Tidy Hair, Tidy Mind?School Rules in the Spotlight

When a sixth-year elementary-school student failed to wear his antiseptic mask during the SARS outbreak, his teacher invoked the school regulations and forbade him from eating his school lunch, to prevent him from getting saliva onto his schoolmates' food.

A third-year student in a Taipei junior high school got his gym shoes soaking wet in the rain, and the next day he went to school wearing shoes of an unusual design and color. Because their color violated the school regulations, a teacher confiscated one of the shoes and made the student skip all the way home on a single shoe.

A junior high school student in Taoyuan was found to have stolen bicycle parts from a schoolmate. The dean of students had him stand on a stage where he rebuked him and invited his schoolmates to spit on him. According to the school regulations, the student should have had a serious violation entered into his school record and his head shaven as a punishment. The only reason the punishment was not carried out was that his parents complained about it.

Children growing up in Taiwan are intimately familiar with such school regulations and forms of discipline. But are such methods reasonable? Can discipline go beyond the proper limits? This issue has sparked a heated debate in Taiwan.

High school students

Schools have detailed regulations concerning academic matters, relations among students and teachers, and obligations pertaining to school life. These are usually divided into codes for students' uniforms and hairstyles, and rules governing teachers' guidance and discipline of students.

In addition to regulations in black and white, schools also have many unwritten rules to control every aspect of student behavior. The Ministry of Education has long rescinded its hair code-one of the issues that most bothers school students-but schools continue to enforce their own hair codes.

At the end of last year, a survey conducted by the Humanistic Education Foundation (HEF) showed that with the exception of one school in Taitung County, the more than 200 junior high schools in Taiwan all had hair codes. Almost all schools had regulations banning dyed and permed hair, and more than 80% had rules stipulating a maximum hair length. In 82% of schools, students who contravene the hair code may have a warning or a minor violation of school regulations entered into their school record, in 61% of schools teachers may cut the students' hair, and in a minority of schools (7%) such students may receive corporal punishment.

In a survey conducted by the Student Education Reform Union in junior high schools throughout Taiwan, 76% of students interviewed said that their school monitored hair-code compliance once a month. Almost 70% of students said that their school did not apply a clear and uniform standard when checking that the hair code was being observed.

The hair code in Talun Junior High School in Taoyuan County stipulates that male students must keep their hair closely cropped, namely no longer than three centimeters (two fingerbreadths), and that they must not sport sideburns or bizarre hairstyles. Female students may not dye or perm their hair or let it grow more than two centimeters below their ears. Nor may students wear makeup or nail polish, or grow beards or moustaches.

Senior high schools are relatively lax when it comes to discipline: students may not perm or dye their hair, or dress too unconventionally, but other than that the school will not have too much of a say. Although regulations on school-uniform materials and skirt length have been relaxed quite a bit, students are "always at school" while they are on the school premises, and must wear the uniform even during extracurricular activities or when taking subsidiary courses on weekends.

My hair is my business

The way schools see it, today's hair codes are much laxer than they were in the 1980s, when students were required to have straight or closely cropped hair. But students are evidently still dissatisfied.

Last summer, a dozen middle school students from seven or eight schools formed the Student Education Reform Union, and sent a "Student Education Reform Declaration" to Minister of Education Huang Jong-tsun. In addition to the students' opinions about the education reform proposed by the Ministry of Education, the declaration contained three main proposals, the first of which is the abolition of school hair codes. The declaration notes that although the MOE has already announced that hair codes have been done away with, just about every school still enforces a hair code. The students believe that so long as there are strict regulations, some students will violate them and will be punished for them. They therefore advocate that schools give students the personal liberties guaranteed by the constitution. Schools must not regulate students' hairstyle and shoe color, nor should teachers search or confiscate their personal property, because such actions are a violation of students' right to privacy.

Recently, several university students founded the Association for the Promotion of Middle School Students' Rights (APMSSR). Inspired by the government's referendum initiative, they began to call for a referendum on hair codes. It is as yet unclear whether such a referendum will be held, but the HEF survey makes students' wishes patently clear. According to the survey, 63% of students are opposed to hair codes and 31% support them. But if such codes are abolished, only 7% of students say that they will continue to abide by them.

The fact is that everyone likes to look smart. Why should teenagers be any different? Lin Pai-i, head of the APMSSR, asks, "Can you stop teenagers from wanting to look good? What's wrong with wanting to look good?" He adds, "Do they really mean to say that everything other than studying is improper?"

Hormones running riot

Do middle school students have a right to manage their own lives?

In the view of most adults, teenagers like to get up to mischief. Lin Pai-i says that if you type the word "teenager" into an Internet search engine, you'll find nothing but teenage problems. But is the word "teenager" really synonymous with "problem"?

