Hair Patrol

by Lucy Korn

Students at Mt Albert Grammar must all wear their hair tied back. Auckland Grammar School inspects boys’ hair at the start of the year to make sure it is short enough and clean. Selwyn College requires all hair colours to be ‘natural.’ St John’s College suspends students if their hair isn’t up to standard. Adults continue to reign their over teenagers parade because god forbid they let them express themselves.

There is nothing (lies) that makes me angrier than unnecessary, bullshit rules and all rules pertaining to how a high school student must wear their hair are just about as unnecessary and bullshit as they come. Schools have every right to inform the way their students wear their uniform, that’s a given, and it makes sense because the uniform is part of the school; it represents the school not the student. Hair however is not part of the school. Hair is part of the student whose head it grows from, so really a principal shouldn’t have any say as to what it looks like or how one chooses to wear it.

Obviously Lucan Battison, a student of St John’s college, agrees with the above. The proud owner of a good head of curly hair, Lucan was suspended because he refused his principals request to cut it. Lucan called bullshit on his sentence and has since taken the issue all the way to the high court. St John’s is arguing rules are rules, saying that Lucan’s defiance of the rules is “harmful and dangerous” because it could influence other pupils to do the same.

What complete and utter bullshit right? The only thing that is harmful or dangerous about this whole thing is that high school is teaching students that it’s perfectly normal for society to dictate exactly how you should look. I don’t think the world will go up in flames if a girl unties her hair or dyes it green. Nor will all hell break loose because a boy has hair past his shoulders. Why don’t the powers that be focus their energies on keeping kids in school instead of kicking them out?

As far as I’m concerned Lucan Battison is the Katniss Everdeen of St John’s College. The Uprising has begun.

.