I am going to choose to see this as a positive story - hear me out.
What we have here are kids, under the thumb of an oppressive, authoritarian bureaucracy, doing something for charity - despite warnings of the consequences - because it was the right thing to do. Following through with a promise made. And their peers recognizing that this was right, and standing up for him by walking out.
The story here isn’t about the bureaucracy, or punishment - pissant tyrants with “zero-tolerance” policies abound, and are worth exactly as much attention as you give them (I choose “beneath contempt” myself).
This is a story about small acts of heroism - about not folding against administrative pressure and stupid policy. This is a story about the future generation doing the right thing. There’s some hope here after all. Very heartening!
And - his “punishment” - being taught “in isolation”. He’s learning that in many cases, the bureaucracy is toothless. The next time this comes around, for him or his friends, he can do this without fear, knowing the school can’t teach everyone in isolation - and will force the school to change policy, to save face. His entire class is learning the power of not obeying the rules on occasion.
Bravo, Rhys! You made the right decision here, don’t let them tell you differently. Keep thinking with your own head - I don’t know you, but I’m proud of you.
I grew up in the UK in the 1990s and by then the skinhead look had already lost much of its association with racism. The gays had reclaimed it, the kids had reclaimed it, and it was fairly common even then in comprehensive schools not run by petty authoritarian weirdos.
I grew up in the UK during the height of the skinhead thing, and I agree that this may have been the origin of the school rule. Skinheads were dedicated to making the lives of South Asians a misery in my home town. A shaven head was a gang sign, and schools rightly ban these.
The headmaster was still a dick though, as he could easily have classed this as “a stunt for charity” rather than a haircut, a fashionable expression of a lifestyle. Put the kid’s before and after picture on some corridor corkboards and crow about Look What Our Boy Rhys Is Doing For Our Community, or something. But that would mean everybody would win, and it looks like that’s not on his to-do list.
Here is the rule that the family of the boy agreed to as a condition of admission to the school:
“Hair – All long hair to be tied back in areas where health & safety is a priority. No stripes, braids or additions of any kind. No shaven heads, no tramlines, no words, pictures or logos cut into hair styles. Natural hair colourings only – no colours such as pink, red, purple or ‘badger’ colouring.”
I have a teenager. She thinks that rules are there only for her to argue in a lawyerly, almost jesuitical manner, unless I draw bright lines that can’t be argued across. She doesn’t have many rules and some have significant wiggle room, and she is generally a excellent kid, and no trouble, but when the hard rules get bent, the exceptions are then used to bludgeon me an the altar of the great goddess consistency. Unless I can reproduce my internal thinking perfectly to show why this situation isn’t “just like the last time” AND get her to understand and accept it, I lose every time. I am the worst daddy ever and her life is ruined. THE DRAMA! Try multiplying that by 250 or 300 individuals who have no filial devotion to you. And you wonder why the school is run by hard asses.
"(His mother) said that Rhys’s school had telephoned to warn her about
its policy on hair cut too short but by that stage her son had already
collected a lot of his sponsorship money.
“So he said ‘I’ve got to do this mam’,” she said.
The school said in a statement on Friday: “The pupil in question and
his mother were informed of the consequences of breaking the uniform
and appearance rules prior to doing so.”
Yeah, the administrator could cut the kid some slack , but it was at the administrator’s own peril of not being taken seriously ever again. They gave the kid fair warning, and he proceeded anyway. That says to me he accepted the consequences, for what ever reason, good or bad. That shouldn’t be an issue, unless we all want to advocate rules for those who would keep them, and just back down on everyone else.The real conversation that needs to happen is whether the rule needs tuning for the future, not whether this kid was treated unfairly. I rail about stupid rules at my kid’s school all the time, but usually once they are explained to me, I can at least see the thinking behind the rule,even if I don’t agree with it. Transcend the impulse to automatic outrage.
And what if he had alopecia! Or if he had a ringworm in the shape of a swastika on his forehead! Your objection is a lil’ over the top, as losing one’s hair from a medical treatment is a tad different than willingly shaving one’s head, especially when you know about the rule in advance. And you assume that the headmaster is incapable of distinguishing between the two. Same goes for the religious based swooning down thread from your objection. Hardass=/=dim wit.