Liao Shu-chen, who has been a junior high school teacher for many years, notes that during their junior high school years, students experience rapid and violent changes in body and mind. The second year in junior high school is particularly frustrating: some students love to talk back, while others only pretend to obey the rules. It's a time when physiological changes and the search for their own identity make life very difficult for students, and when they easily cross boundaries set by their school, which can result in serious conflict.

Hsia Hui-wen, principal of the Kai-ping Vocational School, is very forgiving when teenagers get up to mischief. He thinks that sometimes kids talk back to teachers and parents not because they really disagree with them, but because of a feeling of rebellion. When parents and teachers follow kids' every move, when teachers nitpick at students, or when they think, "Kids get up to no good; you have to watch them like a hawk," kids are all the more likely to feel rebellious. Yu Chien-kui, a family expert, says that if adults quit posturing as great figures of authority and restore some reciprocity to their dealings with kids and teenagers, they will be in a position to give guidance once a relationship based on mutual trust is established. The only way to achieve education and to communicate effectively with kids is to think back to the time when you were a youngster.

Spare the rod?

Should schools have school rules? What kind of rules are reasonable? Ask six people and you'll get six different answers.

Most people believe that communal life requires norms, regulations, and order. It's commonly said that "it takes a ruler to draw a square, and compasses to make a circle." That is, it takes rules to shape people. But what needs to be made clear from the outset, is that such rules must take the students' interests into consideration. Their aim must not be to make teaching or managing students easier or more convenient, and even less should they aim to further the teachers' authority or the school's reputation.

Hsia Hui-wen also thinks that rules can only create "square pegs." He asks, "What kind of children will the world need in future? How do you want your children to develop?" According to Hsia, these are questions schools must consider when formulating their regulations.

Creativity is the quality most lacking in Taiwanese children. In Taiwan, many school rules, including those concerning hairstyle and uniforms, are remnants of the militaristic mentality that prevailed in former times. In those days, the emphasis was on uniformity and obedience. Children educated in this way had the endurance and productiveness required of workers in an era of industrialization and mass production. But in the knowledge economy success depends on qualities such as leadership, creativity, and individualism, which are incompatible with the traditional approach to education.

It is also important to nurture youngsters' ability to deal with their emotions. Li Ya-ching, who has long been working to cultivate students' capacity for autonomous learning, reminds us that life ought to be full of color and a multiplicity of experiences. The aesthetic pursuits and interests life has to offer can help youngsters express their emotions. If children and teenagers are allowed to express their emotions by means of clothing and hairstyle (wearing gray when they're feeling down and yellow or green when they're feeling happy), perhaps they will be less likely to blow up a few zits into thoughts of suicide.

A sound education also instills in students a sense of responsibility and the ability to cooperate with others. Yet some school regulations not only go against such an education but also against human nature. For example, encouraging or forcing students to inform on their schoolmates when they commit an offense, turns them into people who betray friends for personal gain or who will do anything to avoid suffering guilt by association. This is not what a positive education should be about.

Just wait till I grow up

Strangely enough, when school regulations are too stringent, students contest them, but when they are too lax, their parents protest. At a parents' meeting in a prestigious municipal high school, several parents complained that the school did not force students to wear a school blazer or to tuck in their shirts. They felt that this gave people a poor impression of the school and was bad for its reputation. Given this social context, even if teachers subscribe to modern and pluralist educational ideals, they end up playing it safe in the classroom.

What's more, many schools backtrack after a short period of liberalization, either because there aren't enough teachers or because those they have lack experience or patience.

Liu Pang-chiu, principal of Talun Junior High School in Taoyuan County, says that after his school relaxed its hair code ten years ago, it found it very difficult to control students' behavior. Unkempt hair quickly led to an undisciplined atmosphere in which teachers were unable to handle their students. The school therefore had to tighten up its rules again.

Wang Nien-ching, who has many years of experience as a dean of students, says that 80-90% of students are "ordinary people" with whom discipline and rules are effective. Consequently, says Wang, schools cannot disrupt the education of the majority of students to accommodate a small minority.

Wang believes that it is imperative that intractable students be subjected to discipline, but it is important not to harm them while doing so.

In fact, people are debating not just the content of school regulations, but also how they should be implemented.

Hsieh Shu-mei, executive director of the HEF, says that schools don't trust their students and make them the objects of tight control. All too often, no thought is given to how school regulations are applied. Some teachers enforce them in an extremely boorish manner, and do serious harm to students' self-esteem.

At the end of last year, a student wrote on the Internet bulletin board of a junior high school in Taichung, "During the morning assembly the head coach kicked a student in the backside and held up her clothes in front of every teacher and student in the school because she hadn't tucked in her shirt. Even her underwear was seen by her classmates."

The school has yet to respond to this bulletin-board allegation. But concerned netizens, the Taiwan Media Watch Organization, the HEF, and other organizations, have petitioned the mayor of Taichung to order an investigation and render justice to the student.

