What do you think?

[Zodaka]

Any kind of bullying by teachers shouldn't be tolerated and best just to move the child.

However, as one poster says we're lacking details here. Did the child mis-behave? Had he been told to cut it several times already? Had the mother given permission on previous occasions? Many thai kids lack discipline especially at the younger age and go about the place kicking and screaming with no one bothering to stop them.

[Aussieroaming]

I've got to agree with the OP about feeling pissed about a haircut like that. I'm sure if the lad had returned home with a reasonable haircut everyone would have been happier, especially the poor lad that's been humiliated.

'Flogging the director won't help the lad though, but as a dad I would feel the same way if my son came home like that.

Cheers to you for sticking up for your son, but now the best lesson you can teach your son is to show some restraint and to be a better man that the director.

Good luck with it all.

[oldsailor35]

Well, I'm going to the 'Tourist Police' today....... and I would love to smack the "C***" & smash up his car, but I've got to behave!

His school is in Suratthani

Which one please ? my partner has two kids going to school there.

[oldsailor35]

What should you do?

Take a chill pill, wait 2 weeks, the hair grows back.

If the child's hair was not cut in accordance with School Regulations ... in the future, make sure it is.

Mind, that above is not a message of support for the school but,

at this particular moment, you need to think with a cool head.

Yes David48 , and "stuff" the kids feelings, he is only a kid.

[oldsailor35]

I have just sent a complaint to the "NHRC" - National Human Rights Commission of Thailand, as their have been other complaints in the past!

Mate, it's a haircut ... not Genocide.

National Human Rights Commission of Thailand ...

You asked us what we think ... we've responded with good intentions,

trying to place a perspective on the events that you don't see.

Yes David48, but you are only concerned with the fathers feelings and obviously your own, with no consideration to the kid. You are a disgusting bully !

[tubby johnson]

I've seen soi dogs with better hair than him.

It's a teacher's job to teach, a student's job to learn. Policing hairstyles is part of the drab uniformity in this paternalistic culture which has dragged Thailand down to shameful last place in Asia's education rankings.

[Gandtee]

A similar thing happened to my nephew. He was told to get his haircut, which he did. The director told him to get it cut again as it was not short enough. He then got it almost shaved but the director continued to harass and humiliate him in front of his schoolmates. eventually my wife made an appointment with the director and a meeting was held with his farang teacher in attendance. The outcome was that my wife dressed the director down, the teacher was sympathetic and the director was dismissed a few weeks later.l. Maybe not because of the haircut issue, as other parents had issues with directer but I feel sure it may have led to it.By then the nephews mother had removed him from the school.Fortunately my wife is not cowed by authority, as is the case often here. I would suggest that you heed the advice given by some of the other contributors. Arrange a meeting to sort it out, but as a farang keep your cool. Let your wife do the talking

[oldsailor35]

Calm down buddy, it's quite normal, students are required to cut their hair a certain way and if the hair is not cut to said standard this happens, my brother has come home like this thousands of times it's just part of the culture

Ok so the rule has been abolished but it will take a while for older teachers to take heed sorry to say

"my brother has come home like this thousands of times" OMG how old is he ? did he ever get to leave school ?

[Gandtee]

I would add that the nephew at that time was almost fifteen years old and nearly six feet tall, not a child.

[snowgard]

If you really want teach they a lesson, do the following:

1. Go (at best only your wife, not you!) with your son to a local newspaper

2. Tell the Story and ask the Reporter to go with you to the Police Station or better Children Protection Center

3. Do a complaint against the teacher/director.

4. Write a complaint to to the School ministry.

Only if it's public it can Change something. Every School is extremly worry about the School Name.

This help 100%!!! And no one can sued you if it's true!!!!

[blueshark]

Confront the bastered and tell him if he does it again you will call the police as it not acceptable. Failing that smash his shit up! change schools. but yea if they laid one hand on my daughter all hell would break loose and they would know about it.

It is without doubt an abuse of power. it might even be a dig at you being foriegn? I have seen this kind of abuse before as i spent years working in education in thailand and asia. These problems are the tip of many isssues.

[blueshark]

I've got to agree with the OP about feeling pissed about a haircut like that. I'm sure if the lad had returned home with a reasonable haircut everyone would have been happier, especially the poor lad that's been humiliated.

'Flogging the director won't help the lad though, but as a dad I would feel the same way if my son came home like that.

Cheers to you for sticking up for your son, but now the best lesson you can teach your son is to show some restraint and to be a better man that the director.

