Wednesday, July 30, 2008
hello :) today i went back to school.. had quite abit of stuff on in school.. but nevertheless, sorry for not posting the past few days.. and i came across an extremely interesting article by our own sec 2 on the message board. please feel free to read it :
A Proposal Regarding Hair Length RequirementsFirst, I would like to state my personal case. Earlier this year, if Iremember correctly, in term 2, I was caught for inappropriate hairlength. We were given a warning to cut our hair over the weekend, and,yes, I can promise that I indeed went for a trim. I cut every part ofmy hair, but when I came back, I was dismayed to be reported again,and thus received 1 demerit point which was reportedly classified as"Not abiding to teacher's instructions" or something along that line.Please allow me to attempt a quote. There was a SMB message posted inthe first half of the year, whose contents were vaguely: "Back of hairmust not touch collar, fringe must not reach eyebrows/eyes, nosideburns allowed." Please pardon me if I have misquoted, as theoriginal text has been purged from the archive of the SMB. This isjust a case in point.The point is that the public view long hair as okay, as long as it isproperly kept and maintained. To be honest, as long as the hair looksneat, having slightly longer hair should be allowed.I hope this will be carefullyreviewed before being dismissed as not respecting school rules. I knowof someone from 2M, whom I will not name as I have not actually askedhim, with practically shaved hair. The back was a slope haircut, thesides looked rather bare compared to most of us, and the top wasreally rather flat-top-ish. Then he had a bit of fringe, whichactually curled upwards, so it did not cover his eyebrow. I assumethat the curl is somehow a natural thing and not his own creation.Yet, he was asked to cut it off. Now, he looks (pardon my analogy)like an egg.Public image is the key in the discussion.The following is not an official argument or quote, but my ownquestioning around in the last few months now and then have yieldedthe following result:HwaChong-ians actually look more "unglam" with the current guidelinescausing many people to cut regularly, and to keep a short and "neat"hairstyle.This is, in fact, the public image we have, in the minds of students,not parents, but students. The image parents have is actually alreadylisted above. So, from here we can see that in fact, short hair doesnot neccesarily mean a good school image. So, what do I suggest? My proposal is simple. Based on the SMB messagementioned earlier, which I take as the bare minimum and the shortestand "worst" a haircut can go, simply:1) Sideburns. Sideburns should be allowed. People(generally) look abit bare without sideburns. The proposal is: Toaround half of the ear. 2) Back of the head. These days, people are starting to cut layered hair. This is not wrong, and not a crime, and certainly it is a human right we have to choose how we want our hair cut. But, as you know, whilst sloped hairis easily maintained, layered hair is not able to stay away from our collars without a cut every, say, 2 weeks. Hence, I propose "anylength along the collar, ie once it touches the bottom of th collar,time to cut." From 2M17, a clearer example.3) Side of the head. The general guideline is that hair should not cover the ear. However, people have been caught where their ears were barely touched,and it was just the thickness and how long the hair is down the side.I will not be proposing anything very certain here due to differinghead sizes. However, I do appeal for more leniency from the teacherson this part. Hair should be allowed cross the ear at the side,although if the teacher thinks it is too untidy then he can give thestudent a warning, but not dish out demerit points quickly. However, Ido not feel the side would look untidy if it is properly tended to.4) Top of the head.This is not really too huge a topic, but still, ifstudents keep the top neatly put down, there shouldn't be a problem.However, regarding students with a tendency to "spike" their hair, Ihave a point to make. Basically the spike should not look like a peacock head, or a Q-Tip. Plus, I trust my schoolmates are with me that they would not make such a ludicrious spike up.5) Fringe.There have been arguments about what is the best length allowed. Tokeep it short and simple, I propose that the fringe should be allowedas far down as the bottom of the eye, but nothing more. We can, forexample, comb it to the side so it does not affect our vision.However, I feel punishments should be dealt out if students blatantlygrow fringes down to their mouths, because that is absolutelyridiculous. Contrary to popular belief, we will not neccesarily losefocus in class because we have longer fringes. People comb it to the side.My final point: Hairstyles. I am sure everyone is with me that mohawksare not allowed. I personally think it is ugly anyway, and theultimate sign of a gangster. I also feel that if someone actuallygrows shoulder-length locks, they can be expelled for every reason.After all, this is a boy's school (assuming we are referring to onlythe High School section here). Big, fat afros are also not encouraged,as these look really messy and I can understand any outroar.Ponytails, pigtails etc. Are definitely no-no.For reference, this is a mohawk:http://flexistentialist.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/erics_mohawk2-large.jpgAnd this type of hairstyle should be deemed passable, althoughcurrently it is being chased after very tightly.http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/1750/28910197tr5.jpgA rough example, but please ignore the spikes at the top because thishairstyle is actually quite neat and falls down nicely to the shape ofthe head.As you can tell, I am merely proposing, and what I wish is that theschool body can reach a compromise with the student population.COMPROMISE is the key, as both parties would be happy in the end. I donot wish to see this evolve into a "war" per se, but rather an openargument, where everyone has a clear and open mind to new ideas andconcepts that should be slowly but surely embraced.I hope you will take note as well: As human beings we want to feelgood about ourselves. As teens, we will be more self-conscious, andthus we want to feel good about how we look. I hope the teachersunderstand this.
haha. interesting? sorry for the spacing -.- im still sick.. sigh.. waiting for naruto tmr! :)
life is sick (literally)
