ST 23/8 Teacher cuts pupil's hair, mum files police report
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My boys often come home and tell me to "trim" their hair because the teacher warn them…The school disciplinary master also "threaten" them to cut their hair. So I guess, this boy maybe didn’t tell his mom.
I don’t think his mom is a KSP lah, otherwise, such thing won’t be happen. -
ruohoo97:
why not ? some are from another planet :evil: :evil:My boys often come home and tell me to \"trim\" their hair because the teacher warn them....The school disciplinary master also \"threaten\" them to cut their hair. So I guess, this boy maybe didn't tell his mom.
I don't think his mom is a KSP lah, otherwise, such thing won't be happen.
:siam: :siam:
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verykiasu2010:
why not ? some are from another planet :evil: :evil:ruohoo97:
My boys often come home and tell me to \"trim\" their hair because the teacher warn them....The school disciplinary master also \"threaten\" them to cut their hair. So I guess, this boy maybe didn't tell his mom.
I don't think his mom is a KSP lah, otherwise, such thing won't be happen. :siam: :siam:
:scratchhead: you mean another end of the planet? -
Wonder if cut hair by the teacher, but not the hairstyle you like, can ask teacher to cut the hair to the hair style?
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can someone post the sunday times article by Dr Lee Wei Ling wrt the Unity Primary School haircut episode ?
she has some interesting details that was not reported before like the boy was reminded many times (every day?) about the long hair and finally the teacher had to issue the warning letter but the boy did not pass it to the mother (probably the reminders were before the first $60 haircut), and on the fateful day, the teacher talked to the boy and he agreed to the haircut before the exam, not unhappy it…it was the mother who kicked up the big hooha…may be she thought could have saved the $120 if she knows the teacher could do the haircut -
Sunday Tmes, 02/09/12
By Lee Wei Ling
I was both amused and perturbed when I read about Ryan, a student at Unity Primary School who had flaunted school rules by wearing his hair too long.
He had been instructed by his teacher to get a haircut. Though the teacher had reminded him daily, he failed to get a haircut.
And when the verbal instructions produced no results, the teacher gave him a letter to hand to his parents, informing them that their son needed a haircut. He did not hand the letter to his parents, and he did not get a haircut.
The day of his PSLE oral exams, his teacher, concerned that his untidy appearance may affect his appraisal, called him out of the class, together with two other boys with long hair. She explained her concern and asked them if she could give them a haircut. They all agreed. The teacher duly cut their hair.
I thought it was kind of her to have taken such care. Ryan’s mother, however, reacted melodramatically. She went to the press with her son’s story and lodged a police report. She claimed that Ryan "could not leave home for two days because of the way he looked". Then she arranged for him to have a $60 haircut.
She excused her son’s disobedience by saying he was dyslexic, and that dyslexics were forgetful. Both my father and I are dyslexic. We are no more forgetful than other normal people.
From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, Singapore used to have strict policies against long hair.
For example, immigration officials used to stop men with long hair from entering the country. This was because long hair then had become part and parcel of the so-called hippie subculture of the West, and the Singapore Government did not want that culture to spread here.
In those days, men who insisted on keeping their hair long were slighted in government offices. Posters in English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil warned them: "Males with long hair will be attended to last."
Civil servants with long hair were referred to the Public Service Commission. In the private sector, a campaign backed by the Chamber of Commerce, the National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore Manufacturers Association, discouraged men from sporting long hair.
The police certainly noticed in those days that criminals tended to keep their hair long. This did not mean having long hair made one a criminal. The more likely explanation was that people with criminal tendencies copied the long hair and other traits associated with criminals.
When I was studying in the United States in the early 1980s, I saw many very intelligent people with long hair, plus or minus beards and moustaches; some of them were Harvard professors. I used to think boys and men with long hair looked "sissy". I still do, but now I adopt a live-and-let-live attitude.
The times have moved on, and Singapore now is considerably less strict about long hair than it used to be. Men with long hair are now allowed to enter Singapore with their hair intact. Long-haired men are not served last at government service counters. Also, having long hair is no longer fashionable both in the West and in Singapore.
Still, there are rules on acceptable haircuts in the military and in schools. Each organisation will have its own specific set of rules concerning appearance, but the principle of keeping hair neat and tidy is consistent across the board. So it is not surprising that Unity Primary School has rules for hairstyle.
During my schooling years in the 1960s, the rule at Nanyang Primary and Nanyang Girls High School was that one’s hair could not be more than an inch below the ear, and one’s skirt could not be shorter than an inch above the knee.
Fashion in our schools has since moved on. At Nanyang primary and secondary schools, teachers no longer monitor skirt lengths closely, though the girls are still expected to dress modestly. Also, they are allowed to keep their hair long, though shoulder- length hair has to be tied.
