School uniform - once a grey area, still a grey area

By LIBBY MIDDLEBROOK and CATHY ARONSON

The rules for school uniforms and grooming are as inconsistent as a moody teenager.

A Herald check of schools found rules ranging from formal to anything goes and covering items such as nail polish and blue hair.

The issue came to a head last week when 50 pupils at Hamilton's Fraser High were sent home with notes telling their parents that the students could not return unless their uniforms met the school's standards.

In 1997, the school suspended 34 seventh formers for not wearing a uniform.

At Mercury Bay Area School in Whitianga, some students protested at the introduction of uniforms last year. Students had been previously allowed to wear mufti.

Principal Madeleine Armstrong said the standard of dress had deteriorated rapidly, with students wearing clothing more appropriate for a fancy dress party or nightclub.

But Selwyn College in Kohimarama sees it differently. It discarded uniforms in 1986 in exchange for a liberal dress code, which bans only offensive slogans and asks students to be neat and tidy.

Principal Carol White said uniforms were the remaining vestiges of English colonialism. Without a uniform students had better relationships with the teachers, who concentrated on "important" issues such as behaviour and education.

"Today I looked at this year's students and thought they looked wonderful. When I see a bunch of kids with the mass uniform look, it is not so easy on the eye."

Auckland Metropolitan College, an alternative education secondary school, has no uniform policy. Some students have more than five piercings in their face, large tattoos and heavy gothic makeup.

"Here, no one picks on you or judges you because of the way you dress," said John Horne, an 18-year-old student with white spiky hair and a lip ring.

But both of the above are forbidden at Howick College. Female students are required to wear their skirts at knee length, boys must be clean shaven and extreme hairstyles are not tolerated.

Likewise, Auckland Girls Grammar keeps a large bottle of nail polish remover in its front office. Painted nails are forbidden, but the school does allow the odd blue hair adornment and one pair of earrings.

At Western Heights High School in Rotorua, principal Allan Rumble said the school had only one mufti day last year and this resulted in attendance problems and non-students attempting to enter the grounds.

Students at King's College, an independent traditional school in Otahuhu, must also adhere to rigid rules.

They are required to buy about 30 pieces of compulsory uniform items, from socks to togs. Boys must have short hair and jewellery is banned.

Onehunga High School allows students to wear one pair of earrings and facial studs of cultural significance, although in 1999 Indian pupil Shivani Karan was excluded for wearing a traditional khil in her nose.

Auckland University psychology lecturer Niki Haree said that uniforms could inhibit teenagers from expressing themselves, although mufti had more disadvantages because of bullying and competition.

She said teenagers would always find ways to decorate and express themselves, despite uniforms.