Dear Editor,
I am writing to express my concern about a recent situation at Antigua Girls’ High School involving a student’s hairstyle. A young lady with short hair was sent home from school simply because she added a small amount of natural twist extensions to make her hair look neat and presentable for school.
Only two days before this, she had already been told to remove the locs that she crocheted into her hair over the Christmas break. She followed the instructions and took them out. After removing them, she tried to style her hair in a simple way by adding a few natural twist extensions so her hair could have a reasonable length and look tidy for school.
However, despite her effort to keep her hair neat and appropriate, she was still sent home. This decision seems unfair and unnecessary. Students should not be losing valuable class time because of a hairstyle that is clean, natural, and well kept.
There should also not be discrimination against locs or small natural twist extensions that help students manage their natural hair. For many students, these styles are practical and part of their cultural identity. They allow students to keep their hair organized and neat while still following school standards.
In this case, the style was extremely neat. In fact, you would not even know that the young lady had small twists in her hair unless you actually separated or plaited it. That is how natural the hairstyle looked. It blended with her own hair and did not stand out or look inappropriate in any way.
What makes this situation even more concerning is that other schools allow students to wear natural twist extensions as long as their hair is kept neat and suitable for school. This raises the question of why a student at Antigua Girls’ High School should be punished for a hairstyle that is acceptable in other schools.
Now the young lady is being forced to remove a fresh hairstyle that she just completed, even after already removing her previous style when she was instructed to do so. This is frustrating and discouraging for a student who is only trying to follow the rules while keeping her hair neat.
School rules are important, but they should also be reasonable and fair. Policies should not make students feel singled out or embarrassed over something that does not affect their behavior, learning, or discipline in the classroom.
Students attend school to learn and prepare for their future. Hairstyles that are neat, natural, and respectful should not prevent them from receiving their education.
I hope that this matter can be looked into and that the policies at Antigua Girls’ High School can be reviewed so that students are treated fairly and are not sent home over hairstyles that are simply neat and manageable.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Citizen
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I thought this matter was over and handed
The problem in this country is that there is no set and uniformed policy for anything. Hair styles are still influenced by white or colonial standards. We still have no set policy on African and natural hair and hair styles. Lawyers and Doctors in this country have dreads. No one has a problem. If the hair is neat, what is the problem? Long and wavy straight hair is judged differently to dreads and twists on an African head. Makes no sense.
Sme somn with pms dis pricinple a somn else ngl
The issue with this country is that everyone feels entitled to something or other. Rules are there for a reason and no one is above it just because they feel the need to adapt to society or social norms. Bringing in the fact that other schools allow braids has no bearing at the Antigua Girls High School, rules are different for that school. Children should learn to follow rules which should begin in the home. Short hair is the easiest to style with some curls or twists, the student doesn’t need extensions for her hair to be “neat”, it just needs grooming; and we as parents should encourage our children to follow the rules set by an institution because it translates into the real world. The principal is doing a great job at enforcing the rules and holding both students and parent accountable.
@tired of the entitlement. So you are saying that we should just accept bad rules. We are not subject to sensible change? We do not grow and progress? We just accept colonial standards? We disregard our African heritage?
kudos to the Principal and Staff at AGHS. Stand your ground. Adolescents need to learn to obey and understand that their are rules. You break the rules, you face the consequences. What a lawless set of young people we want to ” train” to function in our society. I fear for the future if this type of lawlessness is allowed to continue.
Yall are talking about entitlement, suppose the child has and issue and a her hair cannot be out? Not everyone can use gel or certain products
The culture of Antigua, and that which is slowly creeping over into Barbuda is powered by, and sits on the footing, of CLASSISM.
Nuff said, pan dis wan #yah_so_so!
So, nah baddah luk fu, #blak_sheep aftah dark, U goh find flamboo a dance pan tik…
Jumbee_Picknee aka Ras Smood
De’ole Dutty Peg🦶🏿Garrate_Bastard
Vere Edwards
A law derives its moral authority not merely from its enactment, but from its consonance with justice, equity, and the inherent dignity of the human person.
When statutes deviate from these principles and enshrine discrimination, perpetuate inequity, or demand the subordination of conscience, they forfeit their claim to obedience.
In such instances, compliance ceases to be a civic virtue and instead becomes a form of moral complicity.
The obligation to resist unjust laws is not an invitation to disorder, but an affirmation of a higher legal and ethical order that precedes and transcends the state itself.
From the natural law traditions of Cicero and Aquinas to the civil disobedience of Thoreau, Gandhi, and King, history affirms that principled defiance, exercised with reason and restraint, serves as a corrective to legal systems that have strayed from justice.
Thus, to disobey an unjust or discriminatory law is not an act of rebellion against law per se, but an act of fidelity to law in its highest sense: a commitment to justice over mere legality, and to conscience over coercion.
@Writer
How can “extensions” ever be considered “natural”? They are natural to the person who grew them. And why would a student NEED extensions to make her hair neat?
If the principal had punished the child for having natural looks or her own short hair then I could see why people are complaining. But the child got punished for wearing extensions which she knew was against the rules.
I long for the day when our ladies in Antigua embrace their own natural beauty and reject the Eurocentric hairstyles that they see the black women from the US utilize.
I can see some of you do not read the child has very short hair that she cannot keep near and got sent home for that also natural twist is natural nothing is wrong if u add it in the hair and make it look appropriate short and neat yall are to old thats why yall think hair determines your education etc if it was a wig and colored hair and long braids then ill understand lets be frl as long as she can keep it neat with short natural appropriate braids nothing is wrong.
@Really. I am just tired of these complaints myself. Rules r rules. Why is it these parents are attacking the Principal at AGHS. She met those rules there and just carry it out. No one attacked the former Principal when these sane rules were being carried out so why this one? This is starting to look like some personal beef with the Principal by a selected few.
When the rules are compromised and things go left, who do U think these same people are going to blame. The Principal for making it go bad.
Simply follow the rules and stop this attack everytime. I am not certain why this country always wants to break rules always. #Chaman!!!
How about y’all just follow the rules.
This argument is tiring. False hair was NEVER. Allowed. Y’all need to stop looking at what other schools are doing. If you don’t like the rules, send your child to a school that allows that. These are 11-17 year olds – what business do they have wearing extensions JUST to go to school?
If y’all somehow manage to get this school to bend the rules, what you think will happen? There will inevitably be instances where the boundaries would be pushed, claiming bogus technicalities such as the ones outlined in this letter. Then, parents and John Public complain, and we’re back at square one.
Therefore, NO false hair across the board. The rules were there for a reason.
There are other way to keep your hair neat without extensions. That is the message we should be teaching our young girls.
If only parents would put this kinda energy into their children’s schoolwork…
From the way this letter is read, this isn’t even YOUR child so what you telling us all this for??? You wanted to practice writing? Go touch grass pls.
Some ah aryou sound soooooo choopit!!! Rules are made to keep discipline in order and when rules fail, chaos will rule. Dunceness areyou dey pan with your entitlement bs. They are kids!!! Raise them as such, or you will be grandparents REAL QUICK!!
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