To be shocked that schools are still doing this?

[LakieLady]

I've just been reading this article

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/25/black-pupils-excluded-hair-discrimination-equality-act

and can't believe that schools are still treating black kids like this.

Reading between the lines, it sounds as though braided hair is uacceptable in some schools, too and quite what is unacceptable about a fade (unless perhaps it's one with a very high top) is beyond me. Isn't a fade more or less the same thing as a short back and sides, albeit a bit more artful, which used to be forced on boys in my schooldays.

I remember the case about the boy with dreadlocks, but hadn't realised that that had been won on faith grounds.

If our schools can't be accepting of ethnic differences, what hope is there for wider society?

Which is fine isn't it, I mean it's not looking like the skinhead cut that a white boy's hair does when it's a number 1, at least not with the boys that I've seen with very short coily textured hair

I find it most bizarre that there seemingly is enough time and energy to debate, analyse and have some mental list as to who can have a grade one and who cant. How a red kickers dot on the bottom of the sole can be spotted from 200 paces, how in the blink of an eye they can tell what's just a faded regulation charcoal trouser and what's an attempted counterfeit asda job. Yet when your kid is pushed and shoved and has their stuff nicked and thrown about the room under their noses no one apparently sees a thing.

I mean you can sit there and add hundreds of plausible exceptions to the list, perhaps have it printed onto a lanyard around your neck to refer to if in doubt, and spend all day trying to navigate the fine line between racism, body shaming, poor shaming, accidental medical condition revelations, and uniform compliance or I dunno, stop worrying about a hair cut and teach....

This has shades of Mr Brockenhurst in Jane Eyre condemning a girl for having naturally curly hair. Scary to think attitudes haven't changed much since the 19th century.

@winniethekid
A number 1 isn't acceptable in many workplaces so I don't see why it should be acceptable in schools.

None of the many men I’ve worked with who has a number 1 or less all over have ever been disciplined over inappropriate hair. They were all white men.

Do you think that men should be forced to wear a wig due to their inappropriate balding?

It's about pupils not competing with each other as in school uniform regulations
No facial hair in some schools I believe too. Everyone is as far as can be equal and not bullied or excluded by peers.
Why is this policy so hard for people to understand?
Equality is the key.
I agree with self expression but not as part of a competitive nature particularly because school is foremost about sharing experiences in a learning environment.
Outside that forum is a different thing of course.

Uniform does not stop bullying.

Because clothes are not the problem. Bullies are.

In fact uniform adds to it because then teachers start fat shaming or racially abusing the kids too

Rastafarianism is a recognised religion in the UK, the 14th largest.

This thing about the same ‘standards’. The point is that the ways to achieve a ‘standard’ are not the same with a different racial hair type. The points about ‘pony tails’ and the relative effect of a No 1 cut etc illustrate this. The definition of a ‘standard’ needs to recognise the very different hair types with which students are expected to achieve this standard.

An article about hair in schools with some context about why hair is a political issue (clearly the Guardian have only one picture of black school students) www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/22/white-teachers-policing-black-pupils-hair-uk-schools

Yeah you're right @SarahTancredi If there was no school uniform, there'd be no racism in schools.

My niece schooled in a place with no uniform. The pressure to have the "right" stuff - and lots of it - was absolutely massive.

I didnt say there would be no racism.

But with uniform the teachers join in with the bullying.

Bullying is the problem..not what kids wear ir what they do or dont have. Or where they live.

This idea that something that exists 300 quid plus to provide and still have a detention because you can't afford £18.50 to replace the skirt just yet and shock horror your kid grows a cm.or 2 does not level the playing field does it.

My niece schooled in a place with no uniform. The pressure to have the "right" stuff - and lots of it - was absolutely massive.

And did her parents discuss that with her, that there will always be families and people that will have more/less than her? Did they discuss that such things are fads/ trends and show her these same things were around when they were growing up and that they fade and go away?

The issue you describe still happens in schools with uniforms. Kids would wear designer coats, backpacks, trainers, etc..

And as for having the " right stuff"

It's the use of apps and maths websites etc. by the school that means kids have to have a smart phone.

Some.even require laptops ipads or chrome books.

Tell me that's not joining in ..

My niece schooled in a place with no uniform. The pressure to have the "right" stuff - and lots of it - was absolutely massive.

My kids have been to a couple of non-uniform schools. Primary is probably different, but even the one that was for all ages there was no pressure to have the right stuff, in the junior, middle or senior school - the atmosphere of the school was very welcoming, and it wouldn't have been tolerated - kids wore anything from joggers to jeans to shorts and hoodies.

Wearas I went to uniform schools. I was short and fat. I was teased for having home-made clothes and hand-me-down shirts.

Uniform is not the equaliser people make it out to be. How can it possibly be helpful for a family in difficulty to have to have a special set of clothes for school, which they have to keep clean and ironed, vs. just wearing the child's normal wardrobe.

You can get a blazer in asda for a tenner. But no you need logos at 30 pound plus.

Tesco/asda/ sainsbury sell skirts for 4-6 pounds. But schools opt for tartan monstrosities or specific uniform.supplier ones at 18 pounds onwards.

Shorts/cycling shorts/ skorts all available for 2.50 in asda/sainsbury along side plain polo shirts at 2.50 in a range of colours.

