I have always had mixed feelings about dress codes. I get the reasoning, but frequently find myself irritated by their nature.
A teenager who got his hair cut to help with his severe eczema was suspended from school after teachers deemed the trim too ‘extreme’.
Having looked at the pictures, all I see is a short back and sides. I was forced as a child to have my hair cut in a similar style – a little longer at the back, but not much. Who would have thought that short back and sides would ever be regarded as extreme?
Strood Academy headteacher Jon Richardson said their haircut policy aims to bring ‘equality and focus’ to pupils at the school in Kent.
What does that fatuous twaddle even mean?
But 15-year-old student Liam’s parents branded his removal from class and placement in a behavioural unit due to his skin fade – which he wears to cool his head due to his eczema condition – ‘ridiculous’.
On this occasion, I’m with the parents.
The school’s policy states: ‘No extreme haircuts. eg: Skin fades, graphics, lines and must be a minimum of grade one cut (senior leadership teams discretion).’
Ah. So, make it up as you go along, then? Arbitrary rules made up on the spot. Yeah, I’m with the parents all the way here. If you are going to have a dress policy, keep it simple and clearly understood with no room for discretion.
Reading your post l was expecting to see a picture of a skinhead but nothing of the sort (the rules actually appear to allow that).
As you say, nothing at all extreme – a little larey maybe but within the ‘normal’ range for his age group.
Completely baffled by the school’s decision here.
Since the kid has a medical condition I would think that he has a case for claiming some kind of discrimination. Bringing equality by being discriminatory is wonderfully Orwellian. As I have mentioned before when commenting on these kinds of cases, back when I was at school boys got hassled for having their hair too long. It would seem that whatever is fashionable at the time is what they are always against.
The school staff responsible need to find something constructive to do: educating the school’s pupils might occur to them when they come down from their self-righteous bullying trip.
Why don’t the school go the full North Korea route and just have a list of five acceptable haircuts?