"Tuck that shirt in!"
"Adjust your tie!"
"Get those earrings out!"
"Those shoes are not appropriate!"
"Your hair is too short!"
Do these sound familiar to you too? From the moment I started secondary school to the day I left these were the kind of things I had barked at me each and ever day. I suppose I could of done the right thing and have never gone against any of these rules and it would of just made life easier, Come mid secondary school I did keep my shirt tucked in and had a school tie long enough to make Rapunzel proud.
Where should rules start and begin? Was the school that sent home 88 pupils for going against these kind of rules being over the top?
I remember a couple of weeks after starting secondary school my music teacher noticed a ring I was wearing. It was something my nan bought me just before she died and as a 11 year old who had been wearing it for a couple of years it felt really special to me. I was told I had to remove it or face exclusion, despite my pleas it had to be cut off. It was a tiny little ring, what harm would it of really done?I still wonder that now that I've left my school years well behind me, I know the whole tucking the shirt in was just me rebelling and that I wouldn't of been nagged on a daily basis if I would of just kept it tucked it. I understand that but then it's issues like hair that I just don't understand. How does the way you wear your hair reflect the way your going to study?
Nickie had a hair issue with her son's school where they deemed his haircut offensive, her 11 year old son was causing offence to everyone by the way his hair was styled.
Part of me argures that we should stick to whatever strict rules the school set as it's good for later on in life but then the other part of me wonders if rules like 'no more then one set of earrings' and 'no extreme haircuts' are just plain silly?