Discipline and children's rights, where to strike the balance?

That's the question that I have been pondering for years. From what I've seen, the answer seems to depend on who you ask.

Different people have differing views about hair on these young heads. Some advocate human rights, dignity, liberty and freedom. Others see order and discipline necessary to carry on by the new generation, a fine and unique cultural tradition worthy of preserving in future generations, or a shield against evil Western influences always lurking and ready to harm our vulnerable youth. Still others see nothing reflected in the severe haircuts but the rules that have been created and should be observed because they are rules.

Then there are people like me, wondering out loud what the fuss is all about with our schoolkids' hair. Why would they want to change the rules now, when decades ago, during my time as a schoolboy, we were doing fine and much better without these strict hair rules?

More and more schools are now adopting stricter rules, especially for hair. Mandatory crew cut for boys and ear-lobe-length bob for girls. This rule is more prominent across public schools in Penang. But, is this hair rule truly helpful in raising discipline standards? Or is it mere window dressing, another case of putting more focus on form rather than function? You see, under these rules, our Sports Minister YB Syed Saddiq, Education Minister, YB Dr. Maszlee Malik, Deputy Education Minister, Mdm. Teo Nie Ching and even our Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, would all have run afoul of these rules and promptly sent to the disciplinary teachers for a forced haircut!

Let us dissect the issue.

The crew cut and ear-lobe length bob rules started roughly more than a decade ago by a certain elite school in Penang island. It probably started with noble intentions, to instill discipline and a good school culture among the students. The practice has been adopted by more school administrators ever since and have spread all over Penang, to the point that it has become like the norm. However, where do the children's and parents' rights to choose fit in?

When asked for the rational of implementing these hair rules, one headmaster gave this reason: students look smarter and neater with crew cut hairstyles. Some others even cited hygiene and to combat lice. (Are we still in wartime?) Other reasons given include to prevent students from being affected by negative social influence, to create a positive and healthy learning environment for students, ensuring students can focus on their studies and so on. However, all these reasons do not hold water and are not backed up with proper research or scientific evidence.

I beg to differ. Students sporting shaven heads look more like convicts instead, while girls are made to look more like boys now. Many school heads who enforce these hair rules do not even practise them themselves. Teaching staff are also excluded. Sounds very hypocritical? It does! Isn’t it possible for male students to have a normal and decent hairstyle which looks neat? We are not even asking for the national standards to be changed to allow boys to sport long hair. As for female students, naturally long hair should be permitted. All we ask is for the rule of law to be established, like what our Prime Minister has been advocating - just stick to the national regulations!

The Education Ministry circular governing hair length, which dates back to January 1976, states that schoolgirls should not have hair reaching the shoulders. However, it also says that those who have long hair and are unwilling to cut it short can be advised to tie their hair up so that it does not touch the shoulders. According to the circular, plaits or ponytails can be allowed.

The section on schoolboys is even more definite. All boys, it says, must not have long hair, defined as hair that falls below the earlobes at the back, covers more than half of the forehead or covers both ears fully or partly. A schoolboy is also deemed to have long hair if his sideburns reach beyond the halfway mark of his nose or his hair is longer than 15cm. Clearly, the national guidelines are very accommodating and not as rigid. Also worthy of note is that the 1976 circular also applies to all school teachers and staff as teachers are exhorted to lead by example. There you have it. It's acceptable and reasonable, isn't it?

Introducing school rules in contravention of Ministry's circulars is actually prohibited. These hair rules are usually the whims and fancies of certain school principals, often bulldozed over majority protests and Parent-Teacher Associations are strong-armed into endorsing them. And they got away with it. This opens the floodgates to more 'creatively outrageous' rules by schools. Now, more and more Penang schools are forcing students to only wear school-branded socks, use school-branded handkerchiefs and to only wear school-branded tracksuits! (contravening circulars No.6/1993, No.10/2018) All in the name of discipline and uniformity! I call it monopoly, which often leads to corruption. I am really curious who are behind the sales of these mandatory school merchandise? Where does the money go to? Really make us wonder, no? There are even some elite schools in Penang, brazenly banning their Form 6 students from wearing casual clothing, insisting that their students still wear school uniforms, in total defiance of the Education Ministry's 2014 circular, which states that 'students shall not be compelled or pressured to wear uniforms in the name of uniformity'. Clear case of 'Little Napoleons' or 'the Deep State' at work.