I can see you point. Making sure you are taken seriously ultimately trumps providing an education for a child. It’s also more important to enforce arbitrary rules than it is to use good judgement and discretion in the application of those rules. After all, questioning authority and doing the right thing despite the rules is not a good thing. Right?
Or, you could transcend the impulse to automatic acquiescence.
Then the rule needs to be changed to include context.
Here’s something that could be added…
“The Administrator is responsible to ensure that context is examined in certain situations that cannot be illustrated by the implications of this policy.”
Another rule though, then more loopholes, then more rules, then more loopholes, then people start “lobbies” to use their influence and create rules that suit them…
See the issue with rules, at times?
That’s why there is something called discretion. Every Administrator has it, and can use it… but that means they have to choose to use it.
“Should we allow all kids to voluntarily go shaven headed in case they get chemo and lose their hair?..Or perhaps we should excuse all behavior of all children going who have relatives with cancer?”
I call irony. Nobody says things like that without irony (in my little reality, and I’m keeping it that way damnit!)
If you think an administrator who shows understanding and applies rules accordingly is less likely to be taken seriously than one who is so unthinkingly inflexible that 250 kids will walk out on their injustice, you don’t know much about leadership.
“She thinks that rules are there only for her to argue in a lawyerly, almost jesuitical manner…”
Well, that describes me as well. No, I don’t run around getting arrested, but I think every rule should be questioned and examined as part of cooperation in society. I’m in my thirties. Am I immature or is your daughter mature? (Probably both.)
If they were informed ahead of time, it does make the school’s actions more understandable, but not laudable at all. This kid is FUNDRAISING FOR CHARITY (bravo!), and doing something that only affects himself (as it’s his head).
The kid got a short in school suspension. He didn’t miss any class work. I don’t see how the rule is arbitrary, given it’s probable origin in protecting the rights and sensibilities of ethnic minorities in the UK. And as I have pointed out, the kid was warned what would happen, and decided to do it anyway.
I think it’s important that schools enforce the rules that they have in a consistent manner., not arbitrarily, not ad hoc, not on a strictly case-by-case basis. So the headmaster says that it’s OK for little Rhys to shave his head. Now what? Does he have to send a note home with every pupil explaining he reasons for doing so lest some one else interpret that its fine to shave your head to show the solidarity you feel with your fellow neo-fascists rather than your cancer stricken kin? Because that will be a fire some headmaster will have to put out.
You think that principals and headmasters should tolerate all the monkey business that students will conjure up because they shouldn’t be taken seriously by students. I’m a liberal, not an anarchist. I will question authority, but I won’t say there should be authorities.
This one kid, who wanted desperately to support other people who had CANCER, qualifies as “everyone else”?
As I mentioned above, discretion… and context. Both work excellently to demonstrate leadership and gain respect (especially from children).
We are human beings, we don’t all fit in the same little box the rules provide… but that doesn’t mean those people that push the “edges of the box” are automatically anarchists or something.
Rules can be improved, no? Context, examination, and discretion reveal opportunities to do just that.
This was one of those opportunities to improve the rule, or allow it to safely be “bent.” Not broken.
Not entirely sure why the BBC’s “cloak of anonymity” for an official representing a local council is at issue. He’s communicating council policy, not his own personal feelings on the matter. Would Mr Beschizza prefer that he / she is named and shamed, or are we all just perfectly happy to acknowledge that Pembrokeshire Council are bureaucratic goons?
A rule such as this may have an interesting origin. That is not to say it continues to remain germane. It also does not follow that the application of said rule today is reasonable in all cases.
I agree. However, I recommend the consistent manner be one in which the administration should apply reason and discretion like an adult rather than blindly follow rules like a child.
Surely, I never said that. Yet, the actions of the administration here have not served to ensure they are taken seriously. Quite the opposite in fact. 250 children walked out because they can’t take seriously anyone who would so blindly apply an outdated and meaningless rule simply for the sake of rule following. Or perhaps they just wanted to bail on school and the actions of the headmaster created a reason to do so.
To paraphrase @chenille You have much to learn about leadership,
