I agree that it's time to stop being so hung-up on hair length, whether it's girls with buzz cuts or boys with long hair. Acceptable hair lengths vary among cultures, and as long as the style isn't too outlandish or dyed a weird color, we should let kids wear their hair whatever length they like.

I can understand why so many schools are reverting to traditional dress codes, considering how kids are dressing these days, but as long as they're modestly dressed and reasonably well-groomed, hair length isn't an issue that deserves so much attention from educators.

I think dress codes - when applied strictly like with uniforms and your Texan hair example - is crippling to our children's development. It may protect them from ridicule, or keep them "in line" with their studies, but being made fun of and left out in school was a major learning experience for me, and if parents handle it properly, bullies can learn a lot from their experiences to, and we all become better people for it.

I've had hot pink hair since 8th grade, and in high school I shaved it into a mohawk - which I have to this day, and sported proudly at my wedding. Wild? Outlandish? Unnatural? Was I teased? Was I outcast? Of course! But it made (and makes) me feel comfortable to be different, even if those were the side effects. I had a male friend in elementary school that was called a girl for wearing his hair long, but that didn't stop him from growing up and living his dream - and he really is!

I plan to allow my children (when I have them) to choose their hairstyles for themselves. With so few things - if any - within our control when we are young, hair can be such a trivial matter but can be an empowering source of responsibility for a young child. And, so long as you are able to talk with them rationally about the possible ramifications of their hair choices, it can serve as many a valuable learning experience that most children never experience - in any way - until they are much older.

I think that forcing female children to have one standard and male children to have another is sexual discrimination. There are many cultures that embrace or endorse long hair, and eventually there will be a huge lawsuit about this very topic.

It's very sad that they are requiring that, in my opinion. Not only should children be encouraged to find their own identity, but they should be encouraged to see that not everyone is the same. If they are told that "good" boys have short hair and dress a certain way, and "good" girls dress in a feminine way, they are going to grow up narrow-minded.

Some of these children may be forming a different gender identity than their biology suggests, as well. How sad for a little boy who may not even be sure that he wants to be a boy to be told "this is how you will be, this is the only acceptable choice, and if you deviate in any way, we will reject you completely."

Children should be raised in an environment of inclusiveness, where no one is cast out for being different. It is also ridiculous to attach so much meaning to something so trivial, and an inch or two of his hair could not possibly be interfering with anyone else's learning.

Very unfortunate.

I think it's very sad that schools these days frown on children and youth being individuals and expressing themselves. When I started high school, there were kids wearing crazy colored hair, chains, black leather, all kinds of things that would probably get them kicked out. But because everyone was different, I learned how to deal with that difference and accept that not everyone's the same. I think enforcing uniformity will teach children to be intolerant of difference and creativity. Is that really what we want?