Uh oh. Little Suzy dyed her hair pink. OH THE HUMANITY!

"Visible tattoos, body or tongue piercing, other than ears, or unnatural hair color
including but not limited to blue, green, red, and orange are prohibited for all
students."

This is (or, I know for sure, was) a rule in the local school district's dress code.

My big problem with this is that someone having a tattoo or funny-colored hair doesn't disrupt the learning process. Some students might find such things weird, but who is offended by them? The only real potential problem is an inappropriate tattoo--say, of a naked lady. But aside from that, how are these things inappropriate?

After all, school dress codes are to ensure that no one wears something offensive. For instance, in this district, one also can't wear anything that promotes drug, alcohol, or tobacco use--fitting, since most everyone in K-12 schools can't use any of these legally anyway. Also, girls can't wear shirts that show cleavage (or, more ridiculously, but still within the limits, shirts with no sleeves). Boys already look at girls; let's not make it harder on them.

But what does a tattoo, a body piercing, or unnatural hair dying do? Absolutely nothing.

Making such rules also have some consequences. What do you do with a student who, before being informed of the rule change, got a tattoo over the summer (or already had one in the first place)? Say it's on his arm. Does he have to constantly cover it up now, just to appease the administration? Guess that means long-sleeve shirts in the late summer for him. (School starts here in early August.) Or to the girl who dyed her hair green--now she's forced to re-dye her hair? Do students with nose rings have to take their piercings out, or wear those weird plastic studs as placeholders?

It serves no purpose to ban 'body art,' as it were. A kid with a music note tattoo shouldn't be sent to the office.

Of course, this one can't say for sure how well such rules were enforced last school year. After all, I graduated the year before. But I clearly remember seeing lots of cleavage that was never called out, while my long-legged female friend gets sent home for wearing a dress that falls just a little short of her knees.

But I can easily imagine the principle plucking a pierced person from the throng of students in the hall to tell him to take it out or go home.

It just seems odd that even the more mainstream forms of body art are still so opposed in parts of society. Getting a tattoo doesn't make you a rebel. Getting a lip ring doesn't signal that the person is a Satan-worshiper. Geez!