To not get schools issue with dyed hair?

[fitforflighting]

I suspect I may get flamed for this but I genuinely do not get it.
They have a rule against earrings including sleepers. That I get especially with younger children or in sports were children can end up getting them at worst ripped out.

I can kind of even get extreme haircuts with big shaved stars or strange styles that look unprofessional and might not be allowed by adults in a professional work place.

But this week and last term several of senior age children who had dyed hair brown/red/dark purple etc were sent home from school to re dye or put in isolation by teachers with errr brown/red/purple dyed hair! One of the children's teacher has bright purple hair. It does not make her any less of a English teacher or lesson her professionalism in school I don't reckon so what is the problem for teens?

All the teachers have to do is tell them what's expected of them in an interview and why, and what the consequences of not looking the part are

why shouldn't children 'look the part' in school?

and since when was it a teacher's job to tell a child what might be expected of them at interview and the consequences of not looking the part? Surely that's a life skill - you know, something parents should be teaching?

Employers also do certainly judge you on appearance and your "individual" hair. It's foing kids a favour to teach them HOW to conform when it's required. Where what you want in your own time

Completely agree, excellent post stardusty

atenco my life seems to be riddled with"daft" rules. Like having to put your rubbish in a certain coloured bag. Having a mortgage offer withdrawn for not putting the "right" date on a form; having to put certain things in lunchbox even if it doesn't make any sense; having to turn up at a particular time at an event and then being kept hanging round...etc.

Just everyday annoyances. Not being able to dye your hair a certain colour in school is one of those. It probably makes little sense to most of us, but there you go.

I'm all for self-expression, at any age. I've always dyed my hair (and a bit at those lucky youngsters who have a variety of colours at their fingertips. I'd love to have been able to do mine in blue stripes. Bit late now..

Kids are obliged to attend school, so a completely different thing to the workplace. I don't have a problem with (cheap, easily available) uniform but it is nothing short of oppressive to dictate what is an acceptable hair colour or style. That kind of thing matters so much when you're a teenager. I think what people who are not young can forget is blue hair and piercings are nowhere near as edgy as they were 20 years ago, and workplaces are adapting accordingly. Maybe the creative types who look a bit unusual wouldn't fancy working in a law firm or something anyway???

Tread do I know you? I did exactly that aged about 14. Just before moving house and changing schools for one that most definitely didn't allow dyed hair. I showed up with essentially fluorescent pink hair on my first day never believe those fuckers that claim it washes out in 3 washes, it's a LIE! Months my hair was pink for, months I tell you...

I'm a teacher. In the first school I worked at the headmaster was a borderline lunatic. He treated his staff terribly and used to try it on with some truly mad treatment of his staff. One of his bright ideas was, as a few PPs have suggested, to enforce the same dress/hair/make up standards on staff as pupils. So that meant no hair dye, nail varnish or make up for female staff.

Staff went batshit and promptly walked out, several days striking. He soon saw the error of his ways and lifted the ban. Absolutely bananas that anyone could think this might be a way to deal with adults doing a job!

Laws DO get changed and social/cultural norms DO change - and they change after people start to question them. If everyone just 'followed the rules' we'd still be living in the dark ages.

FellOutOfBedTwice - your post suggests that teaching kids to wear a uniform because it prepares for them for the world of work is a waste of time if the work they want to do is teaching:)

I always thought uniform was a good idea, one less thing for bullies to pick up on. Can't be bullied for not having the right trainers/shoes/latest fashion jeans/tops/dress etc

stardusty so following your utterly baffling logic children in Germany or the U.S. or other traditionally non-uniform countries fail to learn about appropriate dressing because it's not something they ever had to do at school? Or that a convention can't be learnt unless it's enforced for years in advance? Come on! You can't honestly be saying something that stupid, can you?

