Am I the only one here who gives a shit about the rules?
My 18-year-old self would not approve of this post.
Back in the day, I had written a column for Windows, the student newspaper at Southeast High School, titled “Take This Shirt And Shove It.” In it, I registered my disapproval at being told by a teacher to turn the T-shirt I was wearing inside out.
So in the current dress-code kerfuffle, you might think I would be on the side of free expression through clothing.
You would be wrong.
To get you up to speed, Franklin Middle School is one of a few schools that require a uniform of sorts, generally khaki pants and a school-colored polo-style shirt. A seventh-grader there is challenging this “uniform” by wearing what she pleases, and Mommy and Daddy are squarely in her corner.
Some well-meaning but misguided people are trying to make a federal case out of this. Others, seemingly completely without irony or perspective, are calling the girl’s actions “heroic” and comparing her “plight” to that of Rosa Parks:
How much longer before the administration starts widdling that down to the kids with blond hair and blue eyes sit in front, kids with black hair and brown eyes in back. … (I)t took one woman to stand up for her rights by saying No,I will not give up my seat so you can sit down. History was changed. This is about what is right and just.
Dress codes! It’s the new racism!
Is undermining the school’s authority “right and just?” This is a school rule. Students are to follow school rules. If a student can defy a rule and still pretty much get away with it, why would any other student follow the rule? Not being able go to a dance or a basketball game is hardly a punishment.
Still others think that the dress code is some sort of conspiracy to push clothing that the school sells:
This school capriciously enforces a standard of dress that is designed to push the sale of school apparel. It is no coincidence that this “policy” began soon after the sale of candy was eliminated. It’s all about the money, foks!
OK, so what? What’s the difference between buying a polo-style shirt at Kohl’s and buying a Falcons sweatshirt from the school? And is it such an awful thing to actually support your public schools beyond the property taxes you pay?
It’s all very simple. The school rule is very clear. If you break the rule, there will be consequences. Well, there were consequences, until the Franklin principal folded faster than Superman on laundry day.
And this is the message that is being sent to the students: If you don’t like the rules, don’t follow them. They aren’t going to be enforced anyway.
I just don’t understand the people who complain about how bad they think District 186 is but still actively undermine the district’s authority to enforce its own rules.
