In the report, the bullied boys give a detailed account of the torment that they suffer as a result of their status. The taunts the boys suffered prove that we have a problem in our society. In  21st Century Kenya one's manhood is dependent on whether or not he is circumcised . This despite the fact that a significant portion of Kenyan society does not culturally practice circumcision. The implied suggestion here is that we are to view the men from these non-circumcising backgrounds as inferior to other men, as not having achieved adult status. What then to make of 'uncut' men from outside of Kenya? Is this the standard that all men must achieve ?

Last week, I wrote an article on the eradication of female genital circumcision. With reference to both these issues, I will reiterate that I am not calling for wiping out our traditions. At the same time however, there are some traditions that are not relevant to our times. It may have been useful in the past, for reasons of symbolic unity to put pressure on boys to undergo specific cultural rites, but such pressures are not useful today.

One would like to think that this is an isolated incident, restricted to a rural backwater but the danger is that these attitudes spill-over onto the national stage. This  leads then to a situation where  Kenyans, including potential leaders are judged not on their merits but on whether they are "boys" or "men", as was the case recently in insults thrown at ODM-K Presidential hopeful Raila Odinga. This is a warning sign that we are not the civilized society we might like to think we are.

Testing the attitude on male circumcision in the Kenyan community, I spoke to two modern young men from Kenyan communities that practice this initiation rite . While they admitted that the practice is archaic, they both agreed that their communities strongly believe in circumcision as an indicator of manhood. Regardless of our cultural attachments empirical reality dictates that circumcising a man has no  bearing on his behaviour or intellect and we cannot  continue to claim that going under the knife makes one a "man".

Even worse,the Form One boys were taunted by being called "women" and "girls." This is indicative of a deeper problem in our social psyche. That they would use the term "woman" or "girl" derogatively, betrays an underlying belief in the inferiority of women.

If it was not so sad and backward, this quote from the suspension letter reads like something from an American Comedy, perhaps one demonstrating a parody of unusual requirements from schools of their students.

"This is to inform you that your son cannot fit in school under the condition he is in. You sneaked your son in school without reporting to us that the boy was not done to be like others i.e. circumcised."

It is saddening that such practices may be permitted to occur in of all places the public education system, underwritten by the taxes of millions who do not practise circumcision. That the school, a high school, has the leadership of a principal who was so confident of its position as to even put those words to pen is a proof that this is not an attitude isolated to the school, but the whole of the local community. If the boys were sent home from school for being like "girls", is the school not then saying that girls should not be educated? We cannot limit our children by such anachronistic prejudices, every child in Kenya should have the right to education and the chance at a better life, whether girl or boy, circumcised or uncircumcised!