To have no idea what to say to this girl?

[DrSeuss]

A Y11, doing her make up in the middle of a lesson when she thought I wouldn't see.

Apparently, I am unreasonable as there is no way she can concentrate with even slightly smudged eye liner!
Funny, sad, terrifying. Her appearance is so important that a tiny flaw renders her incapable of thinking about her studies? Or anything else?
I asked what she wants to do for a living (air stewardess). I put it to her that, while a certain standard of personal presentation is required for this job, other things might also be needed and she would hardly be able to slack off to apply make up!
I 'd ask her if the Pankhursts were big on mascara but the irony would be lost on her. She's a bright girl, lots of potential.

Please God don't let DD turn out like that in ten years time.

YANBU.

The girl sounds exactly like my DD. I got fed up with calls from the school about her wearing make up (and touching it up in class).

Unfortunately I left for work before DD got ready for school and even when I took it off her she would use her friends make up.

In the end (after a few detentions) her form tutor solved it by handing her a wet wipe as she walked in the classroom for registration.

On the plus side, she left school a couple of years ago and now has a job which starts early morning so she only does mascara and lip gloss to work and full make up when going clubbing at weekends.

YANBU and I'd have really liked you if I'd been that girl and you'd said that about the Pankhursts. My teachers were sarky like that and I found it funny ( and I learnt from it as well). Have to say I'm a bit taken aback by the grief you're getting here.

I don't think posters have issues with the op because of the fact that she told a teen not to apply makeup in class, it was the way she set out to humiliate the girl and was trying to be clever with the Pankhurst reference whilst saying it would go totally over her head. The girl was in the wrong but the op handled it badly.

How did she set out to humiliate the girl?

Tbf OP didn't actually say the Pankhurst line she just thought it along with how horrific this girl was and how much she wishes her own kids aren't like that

Even internally it's just such an over reaction from a teacher which leads me to believe OP can't have been teaching very long or has been in some very 'naice' schools.

Also being sarky is great. It's my go to tool and the kids like it. But dreary references to the Pankhursts and their lack of makeup would be a no no from me. Also OP seems to think this girl is too thick to get the reference so what would be the point?

It's the sneery attitude that gets me.

That's exactly it, the sneery attitude. There must be simple disciplinary procedures in the school which can be followed?

Mid teen girls can be a pain (I've got one myself) and their make-up needs are objectively absurd. But they are also young women who are just starting to find their way in the adult world and who often suffer from a painful lack of self-esteem. Sneering at them and talking down to them doesn't really achieve much does it?

My daughter is in the equivalent of Y11 but we live abroad and the contrast with how Y11s are treated in the UK is just enormous. My daughter's school treats its students like young adults - albeit young adults who still need plenty of guidance and encouragement and limits - and not as naughty school kids who need to be put down at every opportunity.

Yep I think it was the sneery attitude that did it for me. I've two daughters, 18 and 22. Luckily they got on well with teachers and (to my knowledge) didn't feel the need to put on their makeup during a lesson. However I don't think they had teachers who thought a minor infraction was Funny, sad, terrifying