Senior students on study leave in ‘Movember’
A publicity stunt to pressure schools into allowing senior male students to participate in Movember has fallen foul of the school calender year.
The Movember Foundation made a plea through the nation’s media calling on 178 colleges to waive their clean shave policies for the month of November to encourage conversations around men’s health.
During November men sport moustaches for prostate and testicular cancer, mental health, suicide awareness and other men’s health issues, foundation manager Robert Dunne said. But school clean shave policies prevented teenagers from being involved in the important conversation at a young age, he said.
Men didn’t like to talk about their health as there was an expectation that opening up was a weakness, and as a result the country was losing many of them far too young, Dunne said. Allowing students to participate in Movember was an ‘incredible opportunity’ to get young men talking about issues affecting them, create real change and save lives, he said.
At Rodney College principal Irene Symes said her school would support the idea.
‘‘We want to help in anyway raise awareness about prostate cancer and issues to do with male health. That is something we as a nation need to support,’’ she said.
But with senior students about to go on study leave ahead of NCEA exams, Symes said whether or not to waive the school’s clean shave policy wouldn’t be an issue.
‘‘Movember’s going to hit and we are not going to see these wonderful moustaches that kids are going to be sporting, because they are not actually going to be here.’’
Orewa College principal Kate Shevland said her school wouldn’t be concerned if students wanted to get involved and would waive its clean shave policy.
‘‘Any conversations about preventative
‘‘We want to help in anyway raise awareness ...’’
Irene Symes
strategies for cancer are a really good conversation,’’ she said.
But study leave meant students old enough to grow facial hair wouldn’t be around to have the conversation.
Whangaparaoa College supported the Movember initiative philosophically, principal James Thomas said.
‘‘But we have not had anyone ask if they can actually sport a moustache - or try to - because they are not actually here.’’