Peter Barefoot
From Sina Weibo:
Girl Jumps off Building Because School Forces Her to Cut Her Hair Short
On April 13th, 2012, at night, Shangdong Province Victory Oilfield No.1 Middle School 9th grade girl Yingying (pseudonym) jumped off from her 5th floor apartment building and died. The reason was she didn’t want to cut her hair short to obey the school rule of “boys should have crew cuts, girls should have sports cuts”. Before the incident took place, Yingying’s father received 3 text messages over 8 days from the school, requesting that the child get a hair cut. Yingying’s mother was talking to with Yingying about getting a haircut and when Yingying said no, her mother said “not getting a haircut isn’t possible”. Yingying then became silent, and before her mother could react, she opened the window… Yingying’s father says his daughter’s class teacher has always been very earnest and responsible, as well as caring about his daughter’s education. The school’s headmaster says having a short haircut is campus culture, and that the school does not take responsibility for this kind of thing happening.
Comments from Sina Weibo:
尘埃里的幺儿：
A 14-year-old girl didn’t want to follow the rule to cut her hair and jumped off the building. Sounds really dramatic, but the fact lies before our eyes, valuing one’s hair more than life, this is already a psychological problem. As society develops, moving forward in big strides, shouldn’t we take a look at how the flowers [youth] of our country are growing up?
寶貝小肉猪：
Treasure the life your parents give you! It’s a precious fortune that you can’t have twice in a lifetime. It’s more important than hair, it’s more important than clothes, it’s more important than finishing school, it’s more important than being in a relationship, it’s more important than having a fight, it’s more important than everything. One can go without having a haircut, without buying new clothes, without finishing school, without being in a relationship, without having a fight, but one can’t go without life.
fantasms：
Aren’t schools all like this? From the Ministry of Education to primary schools, they all TM suck!!!
桔子–酸酸：
Today’s kids are so weak!
___你的美丽让你带走：
The school rule is actually okay/acceptable. I think a short haircut is quite good. Why didn’t this kid think it through? Sigh, still so very young.
丹丹–00：
Today’s education [system], I’m speechless… only focusing what’s on the outside, and ignoring children’s inner feelings. Word is there’s a middle school in Hangzhou where in order to prevent boys and girls from being too intimate, the school demands that a boy and a girl should keep a distance between them of no less than 50cm.
冒充90后Alan：
Nowadays there’s just no way to understand young kids’ minds. Is this worth it?
楠枫婷婷：
Damn it, haircut, my ass! Have all the teachers at the school cut their hair like that if they got the balls! Students need respect too, alright? Those arrogant “educational workers”!
蓝色湿雨：
Such a pathetic child. Is hair more important than life? Children these days!
丘丘丘叶青：
I wanna say, can it improve one’s IQ having their hair cut short? Can one do better at school with a short haircut? Can having a short haircut improve one’s grades? I think as long as it’s not out of the line [too excessive], there’s no need for school to be like this… tying it up in a ponytail should be fine! However, this girl is also too… Without life, what use is having hair? 14 years old, at the stage of adolescence, all sorts of rebellions. Mothers also should communicate more with their children. All are blameworthy.
winnie-CNBlue：
Always pushing responsibility onto educational workers, who then ought to pay attention to education at home? Is [greater] society the sole guardian of children the minute they’re born?
薛永武上善若水：
According to the news, a 14-year-old schoolgirl commits suicide by jumping off a building because she doesn’t want to cut her hair short. In recent years, similar cases frequently happen, which is truly worrying. With education in middle and primary schools is so ignorant, so arbitrary, school administrators lack aesthetic cultivation, and even limit students’ hairstyles to just one style. How ridiculous!
叫我裸色控：
My sympathies. Also, us middle school students already have to put up with wearing school uniforms every day, why also limit hairstyles? Not allowing perming and dyeing is understandable, but why does it have to be sports cut? Do all students in China have to look the same, without personalities and characteristics?!!
卢中原2011：
The schools of China are going to tame all students, eliminate all their personalities, and re-mold all geniuses into mediocre persons. I don’t know what the hell Yingying’s parents are thinking! They should protect their own kid’s rights, protect the kid’s personality, instead of following garbage school’s rules! The one you love is your child, and she loves long hair, so you should buy her pretty hair clips!
林粉墨：
That girl’s already in her 9th grade, how can she still be so stupid?
各种笑屎你：
Schools in Shandong are very twisted. It’s no secret the gaokao college entrance examination curve is really high, know why? The percentage of Shandong students with near-sightedness/myopia is over 90%, there’s as much homework “as hair on a cow” [a lot], and wanting to have some personality/individuality is considered a violation of school regulations.
王麒舒7393：
Overthrow the teachers, long live the students!!!
