Posted on 09/24/2008 6:53:57 AM PDT by yankeedame
Boy says he was just expressing himself, but school officials say it was a distraction
Garfield Middle School eighth-grader Matt Allsup displays
his black makeup and fingernail polish Tuesday,
Sept. 23, at his home in Hamilton. On Monday, school
officials made him wash off the makeup. Allsup and his
family are questioning district policies on the use of
makeup by male students.
HAMILTON (near Cincinnatti)— A Garfield Middle School student and his family are challenging the Hamilton City School District over his right to wear black eyeliner and lipstick to school.
Matt Allsup, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at the school, was told Monday, Sept. 22, to wash the makeup off his face. An administrator told Allsup it was "distracting" and therefore against the district's dress code.
Allsup said the makeup "expresses who I am. I am not like other people. I like rock 'n' roll and this expresses that. I am discriminated against."
Students in the Hamilton school district wear character badges that encourage acceptance and valuing the uniqueness of others, Allsup said.
"Why make us wear the character cards if they are not going to let us be unique?" he asked.
"It's gender stereotyping and sexual discrimination," said his mother, Mindy Ball. "If he has to take off his lipstick, then so do the little girls in the school."
Ball suggested to school officials that if the issue was the lipstick's color, she would buy her son pink.
Officials told her he couldn't "wear it because it's distracting because he's a male," she said. "He's a good kid and he is popular. The reason he wears eyeliner is because he is self-conscious and he thinks it makes his eyes look bigger."
No discipline was involved in the incident, said Joni Copas, district spokeswoman. "He washed it off and that was the end of it. The administrator didn't think it was conducive to the education process and the district believes it was handled appropriately. If makeup is too harsh — whether it's a girl or a boy — the student should be asked to wipe it off."
Ball said her next stop is "to contact a lawyer."
"I want him to know that no matter who he is or what he chooses to do, I will always stand behind him."
"...I am discriminated against...squawk...I am discriminated against..."
Freaking EMOS!
“I’m a dork! Look at me!”...”I’m a dork! Look at me!”...”I’m a dork! Look at me!”...”I’m a dork! Look at me!”...”I’m a dork! Look at me!”...”I’m a dork! Look at me!”...”I’m a dork! Look at me!”.......
“expresses who I am. I am not like other people.”
Remind him no one asked, no one cares. Our taxes are paid to educate you, learn your studies, you can express yourself after you graduate.
from comments section
By ester baever
September 24, 2008 9:37 AM | Link to this
This boy and his mother have serious mental problems.The boy is obviously GAY and the mother would rather have a daughter than a son.I bet she makes him wear a pad once a month also.They should both be put away.
"I am a sensitive artist...
I am a sensitive artist.
Nobody understands me because I am so deep.
In my work I make allusions to books that nobody else has read,
Music that nobody else has heard,
And art that nobody else has seen.
I can't help it
Because I am so much more intelligent
And well-rounded
Than everyone who surrounds me.
I stopped watching tv when I was six months old
Because it was so boring and stupid
And started reading books
And going to recitals
And art galleries.
I don't go to recitals anymore
Because my hearing is too sensitive
And I don't go to art galleries anymore
Because there are people there
And I can't deal with people
Because they don't understand me.
I stay home
Reading books that are beneath me,
And working on my work,
Which no one understands
I am sensitive...
I am a sensitive artist."
"Sensitive Artist" - King Missile
One nice thing about Catholic schools is that they have absolutely no problem suppressing expression and demanding conformity to square, old-fashioned rules. This garbage just does not happen.
You can put lipstick on a pig........
Oh, baby, look at you
Don’t you look like Siouxsie Sioux
How long’d it take to get that way
What a terrible waste of energy
You wear black clothes say you’re poetic
The sad truth is you’re just pathetic
Get into the groove just get out of my way
I came here to drink not to get laid
So why don’t you just go on home
‘Cause if you want to moan you’ll have to moan alone
You’ll dance to anything
Don’t try to tell me that you’re an intellectual
Cause you’re just another boring bisexual
“I met Andy Warhol at a really chic party”
Blow it out your hairdo ‘cause you work at Hardees
80 pounds of make up on your art school skin
80 points of I.Q. located within
Know what you are? You’re a bunch of ...
Artfags! Artfags! Artfags! Artfags!
Choke on this you dance-a-teria types!
