Girl punished for natural hair color violating school dress code maliciously complies

There is nothing wrong with schools enforcing dress codes unless they become too unreasonable. Tension escalates further when authorities call out students, even when they are innocent. That's what happened to a girl with a natural white patch on her hair, who was punished only because her school thought she had dyed her hair. Her cousin shared her story (now-deleted) on the subreddit r/maliciouscompliance, which has now gone viral.

"She's had this all her life, and it's gotten bigger as she's gotten older," the cousin explained, talking about how their teacher had a tough time dealing with bullies until hair dye became a trend. However, when the 18-year-old resumed her school in person, her teacher saw her hairstyle and immediately dragged her to the principal, saying her hair was a violation of the dress code. No matter how well she explained her condition, her teachers didn't believe her; in fact, they told her to dye her hair back to its natural color. To abide by the so-called rules, the teen colored all of her hair, and not just her natural white streaks in the front. Ironically, when she reached school, her teacher complimented her "natural" hair and warned her against dyeing her hair again. Now, when her hair started growing, her teacher again noticed white strands and, this time, literally shouted at her for something she hadn't done.

The girl again explained her condition to her teacher and the principal, but the authors just didn't believe her. They called her parents, informing them that their daughter would be suspended over multiple violations of the dress code. The parents rushed to the school and thankfully had pictures of the girl with a white patch in the front at all stages of her life. The school lifted the suspension, but not without a sarcastic comment. The principal said, "Your extreme hair is still a distraction to the other students, and they are going to wonder why you're getting special treatment. Consider yourself lucky!" The incident surely did affect the teenager, and her cousin said she even thought of homeschooling to avoid the side-eyes from her teacher. 

Teachers disapproving of her hair condition says a lot about how adults can make kids feel miserable about something they have no control over. According to a survey in U.S schools, 14.4% of students were found to report negative perceptions of teacher attitudes towards them, and this reveals a lot about the education system. Meanwhile, when the author shared the outrageous story on Reddit, the post received an overwhelming response, with people calling out the school for discrimination. For example, u/5min2minnoodlmuscls commented, "That's a pretty f***** up school; I thought they were meant to teach stuff like acceptance of others and inclusivity. The kid's got a visible genetic condition and is castigated for it. This is breaking the law. Sue the shit out of that school."

Echoing the sentiments, u/mikeputerbaugh wrote, "Appearance and dress code rules with the justification of 'not distracting other students' are routinely used to justify discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, body type, and so on. Schools can either revise their handbooks to be nondiscriminatory now, or they can do so after losing a lawsuit." Another user, u/devilishrogue, commented, "If I'd have been her parent, I'd have been livid at my child being discriminated against for a medical condition and reduced the head and the teacher in question to tears with my yelling at them. I'd get the superintendent involved, and if it was remotely possible, sue the b*******."