This happened more than one Chinese zodiac cycle ago. A few days before he was supposed to graduate, a boy in my Sec 4 form class came to school sporting a mohawk. This was, of course, not allowed. It was definitely a gesture of teenage rebellion.
As a former teen rebel, I understand the need to assert one’s individuality in opposition to adult authority.
But by then, I was the adult authority so I sent him to the principal and vice-principal.
The boy argued with us (the school leaders and myself).
The principal actually said: “You are a good boy. It is just your hair…”
(The boy was not a “good boy”. Throughout the process, he was angry, uncooperative, and rude. But the principal was being diplomatic)
The boy finally capitulated and was sent to the barber.
Later, when he came back from the barber’s, I could see that his haircut was still unacceptable.
After some deliberation with the vice-principal, we decided to forget it.
The boy had compiled (minimally) and had already been tremendously inconvenienced. There are only four more days to his graduation.
Vice-principal made the boy apologise to me. It was an insincere apology which I did not need but as the adult, of course I had to accept it.
I had forgotten all about this until I read an entry from a diary that I kept at that time.