The student says the facial hair doesn't affect his learning so he should keep it, but the principal says it is more about students taking pride in themselves and looking tidy.
It's not the first school to cross this bridge. Students at Te Puke High School are allowed to have "clean and tidy" facial hair following a push-back after a student was "stood down" due to his facial hair.
I remember being at high school when a Year 13 student was sent home to shave. Others were given razors to shave at school.
Pubescent boys were outraged. They could only just grow the things and they were being forced to shave them off.
But whether it is Rotorua Lakes High School's entirely clean-shaven policy, or Te Puke High's "clean and tidy" policy, they are both trying to achieve the same thing. And that is having respectful looking students who can act as positive representation of the school while learning what's required of them in the future.
Because when they reach the workforce that expectation remains.
While workplaces don't go so far as to tell people to shave, there is still an expectation you go to work looking presentable, well-dressed and groomed, ready to represent your workplace in whatever encounter you may have that day.
People shouldn't go to work looking scruffy, so why should it be acceptable in schools?
Don't get me wrong, I actually quite like a beard, I know it's frustrating constantly shaving, the darn things grow so fast.
But for the time a student is able to grow a beard at high school, they should keep it shaved, and when graduation rolls around, then ditch the razor.
Ultimately it is up to the school. They get to set the rules and students and their parents need to follow them.
