Five strange things schools have banned

Herald online

16 Jun, 2015 05:00 AM2 mins to read

Photo / Thinkstock

Motueka High School's decision to ban puffer jackets is just the latest in a long list of examples of schools controversially waving their ban
sticks. Inspired, we remember some other examples.

WHAT HAS YOUR SCHOOL BANNED? SEND US AN EMAIL

Red hair

An English schoolgirl was sent home earlier this year for being excessively ginger, with her "naturally auburn" hair deemed in contravention of her school's "no unnatural hair colours" policy. 17-year-old Emily Reay was paradoxically asked to dye her hair a "more natural colour".

Beards

They may be the height of hipsterdom but schools continue to take a dim view on beards. Hornby High School in Christchurch is the latest to make the news for their beard-banning ways after sending a student home until he had a shave in April this year.

Long skirts

This long black skirt was deemed to violate secular rules on school clothing. Photo / Facebook, Guillame Levy

France's controversial ban on "ostentatious signs of religion" came under renewed criticism earlier this year when a student was sent home from school because her skirt was "too long". The case - and the 130-odd other French schoolgirls sent home for overly-long skirts in the past year - prompted the hashtag #JePorteMaJupeCommeJeVeux, or "I wear my skirt as I please", on French Twitter.

Pokemon

Several schools banned anything and everything to do with Pokemon in 2000, with one Orewa primary school claiming it was "laced with references to the occult". Kingsway co-principal John Burgess described Pikachu and company as "stubborn, headstrong, quibbling, self-centred, vindictive, obnoxious, hormonal, sexually preoccupied, evil thieving, and cross-dressing."

Harry Potter

At the height of Potter-mania some New Zealand schools banned teachers from reading the books to students. The boy wizard's exploits contained too many references to "sorcery and magic" which had "no place in the classroom" according to one Lower Hutt school. The ban was labeled "ridiculous" by at least one parent.