The great hair debate

THE EDITOR: As a child of the 80s, I wore my hair long to attend school. In addition to the normal school graduation, I was invited to be an escort in two formal graduations (in addition to my own). I just donned my three-piece suit and, along with my parents, met with the other parties and their parents to enjoy the evening. Regardless of texture, it was not uncommon to see other boys wearing their hair long as well.

Despite my appearance then, I went on to become the registrar of the University of TT and served the higher education sector in the country for over 30 years. It’s against this short background that I register my discomfort with Education Minister Gadsby-Dolly’s reaction to the incident as reported at the Trinity College graduation.

As the debate rages on, it has meandered into race and ethnicity, culture, musical genres and all kinds of topics which suggest that the boys’ choices shape society as opposed to being a product of it. This therefore brings me to the impact of double standards on deviance and criminality.

At the time when I and many others wore our hair long and were generally unkempt teenagers, societal standards were shaped by our families, teachers and politicians who collectively set the standards with their own conduct. Knowing the prevailing societal values at that time, they reacted, but never overreacted, even when we displayed behaviours that were seemingly “non-conformist,” according to the minister.

Having emerged unscathed from that phase of my life, the biblical verse “So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, 'He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her'” has given true perspective. In other words, should a minister who is “responsible” for any institution which breaks the law with impunity and shows little regard for the effective achievement of its mandate be overly concerned about hairstyles in schools?

One surmises that the responses from the officer in charge of the FOIA unit in the Office of the Prime Minister regarding the Education Ministry’s treatment of FOIA requests and from the President with respect to a request for a commission of enquiry into UTT’s Tamana Campus will indicate whether we are in fact a society built on double standards.

Indeed, rules are important but a hairstyle is a personal choice at a point in time, a form of self-expression that is guided by many factors inclusive of prevailing styles, hair texture and length, complexion, shape of the face and the amount of hair on one’s head. Clearly, our Minister of Education of all the people on this Earth would be aware of this.

Corruption is also a personal choice. However, I am not aware of any study which correlates any hairstyle to the propensity to be dishonest. Clearly we seem to have a higher tolerance level for fraud and trickery with taxpayers’ money than fashion trends. This I humbly submit is where we need our rules to be enforced, and the boys will fall into line.

PHILLIP L ROBINSON

Scarborough