2022-09-30
I am in A2 now. We have a uniform but most don’t wear it.
I started wearing a flower in my ear. My teachers fond it amusing. Other teachers who did not know me found it annuying. They asked me to remove it, I asked for a reason and they said “I don’t like it” , I told them that I’m okay with that. They complained to authorty. This is the first time a teacher pussied out like that/
I was called into a authority’s cabin and asked to not wear it. I did not after that. But the logic did not make sense to me, and acting in misalignment with my values was bothering me, so after talking to Vihaan, I decided to follow protocol and present my argument to the school the right way.
Here’s the argument:
Premise: Vihaan is arguing against me, as JBCN, to strengthen my argument when I present it to you.
I have now decided to share the conversation with you, editing to make the argument more coherent and more formal.
Vihaan: You cannot wear that flower in school. We have a uniform and that flower-wearing goes against our rules.
Ilyaas Kapadia: Your rules include tattoos, phones, and hair color. Why is the flower an issue? You compliment me when I wear formal. Blue color. Black. White. You don’t ask me to wear the uniform. You ask me to wear the uniform when I come in a t-shirt and tracks. Your enforcement is subjective.
Vihaan: Tattoos and hair color cannot be removed. Fundamentally, we can’t change aspects of you that bleed into your life outside this school. The flower is very much something you can remove. You can choose not to wear it, which you aren’t doing, even though we request it.
Ilyaas: Untrue. This is the case for A levels. 10th grade is strictly not allowed hair color regardless of life outside school.
Vihaan: So what? We have different rules for younger grades because we believe they aren’t mature enough to make decisions for themselves. We allow you certain luxuries, but we’re perfectly at liberty to draw boundaries on them or revoke them when we feel the need.
Ilyaas: So a decision to damage my hair or skin is okay with you? But wearing a flower is not? Why is it not okay? Why not allow this luxury?
Vihaan: Honestly, we’re not okay with it. But there’s no logical reason for us to complain about it once it’s done. The changes are permanent and cannot be removed. Even if we keep going on about it, there’s nothing to be achieved. Plus, we’ve noticed that a lot of children wear hair colors and get tattoos. Were exposed to it enough to be desensitized to it. It’s normal now and even if it’s against the rules, it’s easier to ignore. The flower is unusual. It attracts our attention and influences younger students too. So it needs to go because we aren’t yet used to it.
Ilyaas: You won’t allow it on the last day of the 10th. You will allow it on the first day of AS. What miracles occur in the 1 month in between?
Vihaan: We do so because we have to standardize. Nothing changes in a day, but contractually, the 10th grade isn’t AS levels.
Ilyaas: My whole argument is that it is not problematic at all. Does not impact my ability to score at all. This is why it is not problematic if the 10th grade does it.
Vihaan: You could keep using the same argument 365 times to argue a 9th grader should have the same privileges as an 11th grader.
Ilyaas: They should. Grade does not matter. Misuse of privileges does. Which can be made very transparent. You’re allowed to bring your phone tomorrow onwards - if you are caught gaming, you will not be allowed to bring it for the next week. Give incentives. They work.
Vihaan: Schools have good reason to maintain uniformity. We have students of all income groups, and we live in a country with a wide socioeconomic disparity. We want all our students to look the same because if we don’t enforce that, their class gaps might become extremely apparent. How would a 5th grader react if he saw another of his classmates wearing a gold chain, while he doesn’t even have the money for fresh books? It causes division. Maybe even bullying. Which is a problem rampant in American “liberal” school systems.
Ilyaas: Was this the case when you allowed normal clothes and phones during the pandemic? If yes, what consequences? Phones were confiscated due to misuse, but I heard nothing of class-based discrimination, partly due to your great success in teaching children to not discriminate against them. Additionally, American schools are publicly funded - they’re free. Private schools, like JBCN, don’t seem to have this issue.
Vihaan (with respect to this argument): First of all, we assume you have a good reason for doing so. Maybe a function or a formal event in school. We can’t really tell.
Ilyaas: You know for a fact there isn’t an event. I wear them every day.
Vihaan: We’re okay with them. You look good, you look formal and presentable. It’s a net positive change in a person we’ve only ever known to flout rules and look like a gangster.
Ilyaas: So, what I hear is, since you sell the A Levels school hoodie now, that is more acceptable than me wearing a flower?
Vihaan: Yes. At the end of the day, we don’t need to justify anything to you. We have our rules. You choose to come to this school voluntarily, having agreed to follow its rules and you need to follow them. We can set up our boundaries where we see fit. One deviation does not equal another.
Ilyaas: Fair enough. I lost. You hold great leverage over me. Ultimately, if you threaten to take my exam seat away, I will comply. I won’t wear the flower if that is the consequence. I do come here voluntarily. You have taught me to question everything. It was a poster near one of the labs for 2 years. This is something I am questioning because it does not make sense to me. My peers and even didis love my flower. Some teachers find it irritating, while some like it. I see cognitive dissonance in your rules and staff and I have pointed it out to you. I have thought from first principles and laid out my argument. Socrates was once imprisoned for “corrupting the youth”. All I ask is you give genuine thought to what I have said to you. I only hope you do not disregard it because it has come from me, whatever negative qualities I may be perceived to have, or how unfamiliar my argument may seem. I am only doing what you have taught me to do: question everything. I rest my case here and will take your word as final. I would be more than happy to wait for a verdict, so you can think it over. Till then, I won’t wear it with respect to your previous requests.
It did not work. 3 weeks and no answer. I am glad I did this, but it is full rebel now onwards.