It Could Only Happen In Ireland

thinking that the principal would chicken out because of the high stakes, and the media backlash that would ensue
Click to expand...

Garney - do you really think that the kid expected to create some kind of media storm over a relatively inoccuous issue? I find that astonishing hard to believe. You're making it sound more like an elaborate game of chess than anything else.
 
Shame it wasn't a Christian Brothers school of the old type- they could have beaten him to a pulp and then let him do his exams - if he could still hold a pen that is .

Unsurprisingly, there is more to this than meets the eye judging by Garney's post. I still think that the headteacher's response was over the top.
 
No, Bobbyjo, the student wasnt thinking that he would cause a media storm. No chance that he was thinking that far ahead when he turned up. But I'm pretty sure he thought he was bullet proof going in to the school breaking a known rule - thumbing his nose at the principal. Sure, what could the principal do?

Well he got his answer, and then went to the media, thinking once again that all who read/heard his story would be on his side. I dont think he has got the sympathy he thought he would.

Once again, the principal stopped him from doing the exam in one school, not the exam itself. Had he been serious he wouldnt have run the chance of challenging the principal, and done the exams elsewhere. Why did he not complete his exams?

Another guess but I would think that the principal is a prick and the rule is definitely riduculous nonsense but I do think that I wouldnt have backed down from the challenge.
 
Originally posted by Bobbyjo@Jun 11 2006, 07:31 PM
Desert, if yer gonna bring family members who are teachers into it, as mentioned above my dad was a school principal for years and is actually quite conservative in his views but even still his comment on the principal in question was...
Click to expand...
Bj, the reason I mentioned Mrs Orchid was to offer the debate the view of someone other than your father who is also well up the hierarchy in a school and who is well used to dealing with critical incidents. If her take on it was similar to your father's I'd have been happy to post it too. What did surprise me was just how much more she knew about it than I did!

Her judgment is also as nigh unquestionable as her taste...
 
I mean this in the best way possible, but maybe that's why she's a deputy and not the boss!!! :P

I'm sure she has good taste!!
 
DO - perhaps you failed to note that my sister's partner ( my brother in law to be ) is the head of a large comp , no soft touch ,and shares the view of Bobbyjo's father.
 
Originally posted by Ardross@Jun 11 2006, 12:02 AM
Surely the haircut is the point
Click to expand...
the haircut has absolutely nothing to do with this confrontation.when you realise why one school acts differently to another school in a given situation , then , you will begin to understand why such situations arise.
 
I went to a school not too far from the residence of the forumite formerly known as "Maurice". Unfortunately we were fairly poor and could not afford a complete school uniform although I was still a lot more smartly attired than the majority of pupils.

As a direct result of our lack of funds, I was banned from using the 6th Year Common Room for a time. Until my parents complained to the school and the vicious nasty little **** who enforced the rule vigorously was told to shut it by his boss.

He then spent the rest of the year trying to make my life miserable at any and every opportunity (I didn't give him many opportunities).

I have a fair degree of sympathy for the chap in this case.
 
Originally posted by Ardross@Jun 11 2006, 10:54 PM
DO - perhaps you failed to note that my sister's partner ( my brother in law to be ) is the head of a large comp , no soft touch ,and shares the view of Bobbyjo's father.
Click to expand...
I did slip my mind that you'd mentioned him, Ardross. However, my view remains the same, I wouldn't want to work for any head teacher who is prepared to compromise in a situation like this, assuming my reading of it is correct and that it is a genuine challenge to his authority rather than a pupil being forgetful.
 
The school rules don't actually ban any type of haircut-they state that pupils must be of neat and tidy appearance.The headmaster appears to be judge,jury and executioner regarding the interpretation and application of rules.
Having seen photographs of the child there is nothing wrong with the haircut -it is definitely neat and tidy.They interviewed other children from the scool on television and some of them definitely had tight haircuts.
An absolute disaster for the headmaster-he has been made to look stupid,brought unwelcome media attention to exam candidates and left himself open to a possible legal challenge.
 
Originally posted by LUKE@Jun 12 2006, 11:11 AM
The school rules don't actually ban any type of haircut-they state that pupils must be of neat and tidy appearance.The headmaster appears to be judge,jury and executioner regarding the interpretation and application of rules.
Click to expand...
but he is a teacher, and is therefore, in his own mind, always correct. <_<
 
BJ and Gal - as I have met you both I am sure you realise my last post here was not meant to be patronising. If you didn't, tough.

Anyway - I am surprised that the haircut itself has become the centre of the debate. This is a minor point in my view. The kid, will I feel, learn more from the ban in the longer term, than he would from sitting the exam.

This other stuff about "my teacher friend is bigger than your teacher friend" is a bit juvenile. I am not a broadcaster but know that Willie Carson is bad at it.
 
Originally posted by an capall@Jun 12 2006, 06:58 PM
This other stuff about "my teacher friend is bigger than your teacher friend" is a bit juvenile. I am not a broadcaster but know that Willie Carson is bad at it.
Click to expand...
It was meant to illustrate that even those in a position to have done something about it would take different action.
 
I think its a total lack of common sense on the principals behalf. I was expelled from 6th year 4 month before my Leaving certificate. I was expelled for basically writing the material on a website which was slanderous towards at least 20 teachers including the principal.

I was still allowed to sit my leaving cert after my parents requested that I be left do so, they didn’t kick up big media fuss, just argued my case. I was left sit it there with the rest of the year. I think its fair to say my case is far more extreme then a haircut. I broke several laws never mind school rules.

To this day I speak to the principal and have a lot of respect for him
 
The BBC Yorkshire regional news reports a story of a lad who got his hair cut in the form of a St George's Cross being prevented from sitting his exams at his school. He said he did it for his country and that the school has failed to recognise his patriotic act.
 
Maybe this thread should be deleted on the basis that it couldn't only happen in Ireland.

I'm amazed the story wasn't considered a source of mirth.
 
Back
Top