Good luck with it all.

I totally agree our kids need to know we do stand by them. That is very important. It is without doubt an abuse of power even if it was to make a point this is not the way to do it.

[bunnydrops]

Yes, you can be angry but the hair cutting happens here all the time. Most of the time the kid was told but forgot to tell his parents. Its always funny I see theses posts here when there is something like it happening next door. The boy didn't go to school on Monday because he knew what was going to happen. He told his folks Monday that he forgot. I don't know for sure but my understanding about the change in hair length only pertained to girls.

[David48]

What should you do?

Take a chill pill, wait 2 weeks, the hair grows back.

If the child's hair was not cut in accordance with School Regulations ... in the future, make sure it is.

Mind, that above is not a message of support for the school but,

at this particular moment, you need to think with a cool head.

Yes David48 , and "stuff" the kids feelings, he is only a kid.

The OP asked about his situation ... not how he should counsel the child.

I have no idea how you can to that conclusion ...

.

[David48]

I have just sent a complaint to the "NHRC" - National Human Rights Commission of Thailand, as their have been other complaints in the past!

Mate, it's a haircut ... not Genocide.

National Human Rights Commission of Thailand ...

You asked us what we think ... we've responded with good intentions,

trying to place a perspective on the events that you don't see.

Yes David48, but you are only concerned with the fathers feelings and obviously your own, with no consideration to the kid. You are a disgusting bully !

... and this is even more bizarre then the last one!

I have no idea how you came to that conclusion ...

.

Edited November 29, 2013 by David48

[mgjackson69]

Is the luuk chai even the slightest bit upset by this?

[thongsuknork]

you should be care full how you send children with out a Hair cut every child going to School knows what his hair cut should be ,

sorry i am not blaming you ,plz do not get offended ,

The director should be punished what he has done ,He should be .

Children should be taken care very nicely in Schools

[recom273]

When are Thai teachers / directors going to wake up to the fact, you cant do this to peoples kids ?

This is the worst case i have seen, but also just the clippers ran down the center to give them a reverse Mohawk, or the back just hacked away.

Whatever anyone thinks, whatever you feel like doing or what the rules and regulations are, this is pretty sad. Im sorry mate.

ETS: The missus just saw the pics, even for a Thai, the haircut is going to far. The guy has stepped over the line, I would be sitting outside his office tomorrow morning for a quiet civil word, if i were you. Unacceptable, What century are we in ?

Edited November 29, 2013 by recom273

[khunpa]

My stepson, has also had part of his hair cut many times by his teachers. Anyway, what has been done to your son is completely over the limit.

If me, I would bring the pictures and go and have a direct talk with the Director. Make sure that he fully understands, that he has gone over the line and it never will happen again.

[pacovl46]

Pretty much standard in Thailand. They usually do this only if the hair is pretty long, i.e. was cut short before then let grown for 2 or 3 months without trimming the sides. Talk to the director and tell him to never ever touch your son again or you will cut his hair with a sickle. On the other hand 60 Baht a month at the barber shop surely won't break the bank.

[pacovl46]

When are Thai teachers / directors going to wake up to the fact, you cant do this to peoples kids ?

This is the worst case i have seen, but also just the clippers ran down the center to give them a reverse Mohawk, or the back just hacked away.

Whatever anyone thinks, whatever you feel like doing or what the rules and regulations are, this is pretty sad. Im sorry mate.

ETS: The missus just saw the pics, even for a Thai, the haircut is going to far. The guy has stepped over the line, I would be sitting outside his office tomorrow morning for a quiet civil word, if i were you. Unacceptable, What century are we in ?

When are all the falangs finally gonna wake up to the fact that they are in Thailand! It's pretty well known that male students need to have short hair and girls have to have their hair braided. As the father said himself he was told several times before. I guess the director wanted to make a statement.

[pacovl46]

Confront the bastered and tell him if he does it again you will call the police as it not acceptable. Failing that smash his shit up! change schools. but yea if they laid one hand on my daughter all hell would break loose and they would know about it.

It is without doubt an abuse of power. it might even be a dig at you being foriegn? I have seen this kind of abuse before as i spent years working in education in thailand and asia. These problems are the tip of many isssues.

I'm afraid the police won't be doing anything about it because it's school policy. You've got basically two options, you can either see to it that your kid gets a haircut every 4-6 weeks, or you can send your kid to a school that doesn't care about the hair.

