When changes were made to their school dress code, students staged a school-wide protest, refusing to go to class. After students aggressively confronted the principal and called him “racist,” he issued a shocking response.
When students at London’s Pimlico Academy took offense to the new principal’s dress code, they devised a plan to reverse the policy and shame the authority figure into submission.
In the era of “woke” culture, social justice, and equity over equality, children are taught to be activists. Despite steadily falling behind in academics, these tiny militants are more than proficient in vocalizing their madcap demands and pressuring authorities to cave, fearing the career-destroying “racist” label.
Shortly after becoming principal, Daniel Smith reformed the school’s uniform policy to include a more detailed description of appearances that were permitted and prohibited. The rules that prompted students and teachers to walk out of class revolved around hairstyles and headscarves, which they pointed to as evidence that the principal is “racist” and “Islamophobic,” according to the Daily Mail.
There was widespread opposition to the new code which required that, for all students, “hair must be maintained in a conventional and understated style.” They were warned that hairstyles “that hide the face or may block the view of others in class” would not be permitted. If headscarves were worn, they had to be “black or navy blue” — not too colourful, in other words — and “look conventional.”
Students claimed that the rules concerning hairstyles targeted black classmates’ afros. However, the school clarified that it was meant to prohibit invasive styles of all cultures, including mohawks, large ballet buns, and overly teased hair.
In response, students organized a school-wide protest, ordering classmates to sit on the tarmac outside the building in protest. Children chanted slogans aimed at reversing the uniform policy and pressuring Smith to resign. Students even confronted the principal as he tried to get into the building, screaming demands at him and accusing him of racism.
Along with teachers, students chanted “we want change” as they sat on the tarmac. The walls of the school were defaced with graffiti which read “white schools for brown kids — are u mad” and “ain’t no black in the Union Jack” in a bid to force the school to ban the national flag of the UK.
Incredibly, their crass tactics worked. The same day, Smith issued a statement not only apologizing to students but praising them for their brutish strategy. He canceled the policy, agreeing that all hairstyles and accessories are permitted as long as they are “conventional,” which is up for interpretation. He also promised that the national flag would come down immediately.
“Our students are bright, courageous, intelligent young people, passionate about the things that matter to them and acutely attuned to injustice. I admire them hugely for this though I regret that it came to this,” Smith wrote. “I want to conclude by apologising: to students who continue to inspire me daily and who have not always had their voices listened to closely enough…”
However, Smith’s groveling apology and conversion to woke theology weren’t enough to save him. In a humiliating blow, the National Union of Teachers members at Pimlico Academy voted almost unanimously to pass a motion of no confidence in Smith’s position at the school.
The principal issued reasonable rules concerning hair and accessories. In their duplicitousness, the students falsely connected the policy to racism, slandering their principal in the hopes of having more freedom over their dress.
The school has taught its students that all they have to do is cry “racism” if they don’t like the rules and officials will back down. On the other hand, the principal has learned that caving never satisfies the woke mob and it certainly won’t bring salvation.
