Is Anything More Important Than A Dress Code?
With all the problems in education, it’s a shame we have to spend so much time on a Dress Code. Take either side of the argument you want, it’s still a distraction. The trouble is: Each side blames the other for causing the distraction.
It’s one of those so-called educational problems that is really a social problem, and you find yourself drawn to your own experience. Some of us Oldies can remember when there was no dress code problem – except that some kids had better clothes than some of the rest of us who wore hand-me-downs. Usually, you wanted to wear the same things the other kids were wearing, not something different. And there were no crocodiles or other logos on anything.
A few years ago, we took a couple of teen-age girls to buy back-to-school clothes, introducing them to some real “bargain” places – Goodwill, Salvation Army store, and Clothes Closet, which was open then. They spent the money they’d been given, but their heart wasn’t in it. Later, they went out to the mall and bought some typical trendy, flimsy, and over-priced stuff – some too revealing, probably the kind the schools want to eliminate.
Of course, society changes, not always for the better, and peer-pressure is all-important. Friday, we were in a local fast-food place, standing beside a teen-age boy with his jeans pushed way down and his underpants showing above them about eight inches. How many years ago would it have been when a motherly type would have walked up to him and said, “Young man, you should pull your pants up to where they belong!”?
I think everybody involved wants to solve this brou-ha-ha on dress code (at least, I hope so) and get the kids back in school to improve their education. Free speech, right of protest, and “individuality” are important, but they are being wasted on this blown-out-of-proportion confrontation.
I happened to be at a local elementary school this week, and entering at the same time, was a rather large woman and her two young children. She asked me: “Did you get a violation letter, too?” I told her no, I didn’t go to that school anymore. She hustled in, obviously loaded for bear, and headed for the principal’s office. I don’t know anything about their conversation, but ten minutes later, she and her two little darlings came back out, sweet as doves and happy as larks. They’d worked things out. That’s how you do it. That’s what principals are for.
I just hope we can use this Dress Code business as a learning experience and perhaps reverse the modern trend of the mother storming into the principal’s office when her little one is disciplined, and if she doesn’t get satisfaction (usually an apology from the principal), goes home and hires a lawyer. We don’t need that. As the signs in the middle schools halls say: “Give Respect – Get Respect.”
–Vic Jose
Vic Jose :: Aug.26.2009 :: Uncategorized ::
One Response to “Is Anything More Important Than A Dress Code?”
Leave a Reply
Please note that we only post comments from visitors who specify their first and last name. Please fill in your name on your user profile after you've logged in and the "Display name publicly as" field to your real name. Your name will be posted along with your comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
True. We do look at the dress code as the solution to the behavior problems in schools but it truly is not the right one. It is one way of starting to crack down on the stereo types our kids are growing up with in this day and age. I’ve seen 2 yr old girls wear clothes skimpier than what a 20 yrs old would wear and that’s sending all the wrong messages. We as parents need to be the ones looking at our children and saying “That’s not appropriate for you to be seen in”, not the schools. How can we expect the schools to do our parenting for us if we don’t get off our backsides and step up to our own responsibilities? No the dress code is not going to solve the gangs and drugs at the school level but if we as parents start asking questions and getting involved in our kids lives, then maybe it is just a beginning.