Therefore, schools should not be permitted to interpret Ministry guidelines 'creatively' themselves. They should not be allowed to look for loopholes nor selectively ignore official circulars. Moreover, schools should not be given exemptions just because they hide behind endorsements from PTA committees or school boards when enacting controversial rules, because oftentimes the PTAs and school boards do not represent the majority voice as many Malaysian parents, due to various commitments, aren't active members.

Lest we forget, I would like to cite the 'baju kurung' case that happened in 2015 when Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was Education Minister. In that incident, the school sent a non-Muslim girl home for wearing baju kurung, when in fact the school overstepped its boundaries because baju kurung has been accepted as a national attire. Schools have been warned not to come up with their own rules and regulations that are against the directives of the Education Ministry. In issuing the warning, Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin stressed that all regulations made in schools must be in line with the ministry's directives and standards.
"We understand that schools tend to have their own rules and regulations on certain matters. It is not right if the rules and regulations implemented are against the instructions or directives of the ministry," Muhyiddin said.

In light of the 2015 case, retired Education Officer for the Interior Zone of Sabah Datuk Zaini Mat Isa, also chipped in, "During my days as an Education Officer we hardly had such problems because school heads or teachers did not try to be too clever. They would refer to the State Education Department for advice when in doubt over certain matters. But these days teachers with impressive scrolls feel they were entitled to make important decisions unilaterally overlooking the Ministry directive and that we live in a plural society." Zaini said that it was good that the Muhyiddin put his foot down in the matter as incidents like these trouble many parents.

I would also like to quote from the authoritative book on school discipline management "Pengurusan Disiplin Murid: Edisi Kedua", written by Dr. James Ang Jit Eng, where he advises in page 209 that school administrators should not force the crew cut rule for boys and too short hair for girls. They should refer to the 1976 Ministry circular and just stick to it. Worthy of note is Dr. James Ang is a professor at Institut Aminuddin Baki, Ministry of Education Malaysia. Our former Education Director General, Tan Sri Dr. Khair Mohamad Yusof, also penned the foreword for the book, lending more prominence and endorsement to said book.

Imagine, some boys start experiencing hair loss at the age of 18. They would have no more chance to experience the freedom of sporting their own desired hairstyle ever if they can't do it during their teens or school days. What would you feel if this happens to your own children? To yourself? I know a friend who became bald when he was 22. Luckily he had years to enjoy his preferred hairstyle when his hair was still thick in his teenage years because we did not have such hair rules then.

As a teacher myself, I am against these hair rules. I humbly believe the military-style hair rules for school children are totally unnecessary and instill in children harmful authoritarian values. It makes youths not learn how to think, only follow orders blindly. It also promotes power abuse by teachers and teaches youth to absorb this negative culture. It restricts reasonable individual freedom and personal choice. These rules go against the efforts of the Education Ministry in building loving school environments. These rules fly in the face of 21st Century learning, where student creativity and autonomy is encouraged. Such rules are restrictive and may kill a student’s joy of learning in school. 

Students should be given a say in the implementation of school rules to safeguard their rights and to ensure that such rules are fair. School rules are meant to guide students to behave themselves and cultivate a sense of responsibility and respect in them instead of suppressing them and stressing them out! I really pity the children who have these hair rules forced upon them.

As a teacher myself, I am not against school rules. School rules are indeed beneficial for students because the upholding of such rules play a vital part in creating a healthy and harmonious environment in school. What I am strongly against are extreme and unreasonable rules such as those hair rules I mentioned. We do not want our children to be indoctrinated with North Korean style socialist culture.

I always believe, ensuring that school rules are fair and just to all will be a good step in reforming the current education system that is often deemed dull, stressful and rigid.

As an educator, I find it my duty to voice out for all my students, past and present, on behalf of their parents and society at large. I implore the Education Minister Dr. Maszlee Malik and Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir to look into this issue. Help us, the silent majority, the common Joes on the street. Please hear our pleas. I know, with just a pen stroke, you can help us reverse this, just in time for the new school session.

 

Sincerely hoping,

Cheng Chee Yong
(A Concerned Teacher)