驿路私语：
Now that I think about it, when we were still innocent and naive during middle school, we were indeed instilled with many wrong ideas: for example, you can only study, can’t form cliques… can’t have long hair, can’t play badminton… Sigh.
时照：
A young girl in Dongying City jumps off off a building and kills herself because she didn’t want to cut the hair she loved so much. There are all sorts of comments on the Internet, one of which says, today’s kids have poor coping skills. I think that when facing such a burdensome journey of learning, when humanity seems so pale, living becomes much harder than dying. For a child who can’t be the master of her own life, tell me what options does she have? The precious period of time a man has in this world, just what’s it for？
Smile_讠若：
This girl’s grades must be unimpressive. A damn retard. What’s wrong with the school? You should’ve known better when you were choosing schools! Transfer to another school if you can’t stand its campus culture! You’re already a 9th grader and yet you’re still doing this kind of thing, fucking embarrassing.
月洛–殇之大聪：
Even now I haven’t figured out one has to go to school with a short haircut? Boys having crew cuts is one thing, but why do girls have to have short hair? Does everything in China’s education system have to be compulsory? Is China’s education system unable to teach people what freedom/choice is? How can children educated under this education system learn the concept of liberty? And how will they be able to fight for their freedom in the days to come!!!
-翔–肆倾橙-：
The girl’s too extreme… but still I want to question the school. Skin and hair are given by the parents, on what ground should she cut her hair? Besides, to a girl, hair is very important!!! Now the girl’s gone, you don’t want to be responsible. Have you nothing to do with it? If it’s not because you demanding a haircut, would she be dead? Fuck you!!!
unaga路过的绅士：
This is a suicide? It’s martyrdom! She’s a heroine!
滕达speaking：
Schools forcing students to cut their hair was never an issue until someone dies. In this amazing country, as long as nobody dies (or too many die), all problems are no problems.
花痴小清：
The distance between boys and girls shouldn’t be too close, a girl cuts her hair three times yet still fail to pass school inspection commits suicide by taking poison, 14-year-old young girl suicide jumps because she doesn’t want to cut her hair, have “moral character points” deducted for not carrying a backpack. Don’t always say [the students’] have poor psychological character, because psychological education has never been valued anyway, and unless an incident happens, rarely is “cherish life” mentioned. In front of these SB rules and regulations, when parents help the teachers, the children feel helpless, but when the parents help the children, they’re accused of indulging [the children]. Can’t schools just have fewer SB rules?
Devil_x坏小孩：
Cut my hair, your mother’s cunt. Cut my hair, your mother’s shit. Fuck you. Controlling even what hairstyle I have. What’s fun is left in living if it has to be like this? 2B school, better off just not attending school at all.
爱耗子的叮当：
Fuck… if there was a rule that a school headmaster has to become an eunuch, would you be willing to be a headmaster? God damn it, how come this kind of thing still happens today?
青松傲霜雪：
School image, understandable.
steve-健：
Our school checks twice a week!
荀小朵：
This is primarily a problem with the child’s wisdom, who hasn’t been through a rebellious phase? But to commit suicide because of this kind of reason, even if this time she didn’t die, she’d just get caught up with other things in the future. The school perhaps initiated this, but it’s definitely not the main cause. I just want to say, it’s meaningless to argue over who’s right and who’s wrong, but kid, it was easy for you to jump, but how are your parents going to live?
她说她想他_：
Sigh, still a Chinese education system problem! If it was like Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, then we’d be fine. It’s such a shame, that day is still very far away from us.
一水盈盈419：
Pay attention to improve yourself, how are you going to adapt to society like this?
The__LastDance：
Schools are just finding trouble for themselves, what’s a short haircut for? Those who want to study will study, and for those who don’t, you can make them bald and they still won’t!
_略__：
Letting this kind of mental retard live is a waste of air and their death is a waste of land. Both the family and the school are responsible for bringing up such a retard. If it goes on like this, a country will no longer be a country. ╮(╯_╰)╭
__雪__：
The educational system of China, makes people sick.
-慧儿必须苦逼雅思了-：
I’d never cut my hair, that’s for sure, I would kill anyone who dares to touch it….. girl, you should go fight them, why destroy your own life! Even though hair is more important than life, but I at least persevere, and keep both~ This kid~ sigh~
_Is_now：
The rashness of youth! Back when I was in middle school, the school found someone to cut mine! “In spring the wind blows, again my hair grows”. No big deal…
卖萌又犯2的狸：
What kind of rules are schools wasting their time making these days? If everyone had the same hairstyle, it’d just be the same as a prison.
Creamkay：
School/campus culture… what a high-sounding excuse!
军都散人：
A big problem in today’s China is that most of the people who make decisions have asses that are bigger than their brains!
What do you think? Do you know girls who are very sensitive about their hair?
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