stupid. ANYONE showing up to school with black lipstick and red eye makeup on is stupid.
No, it doesn't affect anyone else, until something happens that actually does hurt someone. Someone says something, tempers flare, fists are thrown, you get the idea.
Should he be suspended? Probably not, he's a moron, so is his mom. A more appropriate action would be to throw her in jail for child endangerment.
Of course, NONE of this even addresses the fact that rights as are expressed and understood as citizens do not apply equally across the board on school campuses. Freedom of expression? No. At least not to the same extent as elsewhere.
I say let them sue, the Supreme Court has been pretty clear on these sorts of things in the past. This kid, while perhaps not violent, in a high school environment, is not safe.
DB also brought up the Jewish kids wearing their Yarmulkas... will that also bring a suspension? Will wearing a cross on a necklace be next? If a Muslim girl decides to wear a burkah to school, will you call her a freak?
Personally I'm not religious, but so long as you're not pushing it on my like evangelizing born again Old Testament worshippers, then I don't care what religion you are. How you look is less important to me than how you act towards me, and I would expect anyone else to think the same as me in that respect.
The kid shouldn't have been suspended unless he was skipping, doing something patently illegal, or posed a clear and imminent threat to the school and its occupants. I think the kid might have shown a bit of poor judgement, but I can think of many kids in high school who show (or showed) poor judgement. They just never got caught.
God forbid someone disagree with YOUR beliefs, just go round about accusing people of this and that. I find it interesting how frequently, when there's a disagreement, it's "faulty reasoning." Personally, I don't give a shit if the kid wears a dress. Try being a teacher, looking at a kid that is ASKING to be made fun of, and then defending the kid because their feelings are hurt by a kid that does make fun of him/her. One has to support "diversity," that's a problem. The funny thing is, if that kid keeps doing what he's doing, he'll always be made fun of. My argument wasn't meant in complete seriousness, nor was one expected to take it seriously. That is, of course, until it actually happens. Do I believe it will? No, but this is one of those ridiculous things that can't be argued, becuase kids shoot up schools for much dumber reasons.
The administration draws attention to the problem by suspending the kid, and goes from being in the right by just letting it happen, to being in the wrong, for doing something about it. But freedom of expression isn't alive and well in high schools, nor should it be. If they determine that his dress is inappropriate, provided it's in the school district's by-laws, then they can do whatever they want, the kid can sue, etc.
The problem, and this is the ONLY reason I can agree on any level with the administration. IF something happens, and the administration does nothing, then the question is, "why didn't they do anything?"
Right, go ahead, give me the problem with that being a ridiculous argument. I agree, it is, but that's the dillema. The kid is a freak, they should staple him to the wall and be done with it.
Click the button to
DB wrote
You don't see any difference between a knife or pot and makeup? i.e. legality? I can understand being suspended for those "stupid" things; not only are they direcly dangerous, they're illegal. But punishing this kid for his religious beliefs, different though they may be from yours, and then claiming it's for his own good? WTF? The boy is not Christian or even monotheistic. So naturally he's wrong, and should be told that everything he believes is a lie and he should stop with his silly rituals. And what's with those Jewish kids always wearing those little hats? Freaks.I understand your objections to the possibility of this kid bringing a gun to school and hurting people, of course. I don't think anyone wants anything like that to ever happen again. But assuming that he's going to because he wears makeup is ignorant. The article doesn't mention the boy being ostracized for wearing the makeup by his peers, and he's been doing it for a year and a half without complaint or cessation. The only group to cause trouble for the boy is the administration, at least from the information we can gather here. Living in a high school environment, I can certainly testify that 17 year olds are not the nicest bunch, and typically not too forgiving either, especially when it comes to marked differences. But it doesn't seem like that's the problem here, and I'm pretty sure that that's not why the boy was suspended.