Ryan’s mother’s reaction to the teacher cutting her son’s hair was, I am afraid, close to hysterical. How do we bring up our children with the right values when parents and schools send such conflicting messages?
How will Ryan cope when he does his national service? Surely, he cannot run to his mother for protection if he breaches any rules in NS.
The first thing that happens to all newly recruited NS men is a severe haircut. His mother cannot protect him from that, can she?
Whether we like it or not, every institution one belongs to has certain arbitrary rules that we have to obey. Do we want our children to grow up confused about what rules to obey, or try to avoid punishment if they break the rules?
Growing up does involve accepting social constraints, and Ryan’s mother didn’t help her son by helping him avoid that lesson.
The writer is director of the National Neuroscience Institute. -
Thank you, Mandymummy, for posting the article
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MandyMummy:
:goodpost: Very good article! Thanks for posting it here, Mandymummy!Sunday Tmes, 02/09/12
By Lee Wei Ling
I was both amused and perturbed when I read about Ryan, a student at Unity Primary School who had flaunted school rules by wearing his hair too long.
He had been instructed by his teacher to get a haircut. Though the teacher had reminded him daily, he failed to get a haircut.
And when the verbal instructions produced no results, the teacher gave him a letter to hand to his parents, informing them that their son needed a haircut. He did not hand the letter to his parents, and he did not get a haircut.
The day of his PSLE oral exams, his teacher, concerned that his untidy appearance may affect his appraisal, called him out of the class, together with two other boys with long hair. She explained her concern and asked them if she could give them a haircut. They all agreed. The teacher duly cut their hair.
I thought it was kind of her to have taken such care. Ryan's mother, however, reacted melodramatically. She went to the press with her son's story and lodged a police report. She claimed that Ryan \"could not leave home for two days because of the way he looked\". Then she arranged for him to have a $60 haircut.
She excused her son's disobedience by saying he was dyslexic, and that dyslexics were forgetful. Both my father and I are dyslexic. We are no more forgetful than other normal people.
From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, Singapore used to have strict policies against long hair.
For example, immigration officials used to stop men with long hair from entering the country. This was because long hair then had become part and parcel of the so-called hippie subculture of the West, and the Singapore Government did not want that culture to spread here.
In those days, men who insisted on keeping their hair long were slighted in government offices. Posters in English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil warned them: \"Males with long hair will be attended to last.\"
Civil servants with long hair were referred to the Public Service Commission. In the private sector, a campaign backed by the Chamber of Commerce, the National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore Manufacturers Association, discouraged men from sporting long hair.
The police certainly noticed in those days that criminals tended to keep their hair long. This did not mean having long hair made one a criminal. The more likely explanation was that people with criminal tendencies copied the long hair and other traits associated with criminals.
When I was studying in the United States in the early 1980s, I saw many very intelligent people with long hair, plus or minus beards and moustaches; some of them were Harvard professors. I used to think boys and men with long hair looked \"sissy\". I still do, but now I adopt a live-and-let-live attitude.
The times have moved on, and Singapore now is considerably less strict about long hair than it used to be. Men with long hair are now allowed to enter Singapore with their hair intact. Long-haired men are not served last at government service counters. Also, having long hair is no longer fashionable both in the West and in Singapore.
Still, there are rules on acceptable haircuts in the military and in schools. Each organisation will have its own specific set of rules concerning appearance, but the principle of keeping hair neat and tidy is consistent across the board. So it is not surprising that Unity Primary School has rules for hairstyle.
During my schooling years in the 1960s, the rule at Nanyang Primary and Nanyang Girls High School was that one's hair could not be more than an inch below the ear, and one's skirt could not be shorter than an inch above the knee.
Fashion in our schools has since moved on. At Nanyang primary and secondary schools, teachers no longer monitor skirt lengths closely, though the girls are still expected to dress modestly. Also, they are allowed to keep their hair long, though shoulder- length hair has to be tied.
Ryan's mother's reaction to the teacher cutting her son's hair was, I am afraid, close to hysterical. How do we bring up our children with the right values when parents and schools send such conflicting messages?
How will Ryan cope when he does his national service? Surely, he cannot run to his mother for protection if he breaches any rules in NS.
The first thing that happens to all newly recruited NS men is a severe haircut. His mother cannot protect him from that, can she?
Whether we like it or not, every institution one belongs to has certain arbitrary rules that we have to obey. Do we want our children to grow up confused about what rules to obey, or try to avoid punishment if they break the rules?
Growing up does involve accepting social constraints, and Ryan's mother didn't help her son by helping him avoid that lesson.
The writer is director of the National Neuroscience Institute. -
indeed a :goodpost:
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at least the teacher should feel vindicated now that her difficulties/苦心 finally understood. :rahrah:
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