According to this article in the Star Tribune (I know, I know, Shakopee is out of my usual range, it’s a slow news day what can I say?) one principal believes that the best way to fight issues with enforcing dress codes is to force everyone to wear the same thing. While an overwhelming majority of parents support the idea, there are some that feel it’s a cop out.
The proposal, which would still need approval from the school board, states that students would be required to wear either black or red t-shirts and that they may be required to tuck them in. While the t-shirts have not been an issue, tucking them in has. Officials state that it would be harder for students to hide weapons or to “sag their pants,” but parents are concerned that it may hurt the feelings of overweight students. The school will sell logo t-shirts for a reasonable fee but parents are free to purchase plain red or black t-shirts themselves.
One parent finds the entire change unnecessary:
Others objected, including Jeanna Harder, who has a daughter in sixth grade. “The entire student body should not be punished because of someone else’s poor choices or because of the school’s inability” to deal with them, she said.
I don’t really know which side to go with. I understand the school’s position but after reading that quote I really do have to wonder if she’s not at least partially correct. When I was in school you followed the rules or you were punished and God knows that I spent a ton of time in detention over the years. Do these school administrators really believe that by shifting the problems away from clothing they will have a more controlled student body? Do they not realize that something else will crop up to take its place instead?
So how about you? Do you believe that a “uniform” is an effective social control tool for schools to employ or do you think that this is simply a case of administrators being unable to control the student body? How about the tucking-in idea? Should that suggestion be eliminated due to some students’ feelings being hurt? Whatever you have to say about uniforms in the schools go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say.
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March 15th, 2010 at 10:45 am
School Uniforms: Administrators Can’t Deal With Problem Kids? http://bit.ly/d6AIkX
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
March 15th, 2010 at 11:33 am
Just another idea to require less work by the school.. It’s kind of like the Bob’s fixing the Payroll problem for Milton in Office Space. – They didn’t really deal with the problem, they just tried to make it go away.. We see how well that worked.
Kids need to be kids, express themselves, just like adults, however I do believe that an appropriate code needs to be in order. Sagging, is.. well.. dumb.. Yes I just contradicted myself, and ‘appearances shouldn’t matter’ – but really, if I walk into a store for help, I’m going to find the clean cut, well dressed person, vs. the kid with the saggy pants, wrinkled polo and bed head..
Ok, off topic, back to the point. – I don’t feel dress codes need to be an issue, I don’t even really see why they’re needed in a private school..
Deal with the issue of students breaking policy and bringing crap they shouldn’t bring. – If you want to enforce a dress code, make sure the clothes don’t have gaping holes showing ass, don’t have racist jokes, and are otherwise in accordance with school guidelines.
Uniforms are /not/ the answer..
March 15th, 2010 at 11:40 am
Our kids go to a parochial school so they do wear uniforms and we LOVE that they do. It’s cheaper than buying normal clothes for school. That said, I don’t see how you necessarily solve discipline problems by creating more rules to break. You know that a certain segment of the student body will challenge this. You either have to punish those breaking the uniform rule (and take up valuable resources to do so) or you let it slide and greatly reduce your credibility.
One thing I find rather humorous:
“but parents are concerned that it may hurt the feelings of overweight students.”
Instead of being concerned about how a shirt makes them look, perhaps these parents can focus their energies on helping these kids lose weight….you know…give them healthy foods to eat, kick them off the PS3 and off the internet. Ahh, nevermind. That would never work. Let’s just help them hide their problems.
March 15th, 2010 at 11:47 am
Personally I like the idea of a required dress code and uniforms at school. I think shirts shirts should be required to be tucked in and their appearance should be generally neat. If the fat kid feels uncomfortable tucked in, get a bigger shirt.
The idea being that you remove a bone of contention. Dress becomes way too big of an issue for kids to poke at each other about. I’ve thought the idea of uniforms in schools should have always been there.
March 15th, 2010 at 11:51 am
I’ve always been a big fan of school uniforms. Not so much for discipline reasons, but to remove the distractions that come with kids wasting time on their apperance in school. This from a guy who grew up in a shitty part of California where wearing the wrong thing, i.e. blue or red, could be dangerous to a kids health.
Watching my daughter as she puts together her little outfits everyday and plans what she’s going to wear the night before.. what a collosal waste of time and energy. Especially when we disagree with her choices and have to “discuss” it would be much eaiser if all this drama just went away and I could tell her exactly what to wear everyday on the first day of school and never have to worry about it again. Nurtures her shallowness if you ask me.
There’s also the argument I like that this puts kids on a level in school who may not be, economically, socially etc otherwise.
Individualism comes from within.
