Schools need reform, not haircuts
Ibelieve a large number of people my age were subject to humiliation inflicted by their own teacher at least once in their school years. In my case, my teacher forcefully cut my hair in front of my fellow students, right after we observed the flag-flying ceremony.
What crime did I commit? My hair was deemed “too long” by school standards. For girls, hair was supposed to be cropped right at the level of our earlobes — a hair-do that was mocked as a “coconut-shell” style.
My teacher cut my hair until it was right above my left ear. Deliberately, it seemed, to shame me.
My friends were punished more brutally. Teachers would run scissors through their skirts as punishment for wearing uniforms that were “too short”. Their skirts were about two centimetres above their knees.
Those punishments hurt us deeply. We were also confused as to how the length of our hair and skirts had anything to do with our performance as students. But without social media, it was impossible to challenge our teachers, as speaking up may lead to bad grades. We were also afraid of being “excommunicated” by other students, so we kept silent.
The sad thing is, while more than two decades have passed, many students are still going through the same humiliation at the hands of their teachers. It is as if we are stuck in a primitive time.
What is different, is that youths today are more aware of their rights. They dare to speak out to demand more humane treatments and the end of bullying by teachers.
For a long time, teachers — especially in state-run schools — have claimed such punishments are unavoidable, as it is their duty to discipline students. I believe such claims are rubbish. Shaming students isn’t disciplining — it’s bullying.
Just a few days after schools reopened last week, netizens shared pictures of students being punished for their “excessively long hair”. In one case, the punishment clearly went too far, as the teachers marked a big “X” on the back of the boy’s head with a permanent whiteboard marker.
Similar incidents have been reported on social media in recent years. In Kanchanaburi, a student was punished for sharing a clip of her teacher hacking off another student’s hair.
In 2018, netizens were particularly enraged by a picture of a student in Phetchabun, whose shirt had been taped with message saying “700-baht tuition fee unpaid” by his teacher. Recently, there has been a surge of stories about students being verbally harassed, even sexually abused by their teachers.
The revelations of students’ maltreatment on social media have triggered a debate about the education system, which forces young
pupils to be submissive — preventing them from out-of-the-box thinking, if they can think at all. And teachers hardly think twice when issuing irrational rules which infringe on students’ rights on school compounds.
Last week, students under a group facetiously named “Bad Student” brought the issue to the fore when they petitioned the Education Ministry to act against teachers who refused to respect students’ rights by forcefully cutting their hair, despite hair length requirements having been scrapped in the ministry’s new regulations.
While the new rule paves the way for consultation between school administration and students on hairstyles, in reality, many schools still enforce hair length requirements on their students.
Since the regulation — which was based on a 2013 initiative by then-Education Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana — became effective in March, more than 300 students have complained to Bad Student about being punished for their hair length.
Because the rule ultimately allows the school administration to exercise judgment on the matter, it lets some teachers go to extremes when it comes to resolving students hair issues.
The leader of Bad Student, 15-year-old Benjamaporn Niwad, told the media that the hair issue reflects teachers’ “unfair treatment” of students. It speaks volumes about how Thai students have no rights to their bodies, she said.
Her opinion was received with strong reactions from offended adults who branded her group “aggressive kids” and “ungrateful students”. In Thai society, teachers are dubbed “the role model of the nation”, and any criticism against them is practically not allowed.
But it would be wrong for role models to keep abusing or humiliating the younger generation. Those who criticised the Bad Students don’t understand their movement is not just about hair. It’s more of unequal power relations in schools, a school norm which condones authoritarianism in society.
I believe teachers who shame students may have had bad experiences themselves in their childhood. Needless to say, they were just a product of unfair treatment in schools.
A system which breeds passive students who accept their teachers’ abusive behaviour is not healthy. When they grow up, these students will likely do the same to others because they have never been taught to respect human dignity by their teachers.
This approach to teaching is the root of authoritarianism in society. It created the parents who control every aspect of their child’s decisions; senior government officials who demand obedience from their subordinates in a hierarchic system and government leaders who violate human rights and act against those with different opinions to theirs.
It starts with little things, like hair, but eventually, such maltreatment will evolve into bigger violations, like rights suppression.
The Ministry of Education must listen to students’ voices and encourage their participation in determining school rules and ensuring they are based on the universal principle of freedom and respect for individual human rights.
Punishment by shaming students is nothing but evidence of backwardness in the education system. If we want a better society, such malpractice must come to an end.
‘‘It starts with little things, like hair, but eventually such maltreatment will evolve into bigger suppression.