(Chuang Kung-ju)

You are looking drowsily at an un- varied herd of black-and-white dairy cows when, suddenly, you discover a purple cow in their midst. Standing out from the crowd, the purple cow is the one you are instantly drawn to.

But in Taiwanese schoolyards, standing out from the crowd is an altogether different experience. Just think what would happen if at the morning assembly there appeared a single purple-haired student amid a mass of black-haired students. Not only would he not be welcome, he might even be escorted out for a reprimand.

When a sixth-year elementary-school student failed to wear his antiseptic mask during the SARS outbreak, his teacher invoked the school regulations and forbade him from eating his school lunch, to prevent him from getting saliva onto his schoolmates' food.

A third-year student in a Taipei junior high school got his gym shoes soaking wet in the rain, and the next day he went to school wearing shoes of an unusual design and color. Because their color violated the school regulations, a teacher confiscated one of the shoes and made the student skip all the way home on a single shoe.

A junior high school student in Taoyuan was found to have stolen bicycle parts from a schoolmate. The dean of students had him stand on a stage where he rebuked him and invited his schoolmates to spit on him. According to the school regulations, the student should have had a serious violation entered into his school record and his head shaven as a punishment. The only reason the punishment was not carried out was that his parents complained about it.

Children growing up in Taiwan are intimately familiar with such school regulations and forms of discipline. But are such methods reasonable? Can discipline go beyond the proper limits? This issue has sparked a heated debate in Taiwan.