March school holiday just ended. All of us that had been through the secondary school life during our teenage years would remember how the discipline masters would come hounding at us on our attire, hairstyles etc... especially right after the holidays.
An article taken from The New Paper on 23rd Mar this year reported on the different views of a vice-principal, parents and the students regarding disciplinary spot checks after the March school holiday. A lower secondary student from a school located in Sengkang was send out of class after being caught with a unruly hairstyle with long sideburns. Instead of going back to school after the haircut, the student, named Jack (not his real name), decided to have a day off from school instead. For male students that were caught defying the school rules generally had inappropriate hairstyle, while female students were mainly caught for having short skirts that were above knee length. Jack was not the only student who was caught defying the school rules. More than 100 students were also sent out of class to correct their hairstyle and uniform to the attire that fits the school rules. But 42 students did not report back.
The New Paper reported the various views of the strict discipline held by schools. According to the vice-principal of the school, Mr Yong, he felt that it was important for their school to carry out such discipline actions because they would want their students to get the message that dressing properly is a part of being young gentleman and ladies. While other parents felt that unless students had been violating the rules repeatedly, else, students should be given a chance to comply with the rules. On the other hand, another parent felt that it is important for the school to be firm on their stand so as not to lose the moral authority.
Why would teenage students dress in a certain way, having funky, long messy hairstyles and short skirts? One possibility would be students especially during their adolescent years would want to be unique by having an identity that connects them to a certain distinctive group. The student's attitude of a distinctive hairstyle or uniform attire is a like a symbolic function to show and associate themselves with a certain group, thus, serving a value-expressive function.
Another possibility would be students attempt to conform to the norms and values of their main reference groups or the groups they choose to hang out with. Reference group is defined as a group that serves a standard of comparison for an individual, whether in terms of attitudes, values, or behavior. Developmental psychologist reported that as children's exposure to people outside the family increases, peer influences gradually took over parental influences. Thus, during the adolescent years, secondary students would eventually be influenced by their peers especially those in their reference group. In addition, my personal view is, Singapore students being exposed to television programs would tend to imitate idols or television celebrities, thus explaining their different unique hairstyles.
Lastly, to prevent being outcast or ostracized, as well as being jeered or make fun by their fellow schoolmates, students might conform to a certain image despite not wanting to. This is known as conforming, to an image that defied the school rules, so as to escape being jeered. Jeer pressure is referred as a conformity pressure that is produced by seeing someone ridiculed by another person. Thus, students during their adolescent years are rather easily influenced by their peers, to a certain extend.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
yes, indeed! peer pressure to conform can be very strong sometimes. children become more conscious of their social status and would do things to be liked by others as they grow older. although most people stick w/ their own cliques and develop a certian social identity, i feel that young people could be encouraged to mix with people from all walks of life before gaining autonomy. maybe this will reduce their need to conform to certain expectations?
hence, we ought not to be slaves of the mainstream culture, of which sub cultures are part of it as well; rather, we ought to be a counter culture. =)
Do agree that teens are easily influenced by peers, been through that stage, a comment made by friends is much much much more influencial than the same comment our family makes.
I agree that teens tend to be more easily influenced as I remember during my teenage years, in order not to be viewed as a ‘nerd’, some of my friends would deliberately carry a sharp comb though they don’t use it, or do actions that would get them into trouble with the school rules such as pulling their socks high or making their skirts shorter than required, as the actions mentioned above were associated with the ‘in’ group.
Post a Comment