Should he be allowed to go to school with this hairstyle?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail....lishment-mohican.html

/// I would feel ridiculous without it, it makes me an individual. All my mates like it and some want it too.' ///

Yes a ridiculous individual it would seem.

[Kromovaracun]

@paul: Here here. I'm glad to see someone else is horrified by proud intolerance.

[jodyemm]

There is nothing wrong with the hairstyle

[Kromovaracun]

It would be what I just wrote.

[ludwig]

I think you're just being deliberately silly krom. Some people agree with the school's stance on the matter, some don't, but neither position is provably the 'correct' one.

If you want to insist that yours is, then please present the proof, because so far you haven't done so.

[Kromovaracun]

Alrighty. Let's review my main arguments, and I'll present evidence where appropriate.

1) It is worth questioning rules and why they are there.
[This isn't an evidence-based claim. It strikes me as a fundmental truth.]

2) School uniforms represent an arbitrary and imposed set of rules.

Therefore: School uniform policies deserve to be questioned.

1) The presence of uniforms, in developed countries, have no discernible impact upon education.

Evidence:
-This 1998 study by Brunsma and Rockquemore: http://sociology.miss...20on%20Attendance.pdf

This is admittedly an old study, but even in more recent times, the author, David Brunsma, is still talking about it and is still opposed (read his comments in this article: http://www.guardian.c...ool-uniform-results). There are some others as well, I believe. Will gladly dig them up given some time.

- The widespread nature of non-uniform education in Germany, France, the United States and Canada and other countries, and the fact that this seems to have none of the catastrophic effects that many on here predict it would have here.

2) If school uniforms do not actually benefit education, then there is little other convincing reason to keep them (this is what I spent most of my time refuting, and as far as I can remember I have had nobody come back to me - each of my responses has ultimately been ignored.)

Therefore: We should not sustain school uniform policies.

1) The existing arguments for school uniformity are not based on the direct aim of benefiting children - or maybe they are intended to, but don't for the reasons outlined above. They are, in truth, based on: adults wanting to feel in control, adults being reluctant to help or even tolerate children who are different, and adults not wanting children to question the rules.

Evidence:
- "School is not the place to be a rebel, or 'individual' in appearance. I am fed up of people bleating about their 'rights' whilst totally ignoring their obligations. "

-"as a kid, he (like or not) has to do as he's told."

- "If they cut you in half, what's written inside should be the name of your school ... not "I'm an individual". "

- "Uniformity unfortunately often has to prevail over individual happiness and development"

- "School is not the place to “challenge authority”."

----

Now, all of these arguments are much wider in scope than this particular case - but it does bear on it. I'm attacking why we believe in the rules which have given rise to this particular case.

If you'd like me to go more in depth or gather more evidence, I will happily do so given a bit of time. But I'm aware that I tend to over-write as it is, and people may start wanting to skip it if they don't already....

[Kromovaracun]

I'd also add that what I'm saying above is fundamentally contradictory to what you're saying - there's no way we can both be right, so one of us must be wrong. If it's me, I'd want to know.

[sara3]

do you think we're all going to be worn down, and just agree with you?

[starone]

Poor little sod. I feel sorry for him, especially so after seeing those awful parents.

[sherrardk]

I read the first few posts but I am can't be arsed to read the other 200+. With a few exceptions, when we reach adulthood we conform to an accepted norm in order to gain employment and earn a wage to keep ourselves and our family. The same goes for school. Any parent who thinks it is ok to have a non-conformist hair style at a normal comprehensive is obviously deluded. Pupils wear uniform so that they are neither distracted by or bullied for the lack of designer labels. Any parent or pupil who thinks that a school with a uniform (which must be the majority of schools) is going to impose its uniform policy and then say 'no, that's ok, do what you like with your hair, dye it pink with green spots if you like' is obviously either an idiot or is attempting to play the system.

[lcg]

i still think his haircut is stupid and if he was that clever, he'd read the school rules and not get himself banned. the parents have no-one to blame but themselves. they are cutting off their son's nose to spite their faces. also, i'd like to see them home school him and maintain his a grade status. if they want him in school, then they should abide by the rules. simple, really x

[LoftyLottie]

Amazed this is still continuing

AOG quoting me:

"A teacher at my son's school who had taught at non uniform schools overseas said that children learn far better when they are comfortable in clothes they like wearing and feel confident in and I can see why that might be.///

AOG: You failed to state where those overseas schools where.

But how could that person possibly know, that by wearing what those overseas pupils liked possibly improved their learning?"


***

I don't know where the schools were AOG.
Perhaps I should have said the teacher in question said that the pupils wearing comfortable clothes that made them feel confident improved their attitude to school and thus improved their performance and learning.

Personally, I think school uniforms are usually horrible and uncomfortable and I can't see what they achieve. I hated mine and I hated wearing it and I didn't wear it with pride. None of us did as far as I can remember and I went to a very posh girls school. We did everything we could to make our uniforms look trendy and the minute we got out of sight of the school off came our blazers and hats.

I don't see what is wrong with people ( and kids are people) wanting to look individual. I can see the need for dressing alike when they are taking part in sport. I can see why the police, armed forces, fire service need uniforms - but not why school children do.

[Kromovaracun]

"
sara3
do you think we're all going to be worn down, and just agree with you? "

Nope.

[askyourgran]

The boy's hair looks odd, his parents look odd. They have obviously tried to kit him out in a uniform that doesn't fit very well, probably meant to last him throughout his time at school. He is embarrassing but his parents obviously don't think so, and I suspect they can't afford/don't know any better.

[LoftyLottie]

However, if the school has these silly rules about hair styles, and the parents knew about the rules then I would agree that they should have to conform to the rules.

I can see nothing wrong with the way this child looks - I don't like his hair, but that is just a personal opinion. His hair is clean, doesn't get in the way and is inoffensive.

[jackthehat]

<< Item 1+ Item 2 = Therefore: We should not sustain school uniform policies.>>
OR,
"Emphatically there really is no difference between students who are forced to wear uniforms and those who are not"
Prof David Brunsma
= Let the uniforms remain as they have no discernible negative impact on education'.
(His study was carried out in the US where the introduction of uniforms is quite recent and for very different reasons than in UK).

I have no doubt that you (as it would appear to be a mere 5 years, or so, since you finally shrugged off your uniform) come to this argument as a passionate bright-eyed evangelist for the 'individual' and are certainly able to back up your argument to that effect. However, we oldies (who at the time harboured the same resentments to the uniforms we were forced into, really, we did) can look back through the prism of time and see that a uniform signifies so much more than simply attachment to a particular educational establishment.
I don't intend to rehash the points raised; some I agree with, some less so....but I don't believe that something should be jettisoned purely because there are some people who prefer to mark themselves out as 'individuals' and can think of no other way of doing so...

[jno]

can't see anything wrong with Kromo politely presenting arguments, that's what the News section's for. My school thought uniforms were good because they were egalitarian, and if you wanted to stand out you were free to do so in exams or in sports. I had and have no quarrel with that.

[askyourgran]

We have three good schools where I live, they all have uniform codes. It is nice to see well behaved tidy schoolchildren in the town at lunchtime, identifiable by their uniform. I feel sorry for the Mohican boy, he is too young to say what he feels and probably wishes he looked normal like the other children.