Hairy start to exams

As if exam time wasn't stressful enough eh? Your word on the headmaster who banned short hair from the exams!

When I first heard the news that young boys had been disallowed from doing their exams on account of their excessively short hair, I thought I had been momentarily transported into an episode of South Park. Are you serious? How is that possible? As laughable as the whole situation is, we’re still left with 2 young fellas doing their exams in an alien environment. Not the best way to prepare for exams…

Of course, nothing is so black and white in life and so it is with this scenario too. Apparently, it states clearly in the school in question’s rulebook that haircuts made with a number one blade were not allowed, these boys did not adhere to the rules, so the Principal was spot on. Of course, the details of the case spin the story on its head. While I’ve heard of schools asking boys to cut their hair because it’s too long, being reprimanded for having it too short is a new one on me.

It just seems ludicrous that short hair is somehow a sackable offence: In my school, short hair and tight haircuts were the norm. In fact, for a great deal of my teenage years, yours truly sported the type of haircut you could set your watch to. Granted, some people may consider such a haircut intimidating or what have you, but it’s unlikely a riot would break out in the exam hall. Quite honestly, the whole thing sounds to me as if the Principal was trying to get rid of them on whatever rule he could, like Al Capone getting arrested for tax evasion because they couldn’t prove he was linked to the mob.

Of course it doesn’t matter a damn whether the boys in question are angels completely accused in the wrong or they’re regular hellraisers, they should without question be allowed to sit their exams on home territory, or at least it ought to be for a much better reason than what they’ve been given. And anyway, surely conventional school rules go out the window anyway during exam time?

Needless to say, certain journalists who studied at the Kevin Myers School of Pomposity have called for the boys’ shaven heads, the “Irish” Daily Mail printing a particularly inflammatory article about the affair. The journalists in question point to the fact that these boys broke the rules, simple as that, and that their story is representative of the wider breakdown in discipline in the country. Of course, while these boys technically broke the rules, their shaven heads are hardly conducive to the breakdown of society. I mean, when was the last time you saw a soldier with a big mop of hair?

Exams are always a time of fluster and worry, but one thing any student should not be worried about, be they straight A honour rollers or perennial under-achievers, is not being allowed into the exam hall on account of your hairstyle.

In doing so, the Principal of the school in question has shifted the focus from the students and the important times that lie ahead to enforce a rule so frivolous it defies belief. Considering the gravity of the exams for a lot of his students, surely he could find more important things to do with his time.

By: Patrick Duffy

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