In accordance with a regulation a high school student here in Taiwan must have his or her hair cut short. Top-ranking officials in charge of education may have many reasons to justify this regulation, but the fact is that almost every student regards it with distaste. We go to school, not only to gain knowledge but also to learn how to tell right from wrong and acquire independent thinking. This is really what the educators or educational officials should be concerned about, certainly not the hair of the student. My personal experience tells me that the rule governing the student's hair style is simply the cause of endless troubles between students and teachers. Why don't they give the students the right to make their own decisions in this matter? If school officials insist on enforcing a hair style, it will only make the students more estranged from their teachers. We hope every boy or girl is a good student, but to pin this hope on a student's close-cropped hair is certainly naive, if not absurd.