What's your opinion on this news story? Should this lad have his hair cut?

[Aero]

Here.

I know looking smart is important and in my schooldays the rule was the same as this school, but haven't we moved on from 20 years ago? Shouldn't tying it back (same as girls) be enough? Just interested to see what the majority think.

On the subject of nits, the only time we've had them in this house was when DS1 brought them home from secondary school - and DS1 has very short hair!

Interesting conversation.

Just out of interest though discrimination is not different treatment, but less favourable treatment.

In discrimination cases brought against employers insisting hair should not touch the collar the employer has won.

The judge would not look at an individual element of the dress code but the overall effect and that similar standards were expected of girls - similar not the same.

There are good business reasons for dress code. Where staff are seen by the public they are in effect a shop window into the company and a good appearance has obvious benefits. But even when not so exposed to the public it helps to create a team atmosphere, engendering standards of professionalism and creating a corporate image. All of which can be applied to schools.

Specific dress codes, as in this case allows for clarity and easy understanding of the rules.

This particular school has high standards and a good reputation. It is one of the twelve schools in NI to achieve specialist status and has good achievements. It expects a lot of its pupils and gives a lot in return. I only wished more schools were like it.

Personally I think it is rather dated, however in attending the school they accepted the rules. The school has active councils and PTA if they wish to try and change them.

Assumedly the boy, parents and school have tried to resolve the issue before going to court. So no I don't think it is particularly a waste of time or money.

Attitudes do change and it may be in this case the court will uphold the boys right to long hair.

If he has got strangly locks as the caption under the photo suggests, then he definitely must get it cut.

If however they are merely straggly then leave the boy be! What a waste of energy.

having it neatly tied back at school should be enough - as long as he abides by that I don't understand why he should have to have it cut. I imagine girls are allowed to have long hair at the school - ?

Goodness - this thread has grown. I wasn't able to gt back to it yesterday. A lot of opinions, but the majority seem to think he should be allowd to have it whatever length he likes and tie it back /keep it neat, which is pretty much my opinion. I wonder should a male teacher at the school choose to have long hair, whether the same rules would apply.

Whether it was the parents who are backing him or him on his own making a fuss then what a waste of court time yet again.

If you don't agree with the rules don't send your child there. Sorry but I've got no time for people who send their kids to schools with a strict uniform policy & then flaunt the rules.

If he really won't cut it then as others have said tie it back but there seems too be no compromising on either side, what a waste of taxpayers money they should be told to sod off & sort it out themselves.

Can you tell I'm cross!!!?

my ds (10) has his hair almost as long as this. I made him has it trimmed (he couldn't see) and he tantrummed like a toddler for 2 hours beforehand and is still sulking 4 days later.
So I don't agree it is always ''more about the parents''. In my son's case it is about his personal sense of style and because he knows the school aren't keen. (He also takes his tie off everyday before hegoes into school and no-one has picked him up on it...)Gods help me when hits puberty...

In MB's link - was he expelled for having an Elvis hairstyle, then?

I would be irritated beyond being able to teach (which is one of the reasons i am not a teacher) by pupils with hair in and across their eyes. My neices have aysymetrical fringes which deliberately go across one eye, they can't see properley and keep brushing it out of their eyes.

It's the nature of a uniform and dress code system, surely? How would he cope if he got a job with a company that had a dresscode?

I always think these sorts of things are more about parents than kids, tbh. I don't have acres of respect for parents who know the rules, accept the rules, and then, when their children want to flout them, are behind them all the way.

Sorry, but my opinion is - you go to school, you play the game.

Exactly Sue!

Even when the school rules are a blatant breach of sex discrimination legislation?? Surely if the school is not prepared to accept that they are guilty of sex discrimination, the place for it is court, just as if it were an employer with terms and conditions of employment that breach said legislation.

yeah, you know what, even then. I'm in one of those moods today, I think, but I'm finding it hard to get worked up about the rights of a teenage boy to 'self-express'.