But no they opt of logos and suppliers instead at £££

They colour code piping or stitching or shirts and ties etc for different houses or years so you can't hand down. And the shirts you bought in year 9 that still fit perfectly fine are now the wrong colour.

They change suppliers frequently too so cuts are different and outdated so you can't hand down again.

They dont want money In the school so they set up accounts/apps Good idea in theory. In practice it requires a smart phone and a minimum top up of 10 pounds. So no you cant just add 80p to cover the bottle of water.

And you better make sure your pens are the right shade of green and purple or you get into trouble and/or have to re buy stuff.

And everything you are "allowed" to but on the high street well the restrictions applied. No hoods. No piping. No visible.logo. no trim. Well it makes it basically impossible. But dont worry the uniform supplier has some at £££ again.

If uniform didn't automatically screw you over financially there wouldn't he so much of an issue with it.

But this idea it's a leveller, well not any more. Its deliberate tactical exclusion of demographics of people that they dont want.

Its amazing how apparently school children cant learn properly if their hair is 1mm too short, but universities have no such problems...

I have curly (Caucasian) hair, and its not as simple as just tying it back, unless I brush it, which damages it, it doesnt look neat and flat and tidy like straight hair does. I had years of being told my hair looked a mess and unprofessional in school and the workplace. Where I am now I wear it down but I still sometimes get managers commenting on the volume/style. Curly hair still has connotations of being wild, unprofessional etc I can imagine how much worse that gets with rascism in the mix as well.

I would love to see how some of the commenters on here would change their story if the styles they think are unsuitable were forced on everyone instead, so all long hair being braided, all short hair to be very short, it might become less everyone has to conform for a good education

*None of the examples quoted are inappropriate for school as they have no bearing on education or behaviour.

This is a prime example of rules for the sake of rules.*

Yes. This.

No hair in face obscuring learning. Ditto hair away from science experiments etc (eg in a net or similar). that's it. That's all that's required in a school setting.

Having spent years doing supply in schools and FE colleges I am always disappointed when at a school I have to enforce uniform rules.

FE colleges rarely have uniforms and students pass exams, the same with universities.

As long as you can see, and are prepared to pull hair back / cover in practical subjects (cooking, resistant materials) where it could be a health and safety breach hair should be out of the equation.

But then I think school uniform should either be got rid of or changed to something practical like a track suit.

It's about pupils not competing with each other as in school uniform regulations
No facial hair in some schools I believe too. Everyone is as far as can be equal and not bullied or excluded by peers.
Why is this policy so hard for people to understand?
I don't have any trouble understanding the policy.
I profoundly disagree with it.

It's about pupils not competing with each other as in school uniform regulations
No facial hair in some schools I believe too. Everyone is as far as can be equal and not bullied or excluded by peers.
Why is this policy so hard for people to understand

Because it's an ineffective policy. Schools all over the world manage to deal with the issues of competition and bullying without insisting on parents spending a fortune on uniforms. How come schools in the UK are apparently so helpless? As pointed out, it's not even as if it works.

Media makes this about colour, everyone laps it up. Its been the way for years for white and black kids ... didnt do us any harm

Fake news just to get people riled up and continue this intent on keeping ‘race-wars’ alive and kicking

Just tell you are more than happy for your kid to be excluded from any activities that are using PTA funds and that they won't be using any new equipment that they buy - they will either use the old broken stuff or nothing at all.

Wrong post - don't know what I did there!

I worked in a school abroad, so no uniform. I got quizzed about uniform by several of the staff on more than one occasion, and they all agreed that they would much prefer it to the non-uniform there.

Up to Y8 I had waist length hair. Fine, for school. I can imagine had it been an afro that long it would have been an issue, which is wrong.

Hair styles differ from one culture to the next, the reason schools have a hair code all be it out dated was to stop children from standing out and causing a disturbance in the class or so they say. As a parent to 4 grown up children all white to have your son sent home because on red nose Day they (the school) sprayed his hair red and the next day it hadn't fully washed out seemed to me to be a stupid thing to do as there were in total 10 children sent home for the same reason! My step son who is mixed race has a hair style that is classed as inappropriate according to his schools dress code, but the teachers are fine with it as a lot of the boys have similar hair styles this is an academy school so it all depends on the school, the teaching staff and how far away from the dress code it is. Everyone should be allowed to be individuals, but schools just want people who follow the rules and get results that make them look good. I wonder if the children in question were 'A' grade children or ones who find school hard.

I had my hair braided when I was at school, took hours! School told me to take it out or be excluded, yet my friend who was black was allowed to keep them. I was told it was a safety issue!? Same with nose piercing - i wasn't allowed to wear a clear retainer stud as it was a safety issue but another girl wore a massive gold flower with a Ruby in it. She got to keep hers because they assumed it was religious as she was Indian, its cultural not religious (in her own words) but school was too scared of being deemed racist to just say - rules are rules. Either it's a safety issue or it isn't, a rule or not a rule. I don't see how you can say one person is allowed and the other not based on skin colour. It's insane. Dealing with afro hair is crazy, so much stuff gets stuck in it, braids keep it under control and out the way (most schools want hair tied back anyway) same with dreads. But is it not also racist to tell some they can't have that hair style because they aren't the right colour? It's a can of worms.

You would have thought by now people would have sorted this stuff out - it's been going on forever!