Teacher's Need to be Barber's These Days!  (Singapore)

Why do Teacher's Need to be Barber's These Days and give School Boy / Girl haircuts?

 In simple terms it could be because Parents do not adhere to school rules and Discipline their Children.

Parents shocked that their boy was given a drastic haircut by a teacher from his secondary school. Yet had they done their job as parents and disciplined their son by taking him to a Barber Shop at least once every three or so weeks, teachers would not have to act like a 'barber'.

Getting your son or daughter a haircut to adhere to school rules does not usually cause and scar any boy or girl psychologically as was stated in recent other Blogger Sites.

Why should schools in Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines to name a few countries only from a long list maintain such strict rules for school boys'  and sometimes girls' haircut?

In the majority of countries with a respected public and private education systems  the head of the Prefect of Discipline office even interrupts classes without notice on a regular monthly basis and had a bunch of  us marched off to the school barber for immediate regulation haircuts.

This is not as humiliating as having it cut by teacher or prefect in-front of classmates coz our hair was too long and in breach of school regulations.  This was so terrible that these students had to rush to a barber the same day and have it it fixed right after the school day had ended. In fact, even if the boys' or girls' hair weren't even touching his or her eyebrows!!!  but not perfectly neat and cut to school regulations at all times, same treatment was dished out to all students.

School Boys having their long hair taken care of by The School's Barber whilst the Discipline Master overlooks the process

School Day Haircut Regulations are an integral part of the training for discipline, it conditions a student to conform with society's standard of what's presentable and what's not. Short hair also means showing a clean image which translates to better public image for the school as it doesn't show unkempt students who look like hippy’s, disco girls’ and or they smoke weed and therefore reflects badly on the school and or the school administrator's ability to discipline their students. It all harks back to the puritanical days of Catholic and Protestant schools run by Priests, Nuns and Pastors and it also reflects the Chinese influence of Confucian ethics and filial piety.

In Malaysia (Malay: Pakaian Seragam Sekolah), Thailand, United Kingdom, and many other countries school uniforms and strict regulations on students’ grooming are compulsory for all students who attend public schools. Malaysia introduced Western style school uniforms in the late 19th century during the British colonial era. Today, school uniforms are almost universal in the public and private school systems. The hairstyle of students is also given attention by schools and the Ministry of Education^.  Schools do not allow students to color their hair. For boys, there is usually a maximum length of hair allowed, for example, the hair must be a few centimeters above the collar, and no sideburns are allowed. Violation of boys' hair regulations is often punished with a caning and or only after an enforced haircut at the school. The use of hair gel is and should be prohibited in all and not only the stricter schools, in order to prevent excessive hairdressing. 

For girls with long hair, their hair must be properly tied up, often into a ponytail or worn in a short bob or cropped cut.  Some schools dictate the color and type of hair accessories that can be used. Some prohibit even girls from having long hair. Wearing make up in school is prohibited.

Schools across Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, United Kingdom, and many other countries usually enforce their school uniform and grooming code thoroughly, with regular checks by teachers and prefects. Students who fail to comply may be warned, given demerit points, or publicly punished at school assembly or sent home from school after being escorted to the school barber for regulation haircut or the headmasters’ office to be caned if and where practiced. Only in Singapore do we see parents threatening to sue or report teachers and disciplinarians doing their jobs to the police.

Recently in Singapore a 12-year-old had his hair trimmed by his teacher minutes before he was to enter the room to sit for am oral exam. The boy had been given a letter to pass to his parents two days before the exam, requesting that he have his hair trimmed before exam day, however the boy claimed that he had forgotten about the letter. The boy’s mother found out about the incident and made a police report. She was upset that the teacher had cut her son’s hair before a crucial exam without her knowledge, and that it ruined the boy's $60 haircut.  One must raise the question, “Was it  really without her knowledge, after all she would have been well aware of the schools’ haircut regulation which covered all male students including her son seeing it was not his first day at the school?”

The other question to be raised is “Why any parent would spend $60.00 on a primary school boys’ haircut, let alone which salon or barber shop of repute would charge that much for a school boys’ regulation short back & sides haircut which that salon or barber shop would have been well aware school boys were required to wear at school in that country?” 

A hairdresser / barbers’ standard industry definition of a "school boy's haircut" Short back and sides, cut / buzzed very short (but not shaved) on sides and back no more than approximately 1/8th of an inch long at the very most up to the crown where the hair is left a little longer.  Thus the hair is cut very short all over, gradually getting slightly longer in front. Enough hair is left to part and comb neatly. This haircut conforms to the shape of the head and the emphasis is on neatness.  To charge $60.00 for a "school boy's haircut" is simply highway robbery.

