Dunce Hats for Caprock

       You see it often in the workplace, on sporting  teams, in families, or in groups of close friends--shaving of heads as a sign of solidarity of someone who is fighting cancer with chemotherapy, a treatment that in most cases causes the patient's hair to fall out. Imagine how grateful a cancer patient would feel looking into the mirror at a bald head on top of a body wasting away due to the nausea of the treatment at the start of each day, to be able to walk into a room and see a roomful of friends, families or even strangers who have as a sign of support and solidarity shaved their heads. Priceless and probably a great jump start in the patient's own immune system's efforts to fight the cancer.
       Those encouraging bald heads are usually adults which is what makes the news story coming out of Caprock Academy in Grand Junction Colorado so uplifting and moving yet at the same time so disappointing. An 11 year old girl friend of a 9 year old girl Kamryn had lost her hair due to chemotherapy. In a move far beyond her years, young Kamryn shaved her head in support of her friend, only to be banned by her school Caprock Academy for violating the dress code which bans bald heads. Such stupidity would be bad enough but it really becomes outrageous when one learns of the Baldrick Foundation which has raised over $200 million from shaving over 85,000 heads. The President of Caprock and its entire Board should be at minimum be required to wear dunce caps while Kamryn's friend is in chemo and ideally should join the fund raising efforts of Baldrick and have their own heads shaved in when  support.

Dunce  Hats for Caprock

When it comes to teaching values, ethics, compassion and things that matter, only an F Caprock Academy deserves

Since when does preventing a bald head a good learning environment preserve?

Childhood cancer is a sad fact of life; kids struggle with chemo and lose their hair

Bodies weakened, looking different at Caprock would a cancer patient be allowed to be in chair?

More so than at any time in a child's young life, her body needs the support of friends

We are not talking about a few days of missed school, but a life that may too early end

My children have from childhood cancer or other disease been spared

As a parent and a human being, I applaud young Kamryn's support of a friend by shaving off her hair

As to Caprock Academy, outrage tops the anger meter, tops the charts, not enough words to express

"Safety, uniformity, environment not to distract" is their reason for a code of dress

That bans a nine year old with compassion and empathy way beyond her years

Who shaved her head to help her friend allay her cancer fears.

The earlier F now goes lower and it really should be a notice Caprock administrators the parents should expel

When we find that Baldrick Foundation has raised millions to fight the disease by shaving heads toward a cure to us propel

350,000 shaves, 205 million dollars and not a gangbanging skinhead in sight

How many hairless dying children encouraged by the acts to carry on their fight?

What a teachable moment on how to our less fortunate afflicted we should relate and behave

Caprock's President and Board should be lining up, dollars in hand, seeking a Baldrick head shave. 

© April 13, 2014 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet