A new term, another ‘I don’t want to play the game’ story.
A mother was left furious after her 14-year-old daughter was suspended on her first day back from school due to her bright red hair and false eyelashes.
Schoolgirl Ella Harding was sent home from Oakgrove School, in Milton Keynes, within an hour of arriving on the first day of term.
Ella, was told her dyed hair and stick-on eyelashes were against the academy’s uniform policy.
Oakgrove School’s uniform policy stats that student’s hair colour should be all one colour or close to the student;s natural hair tone.
Her mother, April, told the MK Citizen that Ella had spent around 40 per cent of her time in isolation or at home for similar reasons.
My sympathy here is zero. Indeed, it is in minus figures. You can argue the merits or otherwise about school uniform policies and I have, indeed, felt some of them are downright anal. However, this rule seems pretty mild to me and obeying it would cause no harm (the mental health defence doesn’t wash its face, frankly as it is used far too often these days). They set the rules and they let parents know. They don’t keep it a secret until the first day of term. If parents – yes, parents – choose to ignore those rules, then penalties apply. That’s how it works, so why the surprise?
If this is all too much, then home-school. Problem solved. Actually, as a sibling of mine discovered, it solves all sorts of problems, but that is another discussion.
Personal responsibility. Actions have consequences. Concepts that seem to be a complete mystery to a certain demographic. For these people, everything bad that happens to them is somebody else’s fault.
The converse to this is, as you have mentioned, is kidults who never left school going on a power trip and bullying children just because they can. In this case the uniform requirements are perfectly reasonable so anyone who can’t stick to them doesn’t have a case.
I do find it amusing that often kids are incurring the ire of the school authorities for having their hair too short. When I was at school the crime was having your hair too long. This, to me, says a lot about the mindset of those that love to enforce such rules.
I expect the Government will announce a ‘probe’ into uniform requirements soon. Economy – couldn’t give toss. Foreign wars – couldn’t give a toss. But school uniforms? That’s almost like gender isn’t it?
(A big scoop of sarcasm)
It gets tedious, doesn’t it. I’m shocked that I got called out for that thing I did that I knew was wrong.
I don’t know why the papers still bother with these people. Are they that desperate for content, or are they just taking the piss out of them?
They are desperate for content. It’s why they trawl social media for stories like this.