To give you some idea of the relative homogeneity of Korea’s population (and some of the issues this raises), I give you this story from Korea Beat about students and “natural hair color IDs.”
The naturally brown-haired Jeon was suspected of having dyed her hair and was berated. She told the teacher that, “this is my natural hair color” but to no avail. Her mother came to the school over this problem and was told, “you must bring proof that this is her natural hair color.” As a new student Jeon does not have a student ID and has been punished from that day forward.
{ 2 comments }
Korea Beat 03.28.08 at 2:32 pm
I’d heard rumors before of students with naturally brown hair being forced to dye it black. I guess from that perspective these ID cards could actually be a step forward…
Cat 03.28.08 at 2:45 pm
Well, yeah, from that perspective. But, I still don’t understand what the issue is with perming and/or dyeing, though.
Is it that they think it’s a distraction, a la schools that prohibit dyeing hair unnatural colors (purple, pink, etc.)
To force kids to bear such an additional burden simply because of their hair type, seems particularly cruel and pointless.
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