I always thought uniform was a good idea, one less thing for bullies to pick up on. Can't be bullied for not having the right trainers/shoes/latest fashion jeans/tops/dress etc

except without the hundreds of pounds spent on polyester blazers and specific socks and shirts families might he able to afford better clothes.

that argument doesn't wash when this supposed cover up of the less fortunate involves spending a fortune on poor quality and over priced logo'd shit and the world's most unflattering trousers no one would be seen dead in outside of school

My school has no (or very limited) uniform. Pupils are supposed to wear black and white with a school hoodie but most don't bother and no one cares. Not sure how, if we were to introduce a traditional uniform, it would prepare them for the world of work, however. Some end up at sea, living in boiler suits, 1 is a TV presenter, several teachers, a few work in shops - just your average school with pupils with all sorts of aspirations. The nurses I see, those in the Co-op, even the lawyers and the doctors I have taught, all seem to manage quite happily to confirm when required.

When they go away to do business competitions, they all take pride in dressing up in suits or business wear (or whatever is required) and they all seem to look far smarter than the usual polyester rubbish schools get pupils to wear.

I am always agog, after 25 years of teaching to hear (and see on TV) pupils being isolated from lessons and given busy work to do because of the wrong hair / socks / piercing.

My job is to teach them about English. Any time spent moaning about socks, or missing a lesson for having blue hair, is time taken away from their education. It is hard enough educating teenagers without ruining a working relationship by having to nag them about what they are wearing.

The movement towards strict uniform gives the superficial appearance of excellence and motivation; it has no proven link with academic achievement and, indeed, often results in less time spent - you know - learning stuff that matters.

I don't want to, or need to, teach hair colour and sock choice when I am so desperately needed to teach reading and writing.

Conform - not confirm.

It's really arrogant to think the rules that apply to students should apply to teachers. Teachers are not answerable to them.

As others have said, we are surrounded by rules and conventions all the time. Whether it be queuing, filling a form correctly, putting the rubbish in the right colour bags or obeying the speed limit, we are all supposed to abide by them. Rules are what make a society tolerable. Children heed to learn that rules are not there to be broken.

right and a rule that means kids roast in a classroom. because in a closed to public building where no one can see them as they can't remove their blazer... is that a rule you would stand by?

or socks covered by trousers should be enforced at five times the price fir a stupid logo? is that another rule people should blindly follow without question?

Cheap, easily available uniform = great.

Kids getting put in isolation for stripy socks = stupid. It would be a dealbreaker in choosing a school for my child, as there's no way I could support them in enforcing such an idiotic rule. Smacks of megalomaniac headteachers trying to control every last detail. What's next - mandatory pant checks, to make sure kids aren't wearing brightly coloured boxers?

My issue was not with uniform but my Dc uniform was at least £200 including a £80,winter pe kit that they can only wear when the teacher decides it is cold enough rather than the winter term. They wore it for two weeks last year and it did not fit in September so new had to be bought.

They also decided the skirt had to have a logo. So children are sent home for having a black pleated correct style correct length black skirt missing a tiny logo that cannot be seen for the majority of the time as it is right at the top and under a blazer

jorah we used to be subjected to a mandatory pants check in my girls' school. Ahhh.the memories..

Again, FFS, can someone explain to me how children in non-uniform wearing countries manage to grow up into decent members of society? Correct me if I'm wrong but Germany (a country where children wearing uniform has extremely negative historical associations) is a pretty law-abiding country, isn't it? How on earth do their children manage this when they've been apparently running amok, uniformless, at school for 12-odd years? Please, do come and let me know.

Even non uniform counteries draw the line somewhere though. You couldn't turn up to school looking like a stripper or wearing a inflammatory slogan.

If you wear a uniform then it's reasonable to expect the rest of you to look uniform. Nothing worse than talentless attention seekers ...

Please tell me that all the parents who object to uniform rules/uniform at all, are communicating this fact to the head teacher and governors of all these schools? Otherwise what is the point in complaining about it? Every time uniform is brought up here there are so many posts where people rail against it, to the point where it seems that the majority have an issue with minor school rules.

Whatever rules the school my DS will be going to has, I will be supporting them. If I think a rule is unfair or oppressive or restricting the children unnecessarily I will let the head/governors know and look at what can be done to change it. Whilst still upholding the rule in the meantime.

inlovewithhubby
If I were the parent of a child sent home because of dyed hair, i would bring them back in myself, with my dyed hair, and ask why teachers are subject to different rules than my child.

and the answer would be because teachers are adults and you agreed to the school's rules when you sent your child there.

Its fairly simple.