Fashion statements
 

Inspired by numerous stories of school kids getting sent home for Mohicans and the like, do you think schools should be allowed to dictate what haircuts should be allowed... and should the government be able to decide whether tattoos and piercings are suitable for a certain age group or not?

Yes I think so, my school had strict rules about ear piercings, hair colours, styles and uniform and I think it was a good thing.

Not really clued up on the age restrictions part, but it's 18 for a tattoo, isn't it?

Yeah Sam, think it is

Schools have a responsibility to set the standards expected of their pupils. If the parents of those kids don't like it, take your kid out and stick him in a school where there are no standards... and let's see which set do better academically.

I think it's 16 with parental consent, my friend got one when she was 16

Agree.

I believe schools need to have some sort of standards with regards to uniform/hairstyle/jewellery so long as they are pretty reasonable which I think most public schools are.

The reason children don't like school, fear it and don't learn is because of the restrictive rules they have to adhere to. Rather than actually focusing on making lessons engaging, interesting, informative, fun, exciting and welcoming children into an environment which is open, liberating, free and enjoyable, lots of school boards see fit to get the teachers to enforce these ludicrous dress code policies which are just an exercise in getting gratification out of power and dominance, I think some of them genuinely get off on it. I see it first hand every day, kids as young as 13 in my Sixth Form/school being told to take off their wooly hats in such freezing weather, or to leave their blazers on in last summers 30C heat. It's pathetic and actually quite inhumane, and I find it difficult to walk past and ignore it, but I have to. The people that enforce these rules also think it's hilarious to parade around wearing the garments that are banned and breaking every rule in the book, it is all about power and some of these people really shouldn't be working with children. Disturbing.

I have no issues with the idea of a uniform, I'm actually quite indifferent on that argument - but my problem is with schools dictating that children cannot wear coats alongside them, or scarfs, hats, gloves, have their hair dyed a certain colour, styled a certain way, wear make-up, etc etc, the list goes on. Unless there are health and safety reasons for certain rules, I think restrictions on these things curb children's individuality and sense of self worth, moulding them all into little balls of identical fact-memorising nothingness. There's no sense of creativity, no sense of be who you are, it's 'you must be this way, look this way, learn this way or else', I think that's wrong.

Yes there needs to be some rules, but children will learn better when they go to school in an environment in which they can be themselves - within reason - an environment where they go to learn and are encouraged that expanding their mind and their horizons is a good thing, not where they are told how to look. That's the reasons children fear and oppose school, that's the reason they don't want to learn. Start focusing on lessons and the curriculum rather than authoritative and overly restrictive dress codes and perhaps children might start enjoying their education, which is what they should do.

As for laws - aren't there health issues regarding tattoos under certain ages? I'm not really sure because I wouldn't ever get one myself, but if there are health issues then yeah there should probably be laws to cover them.