Was this school correct?

[Judith]

Grandparents have pulled their 8-year-old granddaughter out of the Christian school she attended in Virginia, after they received a letter saying she wasn't following "biblical standards".
Sunnie Kahle has short hair and wears ..."boyish" clothes. The school's letter said she would be refused enrollment next year if she didn't dress like a girl. The school says her dress is against Christian values.
What do you think?
https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net...296/10153054_806272456069476_1815133429_n.jpg

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews...dresses-and-behaves-like-a-boy-204748527.html

 

[Aaron]

Agree...........

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

Regardless of whether the school is "right" in declaring her personal appearance to defy "Christian values," it is a private school. They have the right to dictate appearance and behavior of their students. If the grandparents don't like the school's decision, they can move their granddaughter elsewhere.

 

[prophet]

Agree...........

Seconded...

 

[prophet]

Regardless of whether the school is "right" in declaring her personal appearance to defy "Christian values," it is a private school. They have the right to dictate appearance and behavior of their students. If the grandparents don't like the school's decision, they can move their granddaughter elsewhere.

This, too...^^^

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

This, too...^^^

Shoulda noted, that view isn't expressed in the poll, either. Ah well ... :thumbsup:

 

[Zaac]

People are stupid. The grandmother asks "how do you tell a child she has to...?"

She's a CHILD. Parents are supposed to direct so tell her we don't want you dressed like a little boy because you are a girl. It would be different if the little girl was just being a tomboy and I think most folks can distinguish between the two.

But this little girl is dressed up to look like a little boy because they CHOSE to do so.

It's sickening and then they are trying to act like the child has been wronged. Where on earth did they think she was going to school? It's a private Christian school for goodness sake.

 

[North Carolina Tentmaker]

Yes the school is correct.

It is a private Christian School. They have every right to set dress and conduct standards.

I do believe the School should develop a formal dress code they can use in the future so there will be no mistake. It sounds like their current policy is not very specific.

 

[Don]

To underscore what Zaac wrote: we used to ask our security students, just before they graduated, which parts of their training could have been done better. I still don't think it's ever gotten through to our superiors that the students hadn't even had a chance to actually use their training yet, so they had no standard by which to measure what was good and what wasn't.

We've got some societal psychology whackness going on that says "let the child choose for themselves" when the children have no basis by which to measure what they should be choosing.

 

[Jon-Marc]

A private school (especially a Christian school) has the right to set standards that all students must adhere to or go elsewhere. I noticed how the girl looked more like a boy.

I remember a child in the fourth grade who confused me; I couldn't tell if it was a girl or a boy. I asked one day, "Are you a boy or a girl?" The reply was, "I'm a girl." She was dressed like a boy and had long hair, and that was 1956.

 

[Judith]

I find it interesting that someone would want their child to be taught in a Christian school, but not want them to be directed in Christian values. Why bother? Math is math get it is a secular private school. Attending a Christian school should mean you want your child to be directed in biblical principles just as well as the three R's.

It is unfortunate that this child has parents that have such a view as they do. They have removed the child instead of reforming their views. Now the child is left to suffer because of their bad decision and most likely there will be more to come. I would call it legalized child abuse.

I would add this. While I do hold the school did right they do need to make some changes. They do hold some culpability here for this even happening. The school should consider having a dress code where everyone wears the same outfit. The boys with boy's clothing all the same and the girls with girl's clothing all the same. They could also spell out a minimum hair length for the girls and a maximum for the boys. It would solve a lot of problems and keep things like this from happening. In the end the child in this case is the one who loses. I pray all have learned from this experience and the proper changes take place.

 

[Gina B]

Seems rather silly. At that age, a number of kids are unidentifiable if they're wearing jeans and a t-shirt and a pair of sneakers and have a short haircut.

To pick out a kid who has less identifiable masculine or feminine facial features is just plain rude and if the child is already having issues and is in counseling and having been through adoption, exacerbating those issues by forcing her out of the "Christian group" is just plain bone-headed. "You're too different. We can't accept you." Just what the kid needs to hear at this point in her life, right?

I don't know if they are or are not dealing with a child that has been through trauma, but there are hints of it in this story. Forcing a child with any of that in their past to conform or not be loved and accepted is very traumatic and the wrong thing to do, and blaming it on Christ? Excuse me while I go scream...

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

... and if the child is already having issues and is in counseling and having been through adoption, exacerbating those issues by forcing her out of the "Christian group" is just plain bone-headed.

I'd find it very interesting to know where this piece of information came from, given the OP-linked article makes no mention of this being the case, and in fact quotes the grandparents as saying they " ... feel that Sunnie is a completely normal girl and the school’s stance is absolutely unwarranted." Doesn't sound to me like anyone's in therapy.

 

[Zaac]

I'd find it very interesting to know where this piece of information came from, given the OP-linked article makes no mention of this being the case, and in fact quotes the grandparents as saying they " ... feel that Sunnie is a completely normal girl and the school’s stance is absolutely unwarranted." Doesn't sound to me like anyone's in therapy.

They mention the adoption in the video TND. And getting to deal with a foster kid who has been through a bunch of crap for the first 8 years of his life who is now 16, I understand what Gina is saying.

