Do Not Dye Your Hair, Do Not Paint Your Nails: Black Rules in School

Walking around at AISG, it is not uncommon to see people with stylishly cropped shirts, colorfully dyed hair and decoratively painted nails. However, if we enter any public school in Japan, none of this would be the same. Instead, every student would be wearing the same uniform, have the same straight black hair and definitely have no painted nails.

In many Asian countries, students must follow obligations set by the school. In many cases, extraordinary style choices are prohibited. While such rules, often called ‘Black Rules’, may seem unusual and abnormal from the perspective of students attending comparatively more flexible international schools, these policies have been the ‘common logic’ for many in Asian local schools. Schools demand their students to present themselves in a proper and formal manner, reflecting the Asian culture where such appearances are valued.

Up until this point, these regulations seemed tolerable. Recently, however, many incidents have occurred where schools crossed the line of human rights and forced their students to abandon their own natural features. Focusing on Japan, a university student was threatened by her school to dye her natural brunette hair to black. Numerous high school boys have also been forced into shaving their heads. Some schools even monitor the color of the students’ socks and shoes, as well as undergarments.

The absurdity of such policies has given rise to many protests by students around these regions, including a widespread campaign named #HairWeGo to fight against the forced straight and black hair policy. In addition, in 2019, a television series titled ‘Black School Rules’ starring famous actors and artists aired to shed light on such irrational school codes of conduct.

Though this article focuses mainly on Japan, the prohibition of these style choices can be seen in many schools in Asia. As students of international schools, it is a stark contrast to the colorful and diverse appearances we see every day. While proper conduct is certainly a necessary element in school, it is just as crucial to have the freedom to determine our own appearances the way we want.

For more information, please visit JapanTimes, South China Morning Post and NHK.