Wu Li-fen, executive director of the HEF, says that schools feel that once they relax their rules they will find it very difficult to manage their students, when in fact, difficulty is not something that education should shy away from. But, says Wu, "The problem is not that schools shouldn't manage students, but what exactly has to be managed and how to go about it." According to Wu, schools ought to try to find the underlying reasons why "problem students" have problems. They should be less concerned with a wayward appearance than with trying to understand and deal with underlying causes, because once these are taken care of the rest will follow. If schools spend all their time trying to control outward appearances without exploring what is going on inside students, all they will achieve is a temporary stifling of emotions, which will sooner or later explode in a much more destructive way.

Others insist that what's under the scalp is more important than what's on top of it. In other words, students should spend less time worrying about their hair.

APMSSR founder Lin Pai-i considers this argument very strange, first because when there is a hair code students are bound to spend a lot of time worrying about their hair, and second because students are not study machines. They also have to learn to look after their appearance, and to manage their time accordingly.

Lin suggests, "If students aren't supposed to think about their appearance, then every profession and trade should have its uniform and hair code, because everyone has to work hard to make Taiwan more competitive." According to Lin, adults tend not to regard children and teenagers as complete individuals, and are unwilling to extend to their feelings the same consideration they expect for their own feelings: "Can you imagine a teacher who would accept being told that she may not dye or perm her hair?"

Bad behavior follows unkempt hair

The Chinese equivalent of "spare the rod and spoil the child" is "if a jade is not cut and polished, it cannot be made into anything." The traditional Chinese view also holds that following rules is the first step in learning to be an upright person. But is this true?

Yen Chiu-huang, dean of students at Erhchung Junior High School in Taipei County, says that many years of teaching experience have shown him that poor students tend to be bad at following rules and conventions, and students who are always having warnings and violations entered into their school record also tend to be poor academic performers.

HEF executive director Wu Li-fen disagrees: "There's no evidence to suggest that kids who don't follow school regulations are poor students or bad characters." She thinks that the real waste is that students are forced to argue with their teachers simply because they like to look good.

Wu laments, "On the one hand we want students to have an aesthetic education, and on the other we force a drab appearance on them. Isn't this a contradiction?" She adds, "Education cannot be reduced to formalism. Every child has a different personality. You cannot simply judge a child's inner character from outward obedience."

Examples of students whose clothing and general appearance do not correspond to school regulations but who do well academically can be found almost everywhere.

For the fun of it, Liang Chen, a first-year junior-high-school student with excellent grades, got three ear piercings, which immediately drew the ire of the dean of students and several parents. Fortunately, her mother stood by her and saved the day.

Liang Chen's mother says, "You have to accept your own child. If you're always telling her off, all you'll achieve is to push her away." Asked whether she is afraid that her daughter's wish to look good will impair her academic performance, she says, "Toiling heart and soul on schoolwork is fine, but then what? Some people are more concerned about their appearance, and some less, but that doesn't necessarily have any bearing on their future success. After all, many professionally successful women are radiant and gorgeously dressed beauties."

The rod can spoil the child

Because Chen Yu-cheng, a third-year student at Fushan Junior High School in Kaohsiung, had a "different" father and was the only student in his school who did not wear the school uniform, he was also seen as being "different."

Fushan is a new junior high school, which started out without a school uniform, but introduced one as it entered its third year. Because the school implemented a policy of moral suasion and entered violations of the school regulations in students' school records, all students wore a uniform. Chen Yu-cheng was the sole exception.

Chen considered the school uniform-a yellow shirt with a green collar, a green necktie, and green shorts-to be "totally weird and ugly." But its ugliness was not the only reason Chen refused to wear the uniform: "To my mind, it's unreasonable for the school to force students to wear a uniform." He thinks that it would make much more sense to let students wear a uniform on their own initiative, because they like and identify themselves with the school. Nor does Chen agree with regulations that bar students from ordering takeout food and make them fill out self-assessment reports at every turn. He says, "I insist on my right not write a self-assessment report unless my parents are present."

To date, the school has not punished Chen Yu-cheng in any way for failing to wear a uniform and to submit to hair inspections. His teachers have only tried moral suasion, and have had him dismissed from the post of class monitor, which has troubled and depressed him.

Head matters

Schools ought to allow young students to explore life and to make their own mistakes. If children are straitjacketed, how will they ever gain the confidence to soar when they grow up?

Wu Li-fen says that when, more than ten years ago, adults spoke of eliminating hair codes, they were doing little more than talking. In their hearts, they had yet to "end martial law," and still thought that "these kids want to rebel." She thinks that a relaxation of rules is not enough. Education authorities have to help schools cope with these problems and advise them on how to shape the moral character of students, or they will be back where they started, helplessly trying to maintain discipline and focusing on nonessentials.

School regulations are not only a test for kids, but an even greater one for teachers. If school regulations are swept away, it will be necessary to begin by tidying up what's inside people's heads.