Gender studies

Yesterday was crazy sock day--which I participated in as you know--as well as crazy hair day--which accidentally happens to me regularly.

None of my students wore crazy socks but a lot of the girls and a few boys did crazy hair.

One boy, who normally has a carrot red crew cut, was sporting bright blue hair.  He said, "My mom did it."

Another boy, who normally has a distinct part and slicked down hair like a Ken doll, had a fauxhawk.  The girls noticed and sort of swooned.  "I like your hair," several of them said, surrounding him.

He looked uneasy.

"You should always wear it like that," they crooned.

He looked like he regretted abandoning the part and slicked down hair.

As for the girls, the majority of them had crazy hair.  Some of it was complicated and looked like it had taken some time.  A few of them had toys tied into their hair and there were a lot of bows and crazy twists.

A group of non native English speakers goes with the ELL teacher every day.  They came back with crazy hair.  One of them is a boy and he had three tiny pony tails spiking out of the top of his head.  Everyone laughed along with him, enjoying the joke.

A few hours later he pointed to his head and said, "Teacher, this hurts."

One of the girls with lots of hair tied in lots of crazy twists that resembled a highly coiffed mane of a show horse, said matter of factly, "Mine has hurt all day."  That didn't mean she was going to do anything about it.  She wanted to keep it that way.

The boy wanted those rubber bands out so I carefully pulled them out while he winced theatrically.  The girls laughed.  Having their hair pulled for styling is just a fact of life for them.

Who knew crazy hair day would emphasize so clearly a difference between boys and girls?