I live in Panama and i thought this was an issue only here on latinamerica but i found out it’s common in almost all of asia and the middle east and it’s so weird how much they police your hair, why does it matter if it’s long or if it’s naturally blonde? I’ve heard some schools even force you to dye your hair black to look “formal”, here schools threaten to expel you for having long hair as a guy
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I was born in Colombia. Mainly, it’s because of the Catholic religion.
This was an issue in Ireland, at least up until 2010 when I finished. I haven’t heard much of it of late tho.
They do that in the UK too apparently from what I read. I’m in the US and I think it’s utterly bizarre. But they say those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones…
There are schools in the US like this.
This is nothing new. Even during the founding years of the US we did the same to Native Americans. Back then it was to strip the cultural identity of the natives and to get them to conform to European values and traditions.
I grew up in the US/California and went to public school. Nobody cared about hair length but unnatural hair color was always against the rules.
It’s usually to create and maintain gender norms and look professional. It also kinda defacto projects social status for your parents because if they have time to and can afford to keep your hair within a certain length it shows they’re “good” parents who are taking care of you
I wouldn’t say it’s a third world thing per se. Many schooling traditions, including not only Catholic schools but secular British schools and others, place a lot of value on modesty and a certain perception of neatness and order. So you get things like uniforms, bans on piercings or jewelry, and hair style regulations.
Third world countries? Someone is pretty young.
Toxic masculinity. Only girls have long hair
its to keep them in line like military.
the schools are producing yes men and factory workers anyway.
at least that’s how it started and then became a norm.
from Bangladesh btw.
Just like Texas?
They were so annoying with the hair on my school that I’ve never again cut my hair after finishing school.
I’m 36, I have a lovely wife and a quite good job.
Also, it’s a catholic school, which helped make me an atheist.
At least in Venezuela (and probably it’s the same in Panamá) it’s because they think that by enforcing uniformity, they keep the order and remain in control. The uniformity in physical appearance (wearing uniforms) comes from the military ways of handling big groups. When you allow self-expression, and you allow certain individuals to “stand out” from the crowd, you open the door for expression of non-conformism, and therefore, rebellion.
Venezuelan, here. I had very good grades and no behavior issues, but I wanted a pink hair strand in 8th grade. My mom did it for me. When they found out (because I had it hidden), they called both me and my mom into the principal’s office to inform my mom about my bad behavior lol and she was like “I know, I dyed her hair for her at home”.
In the end they made me color it back to brown, but my mom still had to question the principal: “how come the most popular girl is allowed to have blonde highlights? That’s still a hair dye”.
The principal said “we only allow natural colors” 🙄😂So, no standing out from the crowd. I’m 32 and I still think of getting another pink hair strand.
Why are schools in America so obsessed with not policing the length and color of the hair of students?
Ever been to the South? (USA)
They’re aspiring to be Tejas?
White imperialists imposed this on cultures all over the world, and now even though they’ve left those countries they continue to impose it on one another.
Standardizes stuff. Technically it helps to stop social status from coming up. Everyone has the same clothes, the same hair, all that, so the only judgement factor is the personality. Appearance, better clothes, better looking hair, different coloured hair, all make students stand out for reasons unrelated to actual skill in academic or physical areas and they are minimized through these standards.
In much of the Americas, including Panama, this is often left over from colonialism, where traditional Indigenous ways of speaking and dress (such as having long hair) were forbidden and punished
Pre- ~1600 it probably would have been considered very normal to have long hair if you were a person living in Panama… until the Europeans moved in and decided (rather violently) that everyone needed to change that.
In Mexico, at least in my city, the idea is to generate a uniformed image to create a sense of belonging. Also, to make a standardised following of the rules. Catholic schools use Jesús or God. But mostly, it’s because the rules says otherwise… just because.
Because starting in the early 50’s the US and the West installed dictatorships across Latin America, Middle East, and Asia and arming extremist dictatorships and militias to murder literal millions of progressives and leftists globally. Hope that helps.
It’s not a 3rd world thing – pretty much every Australian/NZ/UK school makes you wear a uniform and enforces dress standards about hair, makeup, skirt length, jewelry etc . You are not there to “express your individuality”, you are subject to fairly strict discipline about showing up on-time, properly dressed and groomed and ready to learn.
where I went to school, you got detention if a teacher saw you with your tie loose, socks not pulled up, shirt untucked, not properly shaved or otherwise “looking sloppy”. There’s a reason “pull your socks up” is Australian idiom for “stop slacking off and try harder”.