You’ll dance to anything by The Communards
You’ll dance to anything by Book of Love
You’ll dance to anything by The Smiths
You’ll dance to anything by Depeche Commode
You’ll dance to anything by Public Image Limited
You’ll dance to anything by Naked Truth
You’ll dance to anything by any bunch of stupid Europeans who come over here
with their big hairdos intent on taking our money instead of giving your
cash, where it belongs, to a decent American artist like myself!
You’ll dance to anything!
The Dead Milkmen
Cultural ping. See especially Post #6. Don’t forget to pick up my library book.
And post 12.
At my children's school only girls are allowed to wear earrings. I remember a long time ago a boy tried to wear clip-on earrings as a gag, but after having to seat out two football games that was the end of the story. And, guess what?, I have never heard anybody complaining?
“I am not like other people.” Wasn’t that written in the diaries of the Comubine Shooters?
This little wimp wouldn’t last 2 minutes in West Texas.
Ball suggested to school officials that if the issue was the lipstick's color, she would buy her son pink.
Nice parenting skills there, mom!
Exactly. He can express himself after he graduates from high school. I feel the same way about the push for teaching homosexuality in the schools. Nobody knows what causes homosexuality, but those who are pulled in that direction sometimes leave their hometowns and go to The Castro as part of their “self-discovery”. The same concept applies to this kid, if he’s destined to be one of those “goth” type people, he can express himself when he’s an adult and out of school.
What does dad think about this?
It's worse than that. Look at this quote from the mother...
"It's gender stereotyping and sexual discrimination," said his mother, Mindy Ball. "If he has to take off his lipstick, then so do the little girls in the school."
It's "Look at me!"..."I'm a Cool Mom"..."My son's a dork, and I don't care, because it makes me look cool"..."I am screwing him up for fun!!!"
Mom's the problem, here. She should be scrubbing his face, and instead she's hiring lawyers.
And when this kid goes off to march in the Black Parade in a couple of years, she'll be all weepy about how "the system" let her son down...
Exactly. He can express himself after he graduates from high school. I feel the same way about the push for teaching homosexuality in the schools. Nobody knows what causes homosexuality, but those who are pulled in that direction sometimes leave their hometowns and go to The Castro as part of their “self-discovery”. The same concept applies to this kid, if he’s destined to be one of those “goth” type people, he can express himself when he’s an adult and out of school.
Whatever happened to expressing oneself with WORDS? I don’t get how “expressing” yourself with makeup conveys any sort of message. The guy says he like rock and roll. I never heard that wearing black nail polish, lipstick and eye liner was symbolic of rock and roll.
Then again, I am 50 years old, and a lot has apparently passed me by— glad to see it go.
I am betting there is no father anywhere near that kid's house.
Figures, goth or emo. If he really wanted to get a rise out of them, one very long false eyelash, ideally along with dressing in all white except for a bowler hat, would have been more effective.
What did Paul Newman say to the owner of the Charlston Chiefs in Slap Shot when she said she would never allow her son to see a Hockey Game? Something about “Jack Robinson”.
Good point about the parenting. What is wrong with his parents, that they tolerate and encourage him in this?
Yep, this could be a sex discrimination lawsuit, if they allow girls to wear lipstick and lip gloss but not boys. Oh boy, here we go..............
Are we allowed to have any standards anymore, on any subject?
Where is “Dad”?...............
The fact that he and his mother have different last names is a clue.
A kid in Oxnard Ca. was murdered this year for dressing like that. His parents are suing the school for allowing their kid to dress like that.
Rock 'n' roll? Give him to Ted Nugent for the afternoon and the only color on his lips better be the blood from a freshly killed buck.
Saw the picture, knew there was no father (or Father) in the house.
“... Catholic schools ... have absolutely no problem suppressing expression and demanding conformity ...to old-fashioned rules.
This is certainly true, and one of the many benefits of our daughter attending Catholic high school even though we are not Catholics.
Have people lost sight of the fact that part of education is training kids with “life skills”, such as getting along with others, and being able to fit in? Not sure if I’m expressing this too well, but......
Imagine this kid is enabled in this all through school. He’s got to “express himself”. Imagine this kid in about 10 years, coming out of college and going on a job interview and presenting an extreme appearance. Do you think he will get the job, even if he got straight A’s in college and had great recommendations, etc.?????
