A lass sauntered past me the other day with hair dyed vivid blue. She was rather gorgeous, and the style actually somehow suited her.
But I can imagine the reaction of her housemaster at her boarding school. School rules were clear on the matter: hair was not to be dyed. A blind eye might occasionally be turned to a subtle recolouring – but this, he told her, was clearly unacceptable. Six strokes of the cane on the bare would result – as required in the rulebook – and she’d be instructed to return to the hairdresser the following weekend.
The young lady would become something of a cause celebre amongst the other girls – and, when asked later in the day about being caned, she’d comment that “it was worth it”. Unfortunately, though, the conversation would be overheard and she’d be called back before her housemaster.
But what would he do to teach her that it wasn’t “worth it”. You can choose!
a) repeat the six strokes there and then, only this time with the senior cane at full strength
b) tell her that if six strokes hadn’t taught her the necessary lesson, he’d give her twelve
c) cane her in public, in front of the whole house, at the following morning’s house assembly
d) cane her every evening for the remainder of the week, until she’d gone back to the hairdresser
e) send her to the headmaster, asking that she be birched.
Why not make her choose between covering her hair with a scarf for the remainder of the week and the more drastical option that he’ll cut her hair right now – all of it? Ok and then maybe one of the above options in addition 😉
PS I almost dyed my hair blue when I was in school 😉
I like b, c, and d. Can’t I have all three?
I actually dyed my hair black when I was 14. I remember being told off, but I kept it black for a few weeks and I don’t remember being punished…I guess they didn’t care that much 😛
Ha, this made me laugh! For 8 years now, as you know, I have had a deep red (and clearly unnatural) colour to my hair. When I dyed it and went into school at the age of 16, nobody noticed at all.
Two years ago I was contemplating dying it back to its’ natural brown for a while, as I knew I’d be away and without access to red dye for around 5 months. My mother went nuts, forbidding me to dye my hair ‘boring brown’ again. She just could not contemplate seeing me with ‘standard’ hair again – she said it is like my dyed hair colour is now a complete part of me and I wouldn’t be ‘me’ without it. I think that’s the first time I’ve been told off for trying to conform and follow normal rules!
Well… you know that I am a stickler for discipline, but I am also very into fairness.
Given that Miss Blue is not stupid, she would have been unlikely to make the “worth it” remark in hearing shot of a teacher. So one of her schoolmates must have decided to sneak in order to try and curry favour.
I think the housemaster should refuse to listen to any tittle-tattle – sneaking is absolutely not ‘playing the game’, and in fact if I were the housemaster I would give serious consideration to punishing the sneak, because sneaking is a totally dishonorable thing to do.
As for Miss Blue, I might have a word with her in passing and remind her that “loose lips sink ships”, that not everyone is her friend and that she should consider her words carefully before making statements which could land her in even hotter water.
I rather like the idea of making her wear a scarf, but…
I don’t think she should have been left to wear the blue until the weekend though – she should have been taken back to the hairdresser by Matron at the first opportunity – maybe after school by missing tea and prep (prep could be done later instead of free time).
Of course a letter would be have to sent home reporting the incident and explaining the extra charges on that term’s bill….
love
domino
I agree with Olivia b, c, and d. And I have blue streaks;)
Intriguing. Even when a story is written from a teacher’s perspective, I don’t usually picture myself in his role, so I don’t even have imaginary qualifications for this.
If the housemaster has any confidence in his caning skills at all, he should consider the remark as the piece of schoolgirl bravado that it probably is and pretend he didn’t hear it. If that wasn’t possible for some reason (like in domino’s tittle-tattle scenario), he needs to do something to assert his authority.
The problem is not the original offense (already dealt with according to the rules) or lack of apparent contrition (not an offense in itself in my book), but the fact that the girl undermines your authority by openly suggesting to others that rules can be broken at a price and that a caning from you is not too high a price to be paid for something as minor as a change of hair colour. If you know about such talk, and they know that you know, you’ll have to do something or they”ll lose respect for you.
Since the girl publicly challenged your authority, the house assembly option (c) seems like the way to go. Having voiced an opinion about a caning’s deterring effect, it’s only fair that she gives her camerades a chance to make up their own minds by watching one.
As for the tittle-tattle scenario, I completely share domino’s sentiments, but I don’t think the housemaster should actually punish the sneak. He can let her know that he does not appreciate sneaking and being put into a position that does not leave him any choice but punish one of her mates, but it’s not his job to enforce the schoolgirls’ code of honour. Teachers and pupils don’t play by the same rules. That should be understood on both sides. (If the sneak somehow gets unusually roughed up during the next hockey practice … well, these things happen.)
Oh, two more things:
Option (e) is a big no-no. You’ll risk even the headmaster’s respect if you need to rely on him for this one.
Also, if you get the impression that the dyed girl actually mean it, a few caning lessons from a colleague are in order.
It seems complex disciplinary issues in the morning are not my thing. I’d make a lousy house-mistress.
Interesting, these comments offer a whole new perspective for me because I didn’t read that much into the story at all. For me she only desperately wanted to dye her hair blue (the reason for it is arguable – looking for attention / wanting to be special / rebellion) and even though she was aware of the consequences (such a drastic change of the hair colour will obviously not go unnoticed) she followed through with it. So doing it was worth the consequences for her. OK, saying that out loud was a bit silly though 😉
At first I thought, D. but then I read the comments. Now I think C (cause of Svetlana’s comment) but I still thing D too. C cause she publicly challenged just authority and D cause apparently he was lenient.
You lot are all greedy – you want the poor lass punished in every way possible, and you want another girl beaten too. Cruel, I say… cruel…
😉
Well, it’s not like you included “Let it pass” as a valid answer to your survey.
It’s intriguing that Olivia and Macy (who actually dyed their hair) go for multiple options and that Antonia (who almost cut her punishment) is more relaxed about the nature of the offense, but comes up with a hair-cutting option that seems pretty draconic to me.
That was suppposed to read “who dyed her hair” … but you probably guessed that. I’m scatter-brained.
“Let is pass”??? Splutter.. What sort of top do you take me for? Mercy? Kindness? Understanding? Ha!
😉