The Great One Wrote:@DeanNim; You seem to be missing the point. Yea the parent was a bit over the top however you don't do something to someones kid without telling them first. This whole thing could have been avoided with a simple phone call that would go something like "Hey I'm your kids teachers hes been constantly disobeying the hair rule. You have two options we can A: suspend him for breaking the rule and he can't come back till he complies with it There is a big test coming up soon so do it quickly like tomorrow quickly. Or B: I got some clippers right here I can cut his hair and he can stay in school if you don't like the cut feel free to change it when he gets home just make sure it falls within our standards.
This call didn't happen so here we are.
This.
KhainiWest Wrote:You keep under minding the child as an idiot because you grew up thinking that short hair is ultimately necessary to thrive in life. The reaction and/or rule itself is pretty petty and has little to no significant value when it comes education.
Maybe. This is why we're here to discuss it. The rule isn't petty though, because it's not exactly based on an opinion (unless you'd like to clarify what you meant? I'm not exactly getting it actually). And as for the reaction, fair enough.
KhainiWest Wrote:The right thing to do was to confront the parent about it, and if the parent wasn't compliant, take the action to suspend. This is what a civilized adult/country would do.
Fair point. Plus one. Arguably the teacher is indeed a little uncivilised, but I'd pay a couple of bucks for the popcorn to actually know what the teacher was thinking then.
It is not absurd for schools to have a uniform code - wear this, that, keep your hair short and tuck in your shirt/blouse. I can flip the tables around on you right now and say that it is absurd not to have rules on a defined uniform, at least up till high school, because every school in an Asian city goes by those rules so we grow up in those mindset. If you keep looking at us with such eyes, then so can we; there's no point calling us things that we find offensive and we throwing them back with our own descriptions of you all. Would you like it? I don't think so. Do you think we like it now? I don't think so either. Can we please keep this nice and civilised?
Please do not put the actions of the teacher/student/parent and the validity of the rule together. They're entirely different issues.
So, is having a uniform code important in education? This should be the question we should be throwing daggers at. It is not whether the rule is petty, stupid or inconsequential or whether it's rooted in culture or whether its backwards. Those are repercussions, whether in opinions or causally affecting reality, but that's not the issue right now, and we will, and do, find those descriptions of the rules/culture offensive, if not very. We're just not lashing out because those are opinions that we still respect.
I don't think a discussion on ridiculous parenting brought up by Dean is a bad idea, but we should do that on another thread. It really is getting fairly ridiculous, to tell the truth, but a suitable example should be utilised (that does not include this current one =.=).
/edit: I'm suddenly reminded of the fact that the Russell Peter's video (that very famous one) had a little bit on the parenting issue...
Hadriel