How will he fit in to the real world beyond high school if he is enabled and taught that the world should change and bend to please him? 99% of us went through school and learned a message that we need to learn and bend ourselves sometimes to fit into the world as it is, not the other way around.
Where did you grow up? Ceausescu's Romania?............
This woman just doesn't get it.
Ding ding ding ding! We have a winner.
Did you happen to see the movie “Idiocracy” starring Luke Wilson?.........That is where all this is headed.....
Just received a security warning on this page, just a heads up
The kid needs to start drinking Brawndo....it’s got electrolytes!
I think he already has!..........
Yeah no one understands you because your so unique..you look like EVERY goth kid who ever existed. Let me guess you smoke cigs behind the gym and talk about how your parents mistreat you??
Kid get in line your about 1 in a Billion “Misunderstood” freak kids. You just want the “shock” value your not rebelling..move to hollyweird and see how common place you are.
Want to be different and hated?? Try Respecting your Country,Military,Parents,God, and Yourself then people will really be angry!..LOL
Schools should maintain the right to keep order. Your not expressing an opinion. Your dressing up for Halloween.
If you were making a political point, I would say GO ahead the school shouldn’t stop you. You have the RIGHT to say it but be a man and face the consequences of using your rights.
The way I see it the school didn’t give him the rights of free speech so they shouldn’t be so quick to take it away. Just do what my old gym teacher would have done make him run the track in front of the rest of the school till he pukes.
Of course I went to a school that would be considered “country”. During hunting season kids would have shotguns or rifles in their trucks in the parking lot.
Sometimes I just have to THANK GOD I didn’t grow up in this Generation...LOL
What's a "Dad"?
Okay, it's a given that the boy and his mother are loony-tunes, threatening to sue and all that. But we really ought to be more concerned about the loons in charge of the school district. If some idiot educrats told all the kids in a school district to wear these silly cards, and a kid of mine (male or female) wanted to respond to such idiocy by wearing black lipstick/eye make-up/nail polish to school, I'd be hard-pressed not to say "Go for it! They've got it coming!"
Okay, it's a given that the boy and his mother are loony-tunes, threatening to sue and all that. But we really ought to be more concerned about the loons in charge of the school district. If some idiot educrats told all the kids in a school district to wear these silly cards, and a kid of mine (male or female) wanted to respond to such idiocy by wearing black lipstick/eye make-up/nail polish to school, I'd be hard-pressed not to say "Go for it! They've got it coming!"
Look at how the school attempts to teach the children this lesson.
Students in the Hamilton school district wear character badges that encourage acceptance and valuing the uniqueness of others, Allsup said.
So students are encouraged to wear "character badges" to let other people know the nature of their disfunction. It is like they are all FReekin' Care Bears or something. So instead of communicating with one another, they are encouraged to reduce themselves to what can fit on a 3" Diameter badge, and are encouraged to sum up their fellow students on a similarly shallow basis.
This is the exact opposite of what a school should be doing. Instead of letting children wear emblems or make-up to "express" themselves, they should make the little tykes express themselves verbally. In the process of explaining themselves, many of them will realize that they are being stupid.
Those that don't realize it on their own will be told by their peers.
Students in the Hamilton school district wear character badges....
WE DON'T GOT NO STEENKING BADGES!...........
This parent (or older co-resident of a shared housing unit) has the right idea. It's how she implements her comment that's a problem. My kids know that I will always stand behind them, no matter what, but I also made it VERY clear in advance and again as needed that sometimes standing behind them will mean making sure they take the consequences for their own bad decisions.
In this case, wearing goofy makeup to school is minor, and the consequence was having to wash it off. Yawn. Trying to make a federal case out of it, literally, is another story. That's diverting education dollars to the pockets of lawyers, which actually harms all public school kids in the district and taxpayers in every district that has to react to yet another frivolous lawsuit. Filing a lawsuit over this fluff is immoral, and my children would not only not have my backing but would find life extremely difficult until they accepted the simple concept that schools have the authority and even the responsibility to prevent students from distracting other students. Even a spoiled 13-year-old can understand simple reasoning if the parent tries.
Parents should always stand behind their kids, but good parents know that this is different from helping the kids to do whatever they want.
Ditto here. Our daughter is a Protestant in a Catholic school. She is getting a good lesson in respecting others every day.
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