Colton Southern is a model seventh-grader but he learned on Dec. 10 that not everyone shares his love for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" when administrators from his school, George Junior High School, told him to zip up his jacket and hide his Stormtrooper shirt because it was banned for showing a weapon.
Colton was wearing official 'Star Wars' merchandise depicting a Stormtrooper holding a blaster rifle and labeled with the logo for "The Force Awakens."
The school's action would probably be more understandable due to increasing violence in schools. However, the action may also have been a little too exaggerated since not only is a blaster rifle a fictional weapon used by fictional soldiers, but Colton's shirt is a very obvious reference to the "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which is days away from its theatrical release.
"You're talking about a 'Star Wars' t-shirt, a week before the biggest movie of the year comes out. It has nothing to do with guns or making a stand. It's just a 'Star Wars' shirt," Joe Southern, Colton's father, said in an interview.
"It's political correctness run amok," Joe claimed, and many parents would probably agree with him. He also argued that his son has worn the shirt on several other occasions but that it is the first time he got in trouble for it.
School officials claim that Colton got off easy and that he could have been sent home and faced in-school suspension or some other harsh punishment for his violation of the dress code.
Lamar Consolidated Independent School District, however, stands by its decision and clarified that the school handbook specifically states the banning of "symbols oriented toward violence" in its dress code. Perhaps the school handbook needs to be updated to say "real or fictional."
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" arrives in theaters on Dec. 18.
