Hair Regulations In EJ

Written by: Skyler (24-U2) and Marco (24-O1)

Designed by: Julianna (24-E6)

“Now, could we invite the CTs to check your class for AGC? Everyone please stand up.” The words that some Eunoians dread whenever Attire and Grooming Check (AGC) comes around. There is no use denying the fact that some students try to find loopholes and tricks to fly over their CT’s radar and pass off the AGC, the most popular methods being hair gel or water. 

Despite the numerous warnings and desperate attempts to cover up their untidy appearance, many students ultimately still fail the AGC. From one point of view, since students were notified ahead of time about the AGC’s date and expectations, their received outcome is completely fair and justified. From another point of view, it certainly has stirred some commotion within the school community, as they perceive the school’s focus on grooming as seemingly unnecessary. One prominent point of contention is how it impacts the eventual conduct grades we receive, in which they feel that the AGC should not have that much impact.

At the end of the day, this article serves not to dismiss the importance of following school rules and guidelines, nor does it serve the purpose of disapproving of the guidelines that exist currently and its reasons for existence.

Instead, this article serves to explore the complexities and thought processes that go over student’s heads and bring new perspectives to the table. It aims to show both the importance of AGC as well as some of its potential limitations.

History Behind Hair Regulations In Schools

To find out why schools have strict guidelines and rules for hair in their system, we have to go all the way back to before they were implemented in schools. 

In the 1960s, Singapore issued a ban against long hair for men, which was coupled with an Anti-Long Hair Campaign. This was primarily driven by Singapore’s anti-hippy stance, thinking that hippy culture would be a bad influence on Singapore and pose a threat to society.

While this ban was eventually lifted, it did spur actions taken by the Ministry of Education (MOE). MOE implemented hair guidelines across schools from the 1960s-1970s, with the requirements for boys to have crew cuts with no hair on their temples as well as a ban on outlandish hairstyles. For girls, their hair had to be kept to ear-length and any dyeing or perming of hair was prohibited.

All the guidelines were done with the aim and principles of promoting neat and tidy appearance, while minimizing distractions and maintaining a conducive learning environment.

Nowadays, guidelines have become less strict and specific, although certain requirements still have to be met. Mainly in EJ, both boys and girls cannot dye their hair, while for boys their hair needs to be kept short, fringes not touching their eyebrows, the backs not touching their collars, and the sides and sideburns being kept short. For the girls, the main points against them include not wearing more than one earring on each ear, as well as tying up their hair if it goes beyond their shoulders.

While the evolution of hair guidelines have certainly turnt the rules more relaxed, it certainly has not made students more happy about the current situation. In the next section, we will explore criticisms of the system made by people.

Criticisms Of The System

Students all around Singapore have taken to various platforms to comment and criticise schools’ hair rules. Some students show their disdain for such a strict system, while others actually view it in a different light and some even support it. Here’s some examples from Reddit r/sgexams:

Negative criticism:

“Once a month students line up during morning assembly like they're in some military parade and try to look as presentable as they can while a teacher prowls up and down the line, scanning each student like they're appraising an artifact to be put on display, and for what? To have a student be "presentable"? Keep up the image of the school…To maintain discipline? This is discipline for the sake of it, which, for independent 17 year olds capable of self-control, achieves nothing…  But who benefits from keeping boys' hair above the fringe, or girls' hair uncoloured? Here, "discipline" teaches absolutely nothing.”

“Speaking of hair, the rules regarding facial hair are even worse. I would get flagged consistently because I had some stubble, but like that stuff grows back after a day. I'm not going to shave myself clean every day when you need to go really close to me to see that I have some to begin with.”

“I understand the no unnatural colour part since bright green hair is kind of distracting, but like hairstyles, come on this isn't north korea”

Positive criticism:

“I'm a student as well and I always get caught with a goatee and thick hair but we must understand that they try to instil the value of following and obeying. Even though the looks may not be significant, shaping a person to obey and follow is their goal ( what i think )”

“Your appearance and your willingness to conform shows your mental state. Try getting a job with your 'do not judge me' mentality. Unless you are generating 100x your salary, you are a worker expected to conform and fit the system.”

“I will refrain from judging the school's hair policy - that's for the management and students to decide. Perhaps the hair/attire policy could be implemented in a less "draconian" way. But think about why grooming, image, and presentation are important.”

From all of these criticisms, we can clearly see that people feel strongly about the hair rules in school on both ends of the spectrum. 

On one hand, people find that the guidelines are not achieving the said goals of discipline and being presentable while the rules themselves may also prove to be overt to a certain extent because of strict rules on hairstyles and even facial hair. 

On the other hand, some people also recognize that the hair guidelines are here for a good reason, and are key in instilling important values in students for life. It helps to shape the mentality that many of us would need to take up in the future, and while they admit the methods could have room for improvement, the overall goal and intention is justified and important.

However, this is just a general consensus on school guidelines across Singapore, now let us take a look at what our own Eunoians think abt EJ’s guidelines.

EJ Guidelines And What Do Our Students Think?

In EJ, before the day of AGC, students are notified during a previous Period Zero and an email on the day of AGC beforehand. Besides that, they are also reminded of the standards and requirements they have to follow as well as potential consequences of failing the AGC.

AGC is carried out roughly once or twice per term, with most of AGC being carried out during Period Zero in classrooms by the classes’ respective Civic Tutors, with an occasional mass AGC for the cohort in the Multi-Purpose Hall. 

Students are asked to stand up to let their tutors check their hair and are allowed to sit back down if they pass. Those who do not pass the first round will be given a warning and will be given a week to cut their hair to the required length. Should they fail the follow-up check, they will then receive the appropriate punishment.

Here is a response by one of our very own Eunoians on how he thinks the hair guidelines in EJ are:

“I think the idea of having a united student appearance is good, ultimately it links back to the identity of the school. However, it can also be viewed as a restriction of our personal preferences. We have the right to portray ourselves the way we want to in school, and certain guidelines like hair, which is something you cannot change unlike your attire, is restricted in school and hence it will also be the same outside of school. Therefore, attire regulations make sense but hair guidelines are a bit annoying to some students. I think overall they are doing well in terms of setting these guidelines and it maintains the neatness of the general student population. However, I do not think all teachers are completely upholding it, either by not enforcing it or they themselves are breaching these guidelines.” 

- Fong Tze Meng, 24-U2

As can be seen, the idea and purpose of the hair guidelines in EJ are recognised and validated, however the issues lie with the effect of the guidelines conflicting with the desires of some students who just want to appear in they way they want to, as well as the overall implementation of it not being effective enough.

Overall it shows how hair guidelines for EJ are good, but still leave much to be desired. It reflects that while the principles the system has are good, its actual practicality has to be worked on to make the process more successful and smooth. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, EJ’s hair rules try to instil discipline and unity, but they also raise questions about how much students should be allowed to express themselves. While the rules aim for a neat appearance, they can feel restrictive. Students have mixed feelings: some see the rules as necessary, while others think they’re too strict. Everyone is subjected to their own perspectives and opinions, however students should still be respectful to the school rules and follow them, after all, you chose to come to EJ, respect its rules.

At the end of the day, no system is perfect, flawless, one hundred percent effective and liked, but every system serves a purpose. In the case of EJ’s hair guidelines, the principles it is based on is completely justified and morally upright, albeit its implementation can be better. This signals a need for change, perhaps not with the rules inherently, but rather the specific details which go into their implementation.

 As we reflect on these rules, we might wonder: just because a system is flawed, does it give us the right to be upset, disrespect and not follow them and worst of all, request for overhauls?