Mom slams 'sexist' school policy prohibiting her son from having long hair

A mom in the UK has hit out against schools' "sexist" policies that prevent male pupils from having long hair.

Bonnie Miller has helped son Farouk James amass more than 275,000 followers on Instagram by sharing the "organic documentation of her son's journey through philanthropy, childhood, travel & natural hair", as per his Instagram bio.

Woman faints live on-air after having 12-inches of hair cut off:

According to Miller, the decision to allow eight-year-old Farouk to grow out his naturally textured hair was "cultural", Yahoo Lifestyle reports, as he was inspired by his father's Ghanian family not to cut his hair until he was three.

But as his hair grew, young Farouk - who also works as a child model - became attached to his "unique and beautiful" hair.

However, while researching secondary schools for her son, Bonnie realized that many uphold a strict policy that prohibits boys from having long hair - including the mother's first choice, Fulham Boys School in West London.

Miller believes the regulations are "out of date" and discriminatory against children of color.

Writing in an Instagram post, Miller says:

"Forcing children to cut their hair is totally against human rights and I will not give up trying to persuade governments to put legislation in place to protect children from these outdated, punishing rules.

"Farouk hasn’t done anything wrong and YOU REJECT HIM! He will say good bye to his friends as they all get accepted into the schools he wants to desperately wants to attend.

"THE PRINCIPAL SAYS IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THE RULES, FIND ANOTHER SCHOOL, BUT YOU KNOW OUR OPTIONS ARE LIMITED WHEN IT COMES TO SCHOOLS WITH GOOD RESULTS IN LONDON. I am trolled by people who have been very nasty and told me rules are rules and we must cut his hair. But they forget, it was only in 1986 that corporal punishment was outlawed in schools.

"Imagine, it was actually legal for a child to be taken into a room by a strange adult and physically punished. I hope one day soon we will look back on the bad gender discriminating policies in schools and be shocked these rules ever existed and school will be inclusive to all."

On their official website, Fulham Boys School states:

"Hairstyles should be tidy and of a conventional nature, no extreme haircuts including sculpting, shaving, dreadlocks or braiding are allowed. The maximum hair length is above the collar and the minimum hair length is a number 2 cut.

"Hair must be one natural colour. Parents are strongly advised to seek advice on the acceptability of hairstyles that may be considered 'different' before allowing their son to adopt such a style. School reserves the right to insist on re-styling if it considers the style inappropriate."

Despite the fact Farouk won't be attending secondary school for another two years, his mom has revealed that he is "terrified" at the prospect of being forced to cut his hair in order to be accepted.

Speaking to Good Morning America, Miller said: "It's a racial issue. We all know what kind of boys would have dreadlocks and braids. Generally, it's black boys or mixed boys. We're not talking about Caucasian children here [...] it's very unlikely."

She added: "I'm going to talk up, and I might get backlash or I may even be risking my child's chance of even going to these schools now, because now they know my name. I'm willing to take the risk because it's not just for the good of Farouk, it's the good of all."

In fact, Miller feels so strongly against the policies that she has launched a petition to the UK's Houses of Parliament requesting the British government to prohibit schools from enforcing such restrictive policies regarding children's hair.