Public school cultural values police

Public school government agents in America, i.e. school boards, teachers and administrators, think that they have a perfect right to compel parents and their children by law to participate in forced educational programs, and in the process, dictate their private personal cultural values.

These American public school cultural values police, in blatant violation of the First Amendment, claim the right to indoctrinate kids in all manner of appearance, thought and behavior, even so much as to how to dress and style their hair.

Kobe Sanden, age 7, a second grade pupil at Arrowhead Elementary School in Santa Clara, Utah, was punished by the culture police for showing up in class with what they perceived as the “wrong haircut.” Mohawk haircuts violate the dress code, his mother was advised. A teacher deemed the haircut “disruptive.”

“We had the students that weren’t used to it,” school principal, Susan Harrah, explained. “They had called that out. So the teacher brought the student to my attention.” For that reason she told the child’s mother to come pick him up; he wasn’t welcome at school because of his haircut. 

But that’s not the end of it. It gets worse. As it happens, Kobe Sanden is a so-called “Native American.” His mother is a member of the Kaibab Band of Paiutes Indians. His father belongs to the Seneca Tribe. They complanied to the principal that Mohawk haircuts are part of their Native American culture.

The principal responded by demanding she be provided with written documentation supporting their claim. Seneca tribal leaders submitted a letter stating that it is common for Seneca boys to wear a Mohawk because as a way to share who they are after years of discrimination and oppression.  

On this basis, the boy was allowed to return to class with his Mohawk haircut. If he were Irish-American, African-American, or any other typical American boy, he’d still be barred from the classroom today for his chosen hairstyle.

Despite that fact, principal Harrah called the resolution a “positive experience.” “We believe in everyone’s cultural diversity, their beliefs. So we want to honor [that] and so that’s why we let the Mohawk stay and sent him back to class,” she declared. Well then, I guess that Mohawk haircut isn’t so disruptive after all.

A positive experience; is that why she demanded proof of his cultural beliefs? Americans these days have to prove in writing that they’re entitled to their cultural values? This cultural police woman might say she believes in cultural diversity, but there is one thing of which I’m certain she does not believe in – the First Amendment.