As  this boys’ mother and all such parents should know Every Singaporean Son is subject to Conscription in Singapore, called National Service (NS), requires all male Singaporean citizens and second-generation permanent residents who have reached the age of 18 to enrol for national service. They serve a 22- or 24-month period as Full Time National Servicemen (NSFs), either in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Singapore Police Force (SPF), or the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). 

As part of the induction process for every Singaporean Son is the  induction cut, the shortest possible hairstyle without shaving the head with a razor. The style is so named as it is the first haircut given to new male recruits during initial entry into many of the world's armed forces, including Singapore’s very own National Service.

The induction haircut has both practical and psychological purposes. Originally, one of the reasons for the induction haircut was to reduce the chances of disease among closely quartered recruits from different geographical areas (with varying immunities), such as head lice. However, the haircut also has the psychological purpose of stripping recruits of their individuality and promoting the "team" mentality desirable in a platoon of military recruits similarly at school the school boy school girl all hear to learn one team spirit. Although the term "induction cut" is generally used to refer to male military haircuts, females also endure a form of an induction haircut, in that their hair is very often nowadays cut to chin-length. 

     School Girls having their long hair taken care of by The School's Barber's - No questions asked, arguments, winging mothers or other

The concept of an "induction haircut" has only gone to ensue better hygiene and a much needed code of discipline. So one ponders will the mother of this boy or any other parent who has complained of school teachers enforcing school discipline also complain about the National Service Platoon Staff  or Barbers’ who oversee their sons’ mandatory induction cuts?

School discipline is a form of discipline that should be found in all schools. The term refers to students complying with a code of behaviour often known as the school rules. Among other things these rules usually set out the expected standards of clothing, grooming, timekeeping, social behaviour and work ethic. The term may also be applied to the punishment that is the consequence of transgression of the code of behaviour. For this reason the usage of school discipline sometimes means punishment for breaking school rules rather than behaving within the school rules.

Generally, aim of school discipline is (in theory at least) to create a safe and happy learning environment in the classroom. 

Why does it have to be like that allot of classmates ask one another?  It should be quite common for students who had just had a new haircut for a day, but not in-line with school regulations to singled out by a teacher, discipline master or mistress or even prefect and told that he or she thinks that your hair is still touching your ears or collar, or simply its not a regulation school haircut.... then being escorted to the School's Barber immediately or in the worst case scenario given detention after school only to be lead to the school's barber on reaching the detention session. 

This regimented enforcement of haircut's as part of proper grooming and in-line with school rules is an overlooked part of many schools daily discipline routine in Singapore, Indonesia and some parts of Thailand today simply to avoid winging parents and unneeded publicity. This is unacceptable discipline must be a core component of any respectable school system and bowing to winging parents is a disgracefully poor and unacceptable excuse.

A classroom where a teacher is unable to maintain order and discipline can lead to lower achievement by some students and unhappy students. 

The conservative elements inherent in traditional schools of academic excellence  often demand full and unquestioning, instinctive respect for and adherence to rules, and an atmosphere of complete obedience, which necessitates a universal, rigorously enforced system of discipline. 

The  immediate introduction of a School Barber visiting each school on a regular basis or the contractual outsourcing of students haircuts to local barber shops under a prepaid system where the cost of  minimum  two mandatory haircuts a month for each child is collected as part of school fees and loaded onto every students library card, which the student would simply have swiped in the barber shops electronic payment system each time he or she visits and this would also record his or her mandatory visits twice every calendar month.  The school's discipline master or mistress would then access the monthly barber attendance report and arrange for Barber's to visit the school one day every month and do the necessary at school assembly for all student whose name appears on the attendance report as none compliant. 

The concept of outsourcing students haircuts schedule to each schools local community barber shops and having the cost of these mandatory school boy boy and girl standard regulation haircuts paid as part of school fees and deducted through each students library or school identity card would mean a lowe cost of no more SGD 2.50 per haircut per student or arround SGD 50.00 per academic year thus a saving to the child parent not only financially but responsibility wise.

The mandatory school boy boy and  schoolgirl standard regulation haircuts would be
pre-defined in an instruction manual to all participating barbers / salons and thus the student would simply walk in produce their identity card and this would signify to the cutter that regulation cut to be given, no questions, no debate and no discussion. These haitcuts would be traditional internationally accepted schhol boy and school girl short cuts ensring the hair does not covering the ears, not covering the eyebrows or touching the shirt collar.

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