BRIGHT BOY KICKED OUT OF CLASS FOR NOT COVERING HAIR

NO, NO, NO, NO! NOT MR SEON! PLEASE TELL ME MR SEON IS NOT PART OF THE STUPIDITY AND SENSELESSNESS OF THE STATUS QUO!

by Old Samarian (Hanging His Head In Shame)


There was a time when poor boys had zero chance of attending St Mary's College. I know. My grandfather placed top five in the Eleven Plus exams in 1938, but he had to come back to school the next year as a teacher's assistant because a fisherman's son couldn't afford the prestigious, classist college.

But those days are over, aren't they?

Even Ras Tafarians have attended St Mary's College, no? SMC is a bastion of advancement, progressive thinking and rewarded for excellent substance over convention and style, isn't it? Especially under the intelligent and thoughtful Mr Rowan Seon who is propelling the school out of its backward ways into the 21st century.

Prinipal Seon says this little Neg Marron can't go to class at St Mary's College unless he conforms to the System, bends to the shape that Society wants him to and submits to Authority in every single way. Seon doesn't care if you're bright or well behaved. What matters right now is that Neg must chop down and be a good likkle Baldhead if he wants to be a College Boy. Principal Seon used to be so cool.  What happened to that guy?

 

 

So what  is this bright little black boy who scored over 93% on the Common Entrance Exam, ranked 23rd in the island overall and has no behavioural problems doing sitting on the bench outside the Principal's office, prevented from going to class as though he was a terrorist or a health risk to all the other children?

As unbelievable as it sounds, the enlightened Principal Mr Rowan Seon, he who has lashed out at the status quo and general stupidity in some of the greatest calypsos in St Lucia, is the one responsible. It is his opinion that the bright little black boy who just passed for SMC should not be allowed to go to class until he obeys one of SMC's most archaic and senseless rules.

The little Neg Marron soldiers on, studying the few notes that he has, trying to get homework assignments from others and trying to keep up, even though his Principal and teachers are at war with him and are denying him his Right to An Education, as set down in the Universal Rights of The Child. Because the fight for freedom is never over and the Adversary comes in forms that the Strugglers never expect.

 

Basically, Seon has ruled that the boy cannot go to class until he has covered his plaits. Days are turning into weeks. Seon does not alleviate the suffering. He is ruthless and merciless. He cannot see what it is cruel and wrong with what he is doing. He cannot see the thousand other ways to achieve his objective. He has the power. And he is using it to keep the boy out of class.

Apparently, Seon believes that if he allows this rebellious, reticent, long haired boy, who never did anything wrong at the school, to enter the classroom, then chaos will prevail. No lie fellas. Our Mr Seon actually said that to me. Long hair in the classroom will lead to chaos. CHAOS. That was his word.

Mr Seon, in spite of being known as a highly intelligent person, is acting as though his ass was so close to the back of his head that it was making him do shit with himself and the reputation of the entire school.

Imagine, a student at St Mary's College prevented from going to class for long hair, when Jesus' hair was way longer than that. Perhaps Mr Seon should force Jesus to cut his hair to, before allowing the good College boys to pray to him?

 

 

The boy's mother, unable to comprehend how a school that survives on public funding can possibly have any say in how her bright little boy wears his hair has refused to submit to the reason-less stupidity. In court, it is a no brainer that any institution accepting public funds will not be able to get away with unconstitutional bullshit by claiming any special private or non-governmental status. Unfortunately, things have gotten to the point where lawyers must get involved and Mr Seon still can't see the sense of letting the boy go to class until such time as the issue is resolved.

Mr Seon also can't see that when he loses this case on unconstitutionality, he will have opened the flood gates, instead of letting one eccentric little borderline genius to have his plaits as though it was no big deal. By resisting the simple, inevitable change, HE is falling into the trap of the being the agent of Chaos.

With the statue of the Virgin Mary standing outside the school. Seon can't see that Jesus himself had long hair. He can't ask himself, "What would Jesus do in this situation?"

And to make things absolutely worse, he couldn't answer the question, "What is the beneficial purpose of the rule that says College Boys must cover their hair?" The best he could come up with is that "The rules are the rules and must be obeyed." Yeah, like the rules that said slaves shouldn't run away from the plantations and that black people should use a different toilet and that women shouldn't get certain jobs, right? Remember those, Mr Seon?

In fact, the rules do not say anything about cutting or covering hair or  the length that hair should be cut to. They say that hair must be properly groomed. The boy's hair is meticulously clean and not a hair was out of place on his head.

So why are you making such an unnecessarily big deal out of this, Sir? Why are you making our beloved SMC look like the last bastion of British colonialistic bullshit? Why are you making this kid suffer, when he is just a symptom of the changing times?

He's a bright kid. The rule is stupid and your interpretation of the rule is regressive. And you can be the bigger person here. Please. Be the bigger man here. I don't want to have to write these stories about my alma mater. I don't want to have to treat my teachers the way I treat politicians.

I beg you.

Look at his  eyes. This is not a boy who will be beaten. He's to bright. In the long run, he will win the game of life. And all this bullshit will just be one of the obstacles in life that made him stronger. Is that how you want to be remembered Mr Seon? After all you have achieved, do you want to be remembered only as the bad guy in this guy's success story? Because make no mistake, HE IS THE HERO HERE. And he will win. Look at his eyes. He can't be broken. His ancestor broke that whip 160 years ago.