[woodside30]

Any chance of a photo of his hair before the "haircut"?

[khunpa]

Just had my Thai-girlfriend see the pictures... She would do that following if it was her son:

- Go to the director and require him to pay a min. of THB 50.000 in compensation, if he as the Director and the school wanted to avoid more trouble. As she clearly said "The schools can not do this anymore".

If he did not pay up and apologies, then she would go to the media with the pictures and do everything for the Director and School to lose face.

Well, that was the Thai point of view...

(Personally, I would not do that black-mailing thing, but obviously a Thai person would and on the other hand, it would hurt the director having to pay up) If I was you, I would do it Thai-style, because the Director is at fault and can get in trouble for this, if you follow up on it)

Edited November 29, 2013 by khunpa

[khunpa]

Confront the bastered and tell him if he does it again you will call the police as it not acceptable. Failing that smash his shit up! change schools. but yea if they laid one hand on my daughter all hell would break loose and they would know about it.

It is without doubt an abuse of power. it might even be a dig at you being foriegn? I have seen this kind of abuse before as i spent years working in education in thailand and asia. These problems are the tip of many isssues.

I'm afraid the police won't be doing anything about it because it's school policy. You've got basically two options, you can either see to it that your kid gets a haircut every 4-6 weeks, or you can send your kid to a school that doesn't care about the hair.

From last year, it was no longer allowed to do this... So what the director has done is wrong and should therefore not be accepted. My GF says that the police will react on this and if not then he should go to the media. But first step would be to confront the Director and have him pay compensation for this to avoid him and the school losing face.

My GF states clearly that this and hitting children no longer is allowed in Thailand at any schools. So the OP has a very good case... The Director can lose his job because of this.

Edited November 29, 2013 by khunpa

[myluckythai]

Looks like it was cut with a weed whacker. At least they could have done a proper job of it.

Was there any forewarning issued? This could be in the form of previously agreed-upon standards about dress and hygiene.

At my school, several students (late teens) were deemed to have hair too long to take the final exam. This was on the day of the exam, as the students had already entered the classroom and were sitting at desks waiting to be issued the exam papers. A school 'behavior' person came into the room, ran his fingers through their hair and escorted them all to a barber across the street and they all came back in 15 minutes looking like chemotherapy victims.

I guess that's how it works here.

they actually have people looking at behaviour in schools???? well that's knowledge taught, fading away as quick as they leave school . maybe they should have adult behaviour supervisors too. would make a difference

Edited November 29, 2013 by myluckythai

[cracker1]

If you are Fallang then please file a complaint with the Tourist Police (if close by). If that is inconvenient then contact and do the same with the local police.

May be a good idea of letting the school principal know of your intentions before contact with the Police.

This is an appalling thing to happen to a young child.

[Docno]

Geez, when I saw the subject I line, I thought the child had been caned or something. Turns out to be a lousy haircut, and yet people are advocating going to the police, making a human rights complaint, assaulting the teacher/director, etc etc. When I was a kid/teen, we used to get the 'cuts' from our teachers, i.e., a caning of up to six strokes on the hand. Parents never thought twice about it. Neither did we. We knew it was the price you paid if you broke the rules (and got caught). I certainly wasn't 'damaged' by the experience, and my friends and I turned out just fine.

Now it's a haircut instead of the cuts, and people are screaming for blood. It's a different world...

[StreetCowboy]

Confront the bastered and tell him if he does it again you will call the police as it not acceptable. Failing that smash his shit up! change schools. but yea if they laid one hand on my daughter all hell would break loose and they would know about it.

It is without doubt an abuse of power. it might even be a dig at you being foriegn? I have seen this kind of abuse before as i spent years working in education in thailand and asia. These problems are the tip of many isssues.

I'm guessing you know the OP and bear him no good will

[khunpa]

Geez, when I saw the subject I line, I thought the child had been caned or something. Turns out to be a lousy haircut, and yet people are advocating going to the police, making a human rights complaint, assaulting the teacher/director, etc etc. When I was a kid/teen, we used to get the 'cuts' from our teachers, i.e., a caning of up to six strokes on the hand. Parents never thought twice about it. Neither did we. We knew it was the price you paid if you broke the rules (and got caught). I certainly wasn't 'damaged' by the experience, and my friends and I turned out just fine.

Now it's a haircut instead of the cuts, and people are screaming for blood. It's a different world...

I think the only way you got "damaged", was by not realizing that times and rules have actually changed, since you were young...