It's a silly waste of money, the same as these cases always are - from girls wanting to wear a coverall dress or a 'chastity ring' to boys wanting to look like scruffy wotsits.

agree with bossybritches. Plus he looks like a right twat anyway with that hair.

He should tie it back like the girls have to.

Is it a look which states "my son is posh and brainy then" Evenhope? (Seeing as you specifically mentioned ((grammar)) school?

Oh yes he does look a twat, I agree Donnie; I hadn't even looked before. It doesn't even suit him.

I think most boys with hair like this have parents who are trying to make some kind of statement. Terrible generalisation but all those I have come across in classrooms seem to be awful show-offish boys with mums who think the sun shines out of their behinds

imo... you send your child to school based on lots of criteria - discipline being one of them. If the school has a good record, this may be down to zero tolerance on the issue of school uniform.

Tis therefore very unfair to then criticise the school's policy when it doesn't suit your child.

Every school is different and some are more lax than others on the issue of uniform. If the school is strict about uniform, then the uniform must be stuck to or the kid gets excluded. And this includes long/short hair

Head at the school DS~1 is going to in September has an interesting take on this. She enforces the uniform code quite strictly because it gives the children something harmless to rebel against. If you are busy chuntering about having to wear your school tie and tie your hair back, you don't have so much time to break the rules in more serious ways. Seems to work. The school has been transformed since she had been there and discipline has improved dramatically.

I suspect my DS will be one of the ones being told to tie his hair back

The school ds will probably be going to has draconian haircut rules no longer than collar length, and no Nr. 2 crops allowed either. I don't have a problem with that and it's a single sex school, so the sex discrimination thing doesn't apply. If he was a massively free-spirited child who had issues with authority, I'd send him to our local (good-ish) comprehensive which has no uniform, ie. the kids wear either baggy grey tracksuits or skinny jeans and converse, depending on which teen tribe they belong to.

I agree with the principle of 'giving them something harmless to rebel against'; dd1's school has uniform kilts in quite an alarming colour, which are meant to be worn below the knee, ie. no knees must be visible. So of course what you get is all these lovely well-behaved Y8 girls thinking they are ultra-cool and rebellious because they've rolled their skirt up and have an inch of knee on display. I'd rather they were rebelling that way than rebelling over things that actually matter, like fags and booze and homework.

Freckle how can it be discrimination??

If it's in the policies & the parents agree to the son going there then they are making a contract with the school-you can't cherry pick the bits you like & dislike it comes as a package.

My beef is tht yet again the over-worked legal system is getting bogged down with "discimination" sob-stories instead of real crime, this really should NOT take up valuable court time. If they have an issue then sort it out between them or move the kid to another school.

Well, it's clear discrimination to insist that boys have short hair, but to allow girls to have long hair. How is that not discrimination?

And, when choosing a school for your children, do you all go through all the minutiae of the school rules? I know I didn't. In fact, it wasn't until DS2 got threatened with a detention for having dyed hair (he hadn't - it had been bleached by the sun) that I checked the rules regarding hair colour (in fact it hadn't occurred to me that there might even be rules regarding hair colour), which merely stated that hair must be of a natural colour.

So it's not really fair to say "they knew the rules when they sent their son there". Also a lot of boys will start off with short hair, so rules regarding hair length are not relevant, but later decide to grow it bringing them into conflict with previously-unknown rules. But if those rules are discriminatory it is perfectly right that they should be challenged.

"I think most boys with hair like this have parents who are trying to make some kind of statement."

strongly disagree. Hair, it's hair, and hair is tied up with music, tied up with the image of the sort of person you wan t to be, and teenagers take that sort of thing very seriously. Have you seen the number of boys with haior like this? And do you know their parents?

This is a waste of money.

It shoudn't be at the stage of legal action. Family gone too far.

Lots of teenage boys have long hair (we're not talking about the trendy little 6 year old boys with floppy hair that mummy loves)

The school is being rather foolish to set a rule like this with a few hundred ever-changing teenagers.

I reckon the lad has mahoosive ears. He'll be slaughtered by his pals if he cuts or ties it back.

I'm telling you, it's an ears thing.

dgeorga, what a sensible post