Express yourself or have your education- which one will you choose?
I'm hoping that the title of this post is preparing you for the ridiculous scenario that I am about to write about. I hope you're sat there thinking "who the hell has to choose between expressing themselves and their education? Everyone gets an education, surely". Well, that may not be the case anymore. Please, read on. I hope this provides you with laughs and I hope many teachers read this and alter their opinion on the strict uniform rules their school has set in place.
I am always keen to fight against people who tell me what to do regarding my appearance. At secondary school I was constantly pulled up for having painted nails, wearing flower accessories in my hair and forever having my jewellery taken off of me- only for me to come in wearing something else the next day! I was determined to show my school that my education and learning was more important than how I looked, and that whilst they deemed my accessories a distraction, until a fellow pupil came to me and complained about me distracting them from their education, I would not come in looking plain and boring.
So, you can imagine how I felt when I was sent this shocking article about a natural red head being threatened to have her education suspended until she changed the "brightness" of her hair. You can read the full article here.
Whilst the 17 year old student had admitted to dying her hair a shade of auburn, she is a natural red head anyway, and her hair has been the same colour for the last three years. If her hair were lime green, electric blue or fluorescent pink, then I may see why the school were deeming her hair to be "too bright". However, regardless of whether it's a dyed shade or not, auburn is a natural hair colour- and it's her natural hair colour anyway, she has just chosen to alter the tone slightly.
What I find most ridiculous is that the school she attends are threatening to suspend her education completely if she does not dye her hair to a muted down, natural colour. If this statement says nothing else, it says how the school cares a lot more about the appearance of their students rather than their students education. This story has hit a lot of national newspapers, and is spreading like wildfire, so I can't imagine that this school is going to have a positive reputation for very long.
The age old reasoning that every school uses is "you've got to set an example to younger pupils". For heaven's sake. Stop being so archaic, open your eyes and realise that these younger pupils do not care about what colour someones hair is. And even if they did, so what? Maybe seeing these older pupils being allowed to be the creative individuals that they want to be will encourage and inspire the younger pupils- something that schools all over the country seem to fail to do.
Forever telling students to be confident, to be brave, to be smart, to be individuals- and yet when the students do follow these instructions, they are criticized, and usually publicly. At my secondary school, we were never privately taken aside and told to remove whatever "inappropriate" item we were wearing. We were always pulled up in front of the whole class and made to feel embarrassed about what we had done- all we were doing was expressing our identity, being ourselves. Something that the adults in our lives are supposed to encourage us to do.
I think schools take how their students look way too seriously. When it becomes a reason for expulsion and prevents a student from receiving their education, I think it becomes full on ridiculous. If the student is attending school every day, working hard, meeting deadlines- and you know what, even if they aren't- it really doesn't matter how they look. Education is a privilege that not everyone in the world can afford. We shouldn't let how a student looks decide whether or not they are allowed that privilege.
Pink hair, red hair, blue hair, green hair- it's all just hair, and everybody has it. No one replaces their learning time by staring at someones hair colour for a full hour. Schools need to encourage self love, self confidence and a persons unique identity and their ability to express it, and focus more on educating rather than shaming people for the way they look.
Love from,
Florence Grace
What do you think? Do schools fail to encourage individuality and self expression? Is uniform really that important? Let me know in the comments below!
I am always keen to fight against people who tell me what to do regarding my appearance. At secondary school I was constantly pulled up for having painted nails, wearing flower accessories in my hair and forever having my jewellery taken off of me- only for me to come in wearing something else the next day! I was determined to show my school that my education and learning was more important than how I looked, and that whilst they deemed my accessories a distraction, until a fellow pupil came to me and complained about me distracting them from their education, I would not come in looking plain and boring.
So, you can imagine how I felt when I was sent this shocking article about a natural red head being threatened to have her education suspended until she changed the "brightness" of her hair. You can read the full article here.
Whilst the 17 year old student had admitted to dying her hair a shade of auburn, she is a natural red head anyway, and her hair has been the same colour for the last three years. If her hair were lime green, electric blue or fluorescent pink, then I may see why the school were deeming her hair to be "too bright". However, regardless of whether it's a dyed shade or not, auburn is a natural hair colour- and it's her natural hair colour anyway, she has just chosen to alter the tone slightly.
What I find most ridiculous is that the school she attends are threatening to suspend her education completely if she does not dye her hair to a muted down, natural colour. If this statement says nothing else, it says how the school cares a lot more about the appearance of their students rather than their students education. This story has hit a lot of national newspapers, and is spreading like wildfire, so I can't imagine that this school is going to have a positive reputation for very long.
The age old reasoning that every school uses is "you've got to set an example to younger pupils". For heaven's sake. Stop being so archaic, open your eyes and realise that these younger pupils do not care about what colour someones hair is. And even if they did, so what? Maybe seeing these older pupils being allowed to be the creative individuals that they want to be will encourage and inspire the younger pupils- something that schools all over the country seem to fail to do.
Forever telling students to be confident, to be brave, to be smart, to be individuals- and yet when the students do follow these instructions, they are criticized, and usually publicly. At my secondary school, we were never privately taken aside and told to remove whatever "inappropriate" item we were wearing. We were always pulled up in front of the whole class and made to feel embarrassed about what we had done- all we were doing was expressing our identity, being ourselves. Something that the adults in our lives are supposed to encourage us to do.
I think schools take how their students look way too seriously. When it becomes a reason for expulsion and prevents a student from receiving their education, I think it becomes full on ridiculous. If the student is attending school every day, working hard, meeting deadlines- and you know what, even if they aren't- it really doesn't matter how they look. Education is a privilege that not everyone in the world can afford. We shouldn't let how a student looks decide whether or not they are allowed that privilege.
Pink hair, red hair, blue hair, green hair- it's all just hair, and everybody has it. No one replaces their learning time by staring at someones hair colour for a full hour. Schools need to encourage self love, self confidence and a persons unique identity and their ability to express it, and focus more on educating rather than shaming people for the way they look.
Love from,
Florence Grace
What do you think? Do schools fail to encourage individuality and self expression? Is uniform really that important? Let me know in the comments below!
Comments
Post a Comment