Students cut up on beards

A group of Kapiti College students have attracted international support for a petition to allow year 13s at the school to grow tidy facial hair.

Anthony McEwen and four other students started the petition as part of a year 13 social studies assignment, expecting about 30 signatures from family and friends.

It had received over 400 signatures online as of yesterday, from as far afield as Australia and Britain.

‘‘They were all saying stuff like ‘What you’re doing is a great change’,’’ McEwen said. ’’At the end of the day, 99.9 per cent of the comments are positive.’’

Year 13 students are allowed to wear mufti to school, and to use makeup, McEwen said. But if a student turns up with facial hair, he is taken from class and instructed to shave with provided equipment.

McEwen said that did not fit with the rest of the dress code.

‘‘It’s facial hair. It’s not like everyone is staring at you. I don’t see, when we’re allowed to express ourselves through clothes, why we can’t express ourselves through facial hair.

‘‘If year 13 students are allowed to wear mufti, how come they are not allowed to have natural hair that grows on their face?’’

Members of the group, not including McEwen, met college principal Tony Kane about the issue earlier this month. ’’He sort of denied the whole thing on the spot. I personally don’t think he wants to change it.’’

The group also met the board of trustees, and McEwen said the majority supported the petition, which could be seen on the change.org website.

Kane said he doubted beards would be where the community wanted the school to set presentation standards.

‘‘The petitioners argued that facial hair does not have anything to do with learning, and that is true enough.

‘‘The same argument applies to safety pins through noses or a ‘Sieg heil’ tattoo on the forehead, but I doubt that the community would find them acceptable.’’

He said the number of signatures was irrelevant. ’’A few people with a valid argument are more convincing than many petitioners without one.’’

The matter was being discussed by the school’s senior management and parents will be surveyed shortly. It was likely to be ‘‘a couple of weeks’’ before the decision was made.

NOT THE FIRST TIME

In April, 40 year 11 girls at Henderson High School were told their skirts were too short.

In June 2015, a Motueka High School student started a petition to allow puffer jackets to be worn at school