Though I think it’s usually dumb and misguided, I have a hard time taking issue with a company that institutes a dress code that prohibits visible, tasteful modifications — by all means, that sort of thing is up to the discretion of the owner. When it comes to a school board banning them, however? It often comes off as an arbitrary and thoughtless use of power. So it goes in Portales, New Mexico: 13-year-old Kierra Seales has been informed that the clear bead she wants to wear in her lip piercing is unacceptable, and that the piercing will have to come out while at school. Her mother, Nkoshe, is calling it a First Amendment issue:
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| Photo credit: PNT / Mickey Winfield |
“If we could accomplish changing the wording of the dress code, both sides would benefit,” Nkoshe Seales told the board. “The students would feel like they have the freedom to express themselves, and the administration and staff would no longer have to make an issue of the fashion trend.”
The current Portales schools’ dress code policy for piercing states that no student shall wear nose rings or nose studs or any type of visible body piercing accessory with the exception of earrings in the ear. […]
“The First Amendment is freedom of expression. Whether youth have First Amendment rights is still a legal question, but what is not in question is that they will (have them) some day,” Nkoshe argued. “Constraining them now from expressing themselves is no preparation for exercising those rights.”
Nkoshe has opened up a dialogue with the school board on the issue, and the board’s superintendent, Randy Fowler, seems open to reviewing the current rules and determining if a change in order. Nkoshe’s argument goes beyond a simple constitutional defense, though, and insists there are tangible benefits to body piercing:
“Piercing is a healthy and positive thing in some people’s lives,” Nkoshe said. “It encourages personal growth and self-discovery. Body piercing is the safest and most positive (expression) a youth could embrace given the alternatives of drugs, sex and gang violence.”
Well, I’m not sure those are the only alternatives, but … what do I know? Let’s see what the readers of the Portales News-Tribune have to say!
I wonder what this mother would think if Portales Schools went to using school uniforms? With the large number of students now, it would be helpful to the teachers if they knew who exactly should be on campus for safety reasons. Does she think teachers should also be able to express themselves by wearing what they would like and showing what they would like?
Hmm … well, the teacher issue seems like a bit of a straw man, but I’ll grant that if it’s a particularly problematic area, uniforms shouldn’t be discounted immediately. Even still though, aren’t piercings compatible with the institution of uniforms? One would think …
“I hope the School Board will remain firm in the set policy. Wearing a pistol on the hip, running naked in the streets are all part of self expression however thankfully there are laws and rules. Our schools are to teach. Teaching rules is part of education. This is why children are willful today.”
“Please change the rules for me because I am more special than all of the other kids who have gone through these schools and followed the rules. BULL!!!! I think it would be a very different circumstance if someone were to go into their place of business here in town and urinate in the floor. I think Ms. Seales would be very upset with you, and I don’t think she would be any happier if you told her that it was ok and should be allowed because you were just expressing yourself on the carpet.”
Oh, God damn it.
Mother protests school district policy on piercings [Portales News-Tribune]
BME/News and Modblog highlight only a small fraction of what
Meh. Schools should have the right to enforce a dress code on their students, even as relates to the wearing of jewellery. My school did. It won’t kill this girl to take her piercing out during school hours or wait a couple of years.
schools are to hard on a persons looks.
my old school has now enforced a new uniform, a completel change to the old black trousers/skirt and school jumper, there are no piercings allowed at all, and you can’t dye your hair. kids are becoming robots.
it’s idiotic.
when i was in school (thats going back about 6 years) we were encouraged not to express ourselves and our individuality, when at home we’re taught to be ourselves. any form of body modification is deemed to radical and dangerous (we’re rebelling after all and we may start a trend!!)
but as it stands a piercing in the lip or a few sets of earings aren’t unhealthy! girls have their navels pierced and nobody says anything about that, the only reason lip piercings and ear piercings are an issue is because they are on show, and schools can’t see past the end of their noses and only care about a schools reputation, not about their students growing as people and discovering who they are – which a school is supposed to do.
arguably i dont know what a 13 year old is doing with a lip piercing but still, and i have never understood the “covering it with a band aid” thing because it makes it more noticable!
““It’s always difficult to know what’s appropriate,” Fowler said. “Our goal is for students to be in school, hopefully to reach their potential.””
apparently piercings stop us from reaching our potential.
it always annoys me when schools do this, especially as she is wearing a clear stud to try and hide it as much as possible as is!
[/end rant]
On the contrary, I think most North American public schools aren’t strict enough when it comes to students’ appearance. A school is supposed to be a professional environment, a place where people go to learn some of the skills they will need to get through life. I couldn’t disagree more with the claim that kids are being stifled; if anything, they’re being allowed to run increasingly wild. I see schoolgirls on the bus every day dressed like whores, and the boys aren’t much better. It’s not an issue of personal expression; it’s an issue of what is and isn’t appropriate for children in a school environment, and you can bet that the first time some kid’s lip ring gets torn out during a PE class the parents will be in the mood to sue. I just don’t see a problem with restricting the appearance of students while on school grounds.
I wish they would spend our tax dollars on actually educating our students.
Instead of having meetings on whether or not a retainer in a piercing is damaging to a learning environment.
And too Bobb how can you compare a lip piercing to girls dressing inappropriately?
It’s a 1/2 inch piece of plastic for pete’s sake!
I didn’t; I simply responded to the other poster’s claim that students are being increasingly restrained in terms of their appearance at school.
Gosh, this is so stupid!!!
I don’t know why people dos such a big deal about piercings/tattoos…
I mean… talking about studying or working, what’s the difference between having or not a piercing? Does this makes us a bad person? I don’t think so…
¬¬ Gosh this is so fucked up!
they tried to do this to me 5 years ago at my school but at that time i had rather large lobes and i just took out my earring and said does that look any better they said no and that was the end of it noone ever said anything again and this was in dallas in the bible belt