School Rejected Pupils Who Looked Like Trouble

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]Asahi: Public school rated looks before brains
A prefectural high school used a covert selection policy to screen out applicants whose fashion choices marked them as potential troublemakers, the Kanagawa prefectural board of education has found. Over three school years, Kanda Senior High School in Hiratsuka rejected 22 applicants who scored high in exams but had dyed hair, or sported piercings or makeup, board officials said Tuesday. The school's appearance-based criteria were never part of the prefecture's admission standards, the officials said. Teachers were also found to have assessed applicants' "attitudes" and checked whether they sported styled eyebrows, long fingernails or short skirts when they applied to the school. In Japan, flamboyant hair, makeup and clothing are often regarded as signs the wearer is disobedient, self-indulgent or even delinquent. The school, known for its high dropout rates, used its own screening policy for the 2005, 2006 and 2008 school years, as part of an attempt to "make it a better school". "It was out of our sheer wish to somehow accept serious students rather than focusing on scholastic abilities," the school principal, Tatsuo Fuchino, said...The board said Wednesday Fuchino will be removed from the school post...more...

[Neo-Rio]

In Japan, flamboyant hair, makeup and clothing are often regarded as signs the wearer is disobedient, self-indulgent or even delinquent.

That pretty much sums up the majority of the Japanese population then.

[D-San]

Man, do people people realize when they are blatantly discriminating?

[nottu]

[Mock Cockpit]

Teachers were also found to have assessed applicants' "attitudes" and checked whether they sported styled eyebrows, long fingernails or short skirts when they applied to the school.

One of the schools I go to, all the students look like that, especially the boys. They're little shits but for the most part I feel a bit sorry for them as most of their acting out is classic attention seeking behaviour plus they're basically branded no-hopers when most of them have a semi-decent person lurking under all their crap.

[wuchan]

One of the schools I go to, all the students look like that, especially the boys. They're little shits but for the most part I feel a bit sorry for them as most of their acting out is classic attention seeking behaviour plus they're basically branded no-hopers when most of them have a semi-decent person lurking under all their crap.

Welcome to japan! Not a mindless solider?.......... then you end up in a factory, construction(which pays good), trucking, or yak life.

BTW, JET?

[Samurai_Jerk]

It is pretty shitty for a public school to do that without at least making the criteria known to applicants before they go in for an interview.

[Dragonette]

Just wondering... do any of you guys think that this has a connection to the old fogeys being a larger population segment now?

Lately I seem to sense more of an anti-youth bias than usual in J-news items.

[wuchan]

Just wondering... do any of you guys think that this has a connection to the old fogeys being a larger population segment now?

Lately I seem to sense more of an anti-youth bias than usual in J-news items.

Sometimes it does seem like it but not every newscast targets young people.

[Iraira]

Lately I seem to sense more of an anti-youth bias than usual in J-news items.

That just means you 're getting old (I mean that in a dignified way). Gotta always remember that we all were grimey little stake punks/punkettes, back in the Pig Wheels days.
Generally, all generations have a "what's going to become of us, when these [insert derogatory adjective of choice] kids of today have to grow up and support us...woe is us...." feeling as they get into the middle years and forget that they were once kids who had the same derisions cast down upon them.

[Mulboyne]

Just wondering... do any of you guys think that this has a connection to the old fogeys being a larger population segment now?

Lately I seem to sense more of an anti-youth bias than usual in J-news items.

I think that attitude is setting the tone of public debate in a number of countries.

[Mike Oxlong]

A lot of public schools, especially junior high schools, have very strict rules for students in terms of dress, personal adornments, and so on. No make-up, jewelry, perfume, ear/body piercing, dyed hair, and such. With public high schools, it depends on the academic level of the school. Industrial and commercial high schools tend to be a lot more lax than those geared towards getting their students into universities.

It is not clear from the news article, but if Kanda High School was an academic track sort, then they would likely have rules prohibiting the very things they were screening in the application process. If it is such a case, then I don't see the problem. It would be like me showing up for a job interview at a financial services company wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and when rejected for my casual dress, claiming that there was nothing about dress code in the application package, even though it's common knowledge that suit and tie is the rule in the industry.