Not if they choose to go to private school. I went to private high school and we had the same facial hair rule. None allowed. Granted, I think it's a pretty stupid rule, but if you choose to send your kids to private school, you have to abide by the rules they have in place.

After all, it's not like his parents are being forced to send him there. He could always go to public school.

Why should some people be above the policy? Some animals are more equal than others?

I read about this in the English press last week, and yet again wondered what the hell would happen to these people--any of them, on either side of the issue, really--when some genuinely substantive matter intruded on their lives.

The boy's parents presumably knew at least something about the dress/presentation code when they enrolled him at this institution. The code requires boys to be clean-shaven. Shaving will "ruin his face"? Give me the proverbial break. I have yet to meet the adult male whose face was "ruined" by shaving, although some have to treat their facial skin for sensitivity as a result, and may try to shave as little as possible while still maintaining a clean appearance. He's a man; sometimes men have to shave.

And, yes, I'm a woman, and I shave a lot, too. You know what? Somehow it doesn't weigh on my mind on a daily basis. Somehow, I have dealt with it. Somehow I have managed not to devote huge swathes of mental energy to wondering why I do it. It's a cost-benefit analysis thing, you know?

Shave. Shut up. Get on with your education. Or go to another school. And see about focusing on some things that really matter.

Well, a Sikh kid would have a good argument now wouldn't he?

But you're not a Sikh kid. Follow the dress code. "Donwanna" isn't a good enough argument.

There's nothing about "Manchester Academy" that would allow you to infer that it's a private school, in a British context. My Uncle George was head of a local state Primary that was called an "Academy". Just a pretentious name for a school, whoever runs it.

Everybody knows that a Bad Teenage Mustache can only interfere with a student's readiness to comprehend the most important lesson school offers: the obligation to Obey the Rules without criticism or complaint. Worse yet, even the sparsest growth only serves to inspire others to rebel, and stimulates sedition and wanton Flouting of Authority.

It would be irresponsible to tolerate Exceptions; such tolerance only undermines and vitiates the School's mission of successfully inculcating principles of Mindless Compliance and Conformity in young and impressionable students.

These principles are, after all, the Keys to Success in contemporary Western culture.

Actually, the Sikh kid wouldn't have a good argument either. It's a private school. He doesn't have to go there. The Sikh kid can go to a different school, with different grooming standards.

"It would be irresponsible to tolerate Exceptions; such tolerance only undermines and vitiates the School's mission of successfully inculcating principles of Mindless Compliance and Conformity in young and impressionable students.

These principles are, after all, the Keys to Success in contemporary Western culture."

I realize that you think you are being smart and sarcastic, but the irony is, that everything you state here is actually correct.

the north of England is now a matter of concern for Judy Berman, as though she didn't have more things to concentrate the mind closer to home. What a relief that it's a boy who's "too hairy" and not a girl requiring depilation to remove whiskers.

african american men with razor bumps?

Sure he could. I'm not saying he'd WIN the argument, I'm just saying he has a decent one -- a far sight better than "if he shaves now he'll just have to keep shaving."

not just sikhs but...

african american men with razor bumps?

do they have “african american” men in merry old England?

Yes, I am by nature smart & sarcastic. But seldom "merely" smart & sarcastic.

I certainly do believe what I wrote is true.

I was just putting a word in to counter the reflexive dismissal or condemnation of this minor contretemps as just another example of a whiny, spoiled kid encouraged by indulgent parents to believe that The Rules Don't Apply to Him.

Fair point: trying to be pc got in the way of a reasonable argument. but the point stands.

...I just can't work up any level of outrage or even mild concern over a 14-year old having to shave to comply with a school dress code. And did you really have to go all the way to England for this story? I would guess thousands of similar scenarios play out every day in schools here in America...or at least they did when I was in school.

Does the father, Mahmood, really believe that if his boy doesn't shave now, his beard will magically disappear? Apparently so, as he's quoted as saying that his son is "only 14 and if he starts now he'll have to do it for the rest of his life."

If the kid can't return to Manchester, I sure hope his parents don't choose to home-school him.

In the American city I live in, we have some public schools that are "academies.' We also don't know that it's in the dress code - the article says he was told to get rid of it. I didn't see where a specific rule at the school was cited.

I'm a believer that people make far too much of appearance - who really cares what he does, it's his body! Unless somebody's carrying around bugs or smelling, it affects no one else. Not wanting to add time to your morning routine is completely legit as far as I'm concerned.

If it is a school rule, I think the family is completely in the right to try to get it changed, and that counts whether it's a private school or not.