But you don't let all the other evil that previously occurred influence the current doing right. The video shows the little girl in pictures with long hair and looking like a little girl. Something has obviously taken place to influence the desire to look like a little boy. And the grandparents need to nip it in the bud in the words of Andy Griffith.

A conscious CHOICE is being made to cut her hair to make her look like a little boy and it simply IS NOT something that an adult needs to do to a child.

She could act a straight fool and cry from the start of the day to the end. But if I were the grandparents, she still wouldn't be getting that hair cut like that. There is something very wicked at work there and if those folks love Jesus, they should be seeking the help of the church instead of expressing that the child is being labeled and discriminated against.

Somebody needs to tell them to go take a look at HER birth certificate. She was labeled as a brown haired and as a GIRL. They are letting the wickedness of the world try to redefine her.

And contrary to what the grandmother says, the school doesn't appear to have told her that she can't put on jeans and a tshirt and go play in the mud ( no school is letting them do that anyway). They've just said she needs to be dressed like a girl instead of a boy since it's a distraction in class and runs contrary to the Biblical tenets that the school teaches and attempts to follow.

She wants to dress like a little boy. Another kid wants to go to school dressed like a little girl. When do the GROWN people start using the good sense that God has given us and rejecting this wickedness?

 

[Scarlett O.]

• She's 8 and prepubescent. She has no boobs nor hips.
• She's fat. You couldn't see them if she had them.
• She's wearing a cute pixie cut. A style I've ALWAYS wanted to pull off.
• She's wearing jeans and a tee shirt like the overwhelming majority of people wear.
• She likes to play outside.

OH MY GOSH!!!! BY ALL MEANS, LET'S DROP KICK HER FREAKISH AND SINFUL A** OUT OF THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL!!!

'Cause you know little girls like her are headed straight for hell by way of the state penitentiary. And we good Christian folks need to steer clear of those horrible people.

:BangHead: :BangHead: :BangHead:

I've taught many a little girl who couldn't pass for feminine to save their immortal souls when they were young. But they grew up to be quite feminine. It takes some time you know.

And ... this is what we are talking about is it not .... the fate of her immortal soul being based on her hair length and choice of clothing. Don't tell me it isn't. This thread reeks of judgmental hooey.

She can come to my school any day.

I've taught at two Christian schools. I wouldn't go back to either one of them to save MY immortal soul.

 

[Revmitchell]

According to the school and Matt Staver at Liberty Counsel, who is now representing the school, the grandparents have not represented the story accurately.


http://christiannews.net/2014/03/27...tudent-far-beyond-hairstyle-and-tomboy-issue/

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

Short hair, shirts, jeans and "tomboyish" behavior are a far lesser issue than confusion about which restroom to use. I'd say the girl needs help, and the grandparents (great-grandparents?) obviously are clueless, or have an agenda.

 

[Revmitchell]

I would say it appears that her choice of clothes and hair style reflect her chosen sexual identity. It sounds like the school has been fair in dealing with this but the grandparents do not want to hear biblical values.

 

[Zaac]

• She's 8 and prepubescent. She has no boobs nor hips.
• She's fat. You couldn't see them if she had them.
• She's wearing a cute pixie cut. A style I've ALWAYS wanted to pull off.
• She's wearing jeans and a tee shirt like the overwhelming majority of people wear.
• She likes to play outside.

OH MY GOSH!!!! BY ALL MEANS, LET'S DROP KICK HER FREAKISH AND SINFUL A** OUT OF THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL!!!

'Cause you know little girls like her are headed straight for hell by way of the state penitentiary. And we good Christian folks need to steer clear of those horrible people.

:BangHead: :BangHead: :BangHead:

I've taught many a little girl who couldn't pass for feminine to save their immortal souls when they were young. But they grew up to be quite feminine. It takes some time you know.

And ... this is what we are talking about is it not .... the fate of her immortal soul being based on her hair length and choice of clothing. Don't tell me it isn't. This thread reeks of judgmental hooey.

She can come to my school any day.

I've taught at two Christian schools. I wouldn't go back to either one of them to save MY immortal soul.

Again, I have no problem with the clothes because many a tomboy has dressed like that. The problem with me arises with the hair and how SOME ADULT has taken to make this little girl look like a boy.

That child has not said can I get my hair cut like this. If this was just a tomboy issue, they could have dressed her in the jeans, etc, and stuck her hair in a ponytail and she could have played in the mud all she wanted to.

But the hair is a dead giveaway that there is something else going on here.

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

I've taught at two Christian schools. I wouldn't go back to either one of them to save MY immortal soul.

I'm sure they appreciate that as well.

Again, I have no problem with the clothes because many a tomboy has dressed like that. The problem with me arises with the hair and how SOME ADULT has taken to make this little girl look like a boy.

That child has not said can I get my hair cut like this. If this was just a tomboy issue, they could have dressed her in the jeans, etc, and stuck her hair in a ponytail and she could have played in the mud all she wanted to.

But the hair is a dead giveaway that there is something else going on here.

And the Rev's link a couple posts back seems to confirm that.