Hold on to your hats, parents, we've got another "kid in trouble for a t-shirt" story. Only the Virginia teenager who was told his Duck Dynasty shirt was inappropriate for school may surprise you. His reaction to the school putting its foot down on his Uncle Si tee is one for the record books.
Fans of the A&E reality show know Si Robertson as the older bearded man (as opposed to all the other bearded gents) prone to malapropisms. Hence the saying on teen Hunter Spain's shirt that ruffled feathers at Dinwiddie High School: "I will hurt you physically and metaphysically."
School officials said the threat of violence was inappropriate and told Spain to turn it inside out. So what did he do?
He took the offending shirt off and put on a new one. As Hunter said:
I'm not going to look stupid in front of all of these young ladies in the school. So, I decided to get a different T-shirt.
Wait a second. A kid who actually just ... follows the rules?
Go ahead, talk amongst yourself. I do believe I'm a bit verklempt.
Ahhh, where was I? Oh, right, a kid who saw the reason in some reasonable rules and followed through. I like this kid. And I love how he referred to the girls in his school as "young ladies." What a nice Southern gentleman (kind of reminds me of my husband, who was raised about an hour from Dinwiddie).
I'm not actually sure how this even became news -- it seems perhaps the kid's mother brought it to the media's attention? But the fact is, she should be proud of her kid! He did the right thing here, and that's the "real" story.
Just because a school tells a kid to turn a shirt inside out does not mean the kid is being wrong. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't.
And it behooves us as parents to teach our kids the difference, and to teach them how to respond. Not everything is reason to throw a hissy and try to get your way.
My faith in the future is dependent on kids like Hunter Spain, kids who understand that the world does not actually center around them.
So here's my thanks to him, a bright spot in a crazy world! May he wear that t-shirt with pride ... at home!
What would you have done if that was your kid? Would you have been angry with the school?
Image via My Tee Spot