Dear Editor,

Last Friday The Gleaner carried a lead story about male students at GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport being barred from campus because of their long hair, plaits, and cornrows.

The decision by the principal, Maurice Wilson, left many Jamaicans furious and in shock.

According to one of the students who requested anonymity, “They [the institution] told us to regularise our hair in order to remain enrolled, and if we do not, we would be barred from entering the school.” Given the ultimatum, he complied, but noted that he did so unwillingly, especially as he wore a low-cut style in high school and anticipated the freedom of growing his hair in college.

In commenting on the matter, Principal Wilson noted that all the teachers’ colleges have a grooming policy, and GC Foster took the firm decision because “we are having issues where they [male students] are being stigmatised because of their grooming”.

Wilson further argued that if students decided not to conform “the regulations state that you usher them out of the profession”.

I am appalled that in 2024 in Jamaica we still have these regulations on the books. Why do the teachers’ colleges continue to police adults’ hairstyle? What is the problem if the hair is properly groomed?

Wilson said he is concerned about the young men being stigmatised. But if this is truly the case, is the problem of stigmatisation solved by asking preservice teachers to cut their hair? How about raising awareness and helping others to elevate their thinking from the burdens of colonial and archaic religious teachings upon which we were raised?

It is extremely ridiculous for these administrators to hold fast to these rules that have no bearing on education. Is it the hair or the brain that is more important?

The country has a shortage of teachers yet the system wants to use some silly and trivial regulations to keep students away in this day and age. For leaders of academic institutions to reflect in this manner speaks volumes about the type of educators that we produce. But they clearly feel a sense of prestige and power when they can dictate such rules and have students comply.

The irony is that the deans of the teachers’ colleges will tell you that they are preparing teachers for the global market, but is anyone in the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom policing adults about their hair and dress code?

Even the high school system has relaxed rules for young men’s hair. Why do our teachers’ colleges want to act superior? Is it ego? Education Minister Fayval Williams indicated recently that her ministry would initiate a review of the hair policy at the teachers’ college level. We await the outcome. But did it even have to get here in the first place?

Some of these so-called educated people are the biggest barriers to progress in our society. Ironically, education is to liberate and develop critical thinkers, but it is being used to indoctrinate.

Oneil Madden

maddenoniel@yahoo.com