To wonder how a school could get this so wrong

[Hingeandbracket]

And not admit it.
www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/newsbeat-45521094
I am not quick to shout racist but this seems pretty clear cut.

What surprises me is that this school is in Hackney, so there must be a large number of other children in that school with Afro hair. If it was a predominantly white school then it would be discriminatory. Maybe that's why the school are not accepting any wrongdoing? If other BAME children manage to adhere to the rules.

"In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread." Anatole France.

"In its majestic equality, the law forbids black and white alike to have afro hair." - some racist school governors.

I have taught for years and no child has ever said they can't see the board. Boards are raised and can generally be rolled up. If a child can't see they might move but I have never heard it.

This school most likely made that bit up as a 'teaching and learning' cover to sound plausible when really they had excluded her for non compliance and decided, for whatever reasons, not to back down.

@2steponthewater I live in the borough of Hackney, having a number of BAMe residents doesn’t stop people being racist. A racists views don’t change purely due to where they live.

“Ruby's school used her year seven picture, when her hair was straight, in her year 11 yearbook”

I was shocked when I read the article yesterday that Ruby had to go through such a rigamarole for her hair because the school were openly racist about their distaste for natural afro hair in the school policy.

If racists devoted 1% of the energy they expend on being creatively racist into being decent human beings, the world would be a happy place.

There are plenty of examples of policies over the years where it's clear the entire aim has been to affect minorities (usually of darker skin) and which have then been reverse engineered to make it look like they apply to "everyone".

By all means laugh. And then think.

I bet 99% of the people shouting "racist" on here are "woke" white people (like the girls mother) who are conveniently ignoring the comments from reasonable black women explaining that actually they tie their 4c hair up just fine

Some excellent examples of racism on this thread.

Why should boys have rules about their hair, why should there be rules about colour of hair or girls with straight hair have to tie it up?

Why indeed? Provided it's safe and doesn't get in the way of learning, what does it matter what colour it is, how short or long it is, or whether it's up or down?

Or are you saying that rules are only a problem if applied to a black child?

I'm saying that rules are a problem when they are (a) stupid and (b) racist.

I do enjoy the way people who are in love with rules are outraged at the concept that they should comply with the country's rules as set out in the laws of the land.

I think 2steps the article is actually very interesting on that point. What Ruby says is that she hated her hair and saw other girls covering theirs, and wearing weaves and wigs. She hated her natural hair. She came to love it, perhaps as prevailing styles changed, and then embraced her hair : at which point the school told her she couldn't. That makes for sobering reading.

Actually reminds me of the classroom chapter in White Teeth if anyone knows it and the bit where the girl, struggling with her identity, goes to buy straight hair.

That woke white mother, wokely upset at her black kid being denied an education.

Ermmmm... are you suggesting a mother is woke because she has a black partner and a mixed race child???

Piggy if she was too young to look after her hair why didn't her mother do it, you know like most mothers do if their kids can't do it themselves.

There's no suggestion that she couldn't look after her hair. It looks fine in all the photos I've seen. "Looking after" doesn't mean scraping it back unnaturally.

I read this yesterday.
Apparently, girls with long hair were allowed to wear it loose, according to the rules, and only girls with afro hair had to have it 'tidy'.

Many of the styles she offered to wear to school, including a pony tail, were rejected by the school, because the pony tail was 'too big'

So, yes, very racist and quite extraordinary

What surprises me is that this school is in Hackney, so there must be a large number of other children in that school with Afro hair. If it was a predominantly white school then it would be discriminatory. Maybe that's why the school are not accepting any wrongdoing? If other BAME children manage to adhere to the rules.

Even you don't suggest that every child in the school has Afro hair, so obviously it is discriminatory to have a rule that only applies to children with that type of hair.

Why is it "wrongdoing" to disregard an unlawful rule, but not wrongdoing to have an unlawful rule?

The fact that some people are forced to adhere to an unlawful rule doesn't make it lawful.

I bet 99% of the people shouting "racist" on here are "woke" white people (like the girls mother) who are conveniently ignoring the comments from reasonable black women explaining that actually they tie their 4c hair up just fine
Good for them. Why does the student in question have to tie her hair up "because rules?' not good enough. A stupid rule is still stupid even if some people aren't affected.

Thanks oulu, I was genuinely too shocked by the everyday sexism and the failure to understand the issues at hand (or to read the article and reflect on time , damage to hair and expense) to comment....

I bet 99% of the people shouting "racist" on here are "woke" white people (like the girls mother) who are conveniently ignoring the comments from reasonable black women explaining that actually they tie their 4c hair up just fine

I really struggle to understand how people cannot get it into their head that the fact that it might be possible to go along with a discriminatory rule doesn't make it any less discriminatory.

Suppose a school had a rule that non-Christian children had to stay after school on Fridays to do the cleaning, and a Jewish child was punished because she needed to go home before sunset and therefore didn't stay. Would the fact that the other children were perfectly able to stay make the school's actions less unlawful?

I can't speak for others but I think it's no bad thing to be 'woke' regardless of your race.

IME both schools and teenagers can quickly get locked into a battle of wills. I do strongly suspect that starting from a position of being right, the girl probably had her hair as big as possible to try and irk the school, who responded by digging their heels in even more.

I can, actually, kind of see the argument re the board - it isn’t quite the same as a tall or fat child as it’s breadth as well as height.

I think both sides are ridiculous, tbh.

Clothes are one thing, but a child's hair is part of the child. And what is this smart dress fetish about? Are we saying that shiny shoes and a tidy hairline is the only route to sucess in this world? When did they last look?

Welcome Hitler, Stalin, Mao, very smart. Sorry Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, No Sandals.

Stalin looked the bollocks, in fairness.

Of course it is possibly to 'tame' Afro hair - straighten, weave, scrape back tightly etc - that ignores the fact that a historical imperialist idea that white is 'superior' and therefore white characteristics (such as hair type) are 'superior' and ergo Afro hair should be brought under control. As a pp said it is everyday racism.

and for those who think this is rare, there was an item a few weeks ago about a primary school who had decided that 2 bunches in children's hair was enough and that more than 2 was not allowed.

Now pretty much every small child in dds school with afro hair has more than 2 bunches or plaits.
Sure enough, the parents of one of the kids with afro hair complained, but the school wouldn't back down, until it hit the papers.

Just who is too stupid to think beofre coming up witht hese rules, and then even more stupid that when it is pointed out to them, they persist

If height of hair was an issue what about Sikh boys who don a turban as part of their religious beliefs,turbans often have height as hair is tied in a bun on top of head,will they too be penalised as some dated school rules dictate?this family were right to take a stand.Good for you young Ruby.