I don’t think you can speak so broadly about everywhere in Latin America.
I grew up in Brazil and studied in catholic schools throughout my life, University included. I have never seen anything like that, except that in school we had to wear uniforms and in the University no one cared as long as you had at least a Tanktop and shorts. Your hair could be a mess and colored however you liked, people of all genders had tatoos and piercings.
My mother describes a lot of repression when it comes to appearance, but she grew up during a military dictatorship.
UK here and I distinctly remember in about 2001 my best friend coming to school with liberty spikes in his hair and being told to wash them out in the bathroom because they were “dangerous”.
A lot of schools in the UK police hair – no unnatural colours and restrictions on style (often no dreads/braids, no hair shaved under certain length etc.) Sometimes with a catchable like “no style that will draw attention to itself” or similar.
There are a lot of “reasons” given much like uniform, but essentially it is about power and control. Once students begin to comply with school rules, it becomes psychologically easier to continue to comply with school rules. Schools like to begin indoctrinating students into compliance as early as possible in order to reduce disruptive behaviour down the road.
Second reason is the schools image. Students are an advert for the school, and schools want control over their image.
It really is wild how much control some school systems try to exert over something as personal and harmless as hair. A lot of it comes down to outdated ideas about discipline, conformity, and “respectability.” In many post-colonial or heavily traditional societies, strict grooming rules are seen as a way to maintain order and instill obedience like a shortcut to discipline.
woah wtf i thought it was an India only thing nice to know more kids suffer from this weird rule
nonconformity enables individualism, which enables a questioning of authority, which is a threat to power.
its a threat to their ability to control you.
Hair especially, being such a prominent expression of yourself.
When I was in high school here in Southeast Asia, us girls with shoulder-length hair were required to tie our hair after lunch break, probably because it had dried from our morning showers. Oh, and we weren’t even allowed to have bangs—not even side bangs—if they touched our eyes. And it wasn’t even a Catholic school!
I’m from India and it happened here too. For boys, they had to keep hairs short, no beard or moustache. For girls, they had to keep the hairs tied, no makeup of any kind.
In catholic schools, they didn’t allow Heena when many girls got on their hands post few ceremonies. For boys, they didn’t allow Rakhi (a thread which sisters tie on brother’s wrist on Raksha Bandhan festival). Though, most secular and Hindu/Jain/Sikh schools allowed it.
This is what happened in city and may differ in other cities.
It’s not exclusive to the third world. Japanese schools love doing this.
The patriarchy.
this is so ridiculous but we can’t blame them. it has been influenced by their culture and religion shaped from their past.
I live in the United States, went to public school, and my school did the same thing. Only natural hair colors and boys couldn’t have long hair.
I’m in Australia and my school is just like that. No hair on your collar or at your ears for boys, no 0 or 1 fades either. It isn’t just third world countries.
You’re thinking about western countries.
Telling Black people that they can’t have a natural, or plaits.
That’s because of a difference in culture – the US having no uniform requirements is baffling from our perspective too.
Having a non-costly standardized uniform across the country minimizes stress and bullying among students stemming from money and culture since there’s nothing to compare. Students also don’t have to spend time shopping or coordinating their outfits every day, and can spend that time doing something considered more productive. And when you’re a student, you’re supposed to be concentrating on your academics, not your looks or influence.
Hair and accessories are also part of that, plus an added perk of learning discipline. You could argue about it killing character, but that’s how the majority of the Eastern cultures work – the society takes precedence over the individual.
For decades French schools complained about female students having skirts too short. Now they complain about them being too long.
Adults like obsessing about children’s bodies. Creepy if you ask me.
I live in Iraq, and I’m surprised this is a thing in other parts of the world.
They be obsessed w control tbh like it’s not even about hair it’s just power tripping lol. schools act like long hair gonna ruin ur grades or smth.
Because old people with receding hairline hates seeing kids having hair
Maybe it’s a level of strictness, but my prep school in the US did this
It’s about imposing uniformity and suppressing individuality. A society of people groomed to be identical is less likely to question social norms in general and power in particular.