We asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about the most ridiculous rule their school had, and here are some of the best responses:
1. No farmer accents.
2. An Activia ban.
"My clumsy friend spilt Activia on the desks at her primary school so often that it's now been a banned substance there for 12 years and counting. She left 10 years ago and that is her legacy."
Submitted by Holly Richardson, Facebook
3. No Harry Potter.
"When I was 13 at Catholic school a nun told me I couldn't read Harry Potter in school. So instead I read Desperation by Stephen King and no one batted an eye. I couldn't read a children's book about wizards, but I was allowed to read a book that included possession, murder, and masturbation. Her ignorance was a double-edge sword."
Submitted by Ashley Marie, Facebook.
5. This specific snack rule.
"My primary school only allowed two types of breaktime snack: an apple and a carrot. I still don't really know why."
Submitted by Doug Johnston, Facebook.
6. A weird parental permission rule.
7. And also this rule.
"In my school they banned hugging because apparently people were arriving late to class because of it."
Submitted by Hannah Kelly, Facebook.
8. No plastic knives.
"My school took away plastic knives from the cafeteria, because of course we were all going to murder our friends with bendy plastic."
Submitted by myansweris42.
9. No talking to boys in your uniform.
"We weren't allowed to be seen talking to boys whilst we were wearing our school uniform. That's all-girls Catholic school for you!"
Submitted by lucillebelle.
10. The pants and skirts rule.
"They allowed us to wear pants when it was cold, but only if we wore our skirts OVER them."
Submitted by sarah62.
11. This rule.
12. No scarves/slings.
"I got a detention because my business studies teacher thought I was wearing a scarf in a lesson. It was actually a sling as I had hurt my hand. Even after I explained it was a sling I still had to go to detention. I had to write 'I must not wear a scarf in class' 100 times, which was interesting as it was my right hand I bashed up!"
Submitted by kirstinpeter82.
13. The Barney ban.
"We had a rule about not pretending to be Barney the Dinosaur. It was in the actual code of conduct, and no one knew why it was there. I want to find whoever terrorised the school by dressing up as a purple dinosaur, and shake their hand."
Submitted by namuunb.
14. Saying "deez nuts".
"My school banned anyone from saying 'deez nuts'. Anyone who said it got a referral."
Submitted by mpeace46.
15. This pretty bizarre rule.
16. No shiny shoes.
"We couldn't wear shiny shoes because 'you could see up your skirt.'"
Submitted by louisaduah80.
17. A ban on groups.
"We got detentions for being in groups bigger than four people because it intimidated year 7s."
Submitted by chloehandley98.
18. No dangerous hairbands.
"We were not allowed to wear hairbands around our wrists. If we wished to have one at school we had to put it in our pencil cases, where it got dirty."
Submitted by Alpacafeed.
19. No making animal noises.
20. All these ridiculous rules.
"At my single-sex school girls were not allowed to tie their hair in a bun, roll up their sleeves, or sing 'Happy Birthday'."
Submitted by sxrxclxffxrd.
21. Wearing hats before 10th grade.
"The rule was 'Out of respect for their teachers, students may not wear hats in class until they reach the 10th grade.'
"I guess after 10th grade, respect was just assumed – hat or no hat."
Submitted by carlij3.
22. And no clapping.
"Our school had this weird thing where suddenly, out of the blue, someone would start clapping, and the whole school would just erupt into applause. This phenomenon particularly enraged the headteacher, who subsequently banned clapping."
Submitted by georgiah435ceabda.
Responses have been edited for clarity.