March 15th, 2010 at 11:57 am
Sank, that’s why I find the choice of red/black t-shirts so odd. Yeah, it’s the school colors but they’re also the most popular gang colors.
Make everyone wear white t-shirts and white pants. Easy to bleach ;)
March 15th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
I don’t have a problem with uniforms anymore than I have a problem with a school having a dress code in the first place. I can see the benefit (kids focusing a little less on what they’re wearing and who looks the best) and the problems (how do you begin enforcing it?).
Examples of dress codes are all over the place – sports teams, military, etc. – but those are voluntary examples. Even with these being voluntary, I often run into kids while I’m umpiring who wear their baseball uniforms untucked or leave their batting glove in their back pocket while they’re pitching. Now, expand that to the entire population and you start to have some real issues with enforcement.
So I don’t know if the uniform would really fix anything, but I sure like to think it would help.
March 15th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
I’m in my mid-fifties and can still think how a uniform dress code would have benefitted in my high school. There’s way too much peer/corporate pressure to wear “what fits in”.
March 15th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Nope. One of the private schools near mine had a dress code like that. All it did was encourage the students to be more creative in how they broke it and push the boundaries of what they could get away with.
That’s only the tip of the iceberg. This private school (with very posh students) was also the only one in the district with metal detectors at every door and police officers patrolling the halls at all times. It was the single most violent school in the area.
My school, on the other hand, enforced almost nothing and it was sublimely peaceful (for a highschool). The difference led me to believe that more stringent enforcement encourages more bad behavior. The best thing to do is to let it go. The less attention the school pays to it, the less it happens.
“Yo! I’m so gansta!”
“meh…”
“aww… be scared of me?”
“no.”
“just a little?”
“…”
“…”
March 15th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
I’m kind of torn, the libertarian in me says “fuck uniforms” but thinking back to when I was in high school it would have solved a lot of problems. And frankly I had no idea how to dress myself then anyways.
March 15th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
I remember tweeting the original article from the Shakopee Valley News and my stance hasn’t changed. It’s a cop out by school officials who stood by and left the original dress code unenforced. The officials are the ones who let things get out of hand and it’s the old analogy of a few bad apples spoiling hte whole bunch. As for kids not fitting in without uniforms and being ridiculed for what they wear, get the fuck used to it. Life isn’t fair and it’s full of injustices and schools shouldn’t coddle kids any longer by making everyone equal in their style of dress by making hundreds of kids wear t-shirts because a few trashy little 11 year olds showed their bra straps or midriffs and some wanna-be thugs can’t buy belts. Even a t-shirt as a uniform is a waste. Enforce what is already there.
March 15th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
I still have no idea how to dress myself.
March 15th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
That’s because you were homeschooled you loser.
March 15th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Touché.
At least I learned how to use a razor.
March 15th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Interesting. I once slipped up language-wise in front of a friend’s kid who then apparently repeated what I had said. Instead of immediately scolding them they just let it go and ignored it. They mentioned that by ignoring it the child doesn’t realize it’s something that garners attention and thus is pointless to repeat.
March 15th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
If I was a parent, I would probably love this idea. It’s cheaper. It levels the playing field in terms of financial status or (seemingly) possibilities for bullying. It makes it easier for parents to control their children’s attire and keep things appropriate.
However, I agree that kids will always push the boundaries of any rules. I did it myself by wearing high tops and ginormous earrings with my plaid skirt and cardigan. I also think that kids will always find ways to differentiate themselves, and when you take away standard avenues, like clothing, they’ll find other ways of doing it via behavior that you might not like (that was my brother’s route). On the bullying front, it always seemed to me that uniforms inspire worse bullying. If you take away obvious things for kids to make fun of, they’ll just hit lower. If they can’t make fun of clothes, they’ll aim for people’s bodies. Or their faces. Or their hair. Or whatever. So, overall, I think that this is a band-aid for larger issues.
March 15th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
At our kid’s school (K-8) the older girls push the boundarys but seeing how high they can have the hem of their skirts and still get away with it. They express their individuality through their hair accessories, socks & shoes (I wish they would ban Uggs…too damn expensive and I have to hear about it how EVERYbody else wears them to school).
The boys don’t give a shit.
They also have “out of uniform” days and the biggest issue there is some kids coming with really raggy clothes on
March 15th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
While growing up, I attended public schools without a uniform requirement and private schools that had one which was strictly enforced. I preferred uniforms then; and would rather have them now for my kids (but our public school does not require them). I do send my kids to school in a uniform, of sorts: shirts must have a collar and be tucked in; no holes in the pants; no flip flops. It may be just me, but I think it helps sends a message, to my kids anyway, that school is important; and it sends a message to their teacher that she is taken seriously.
I’d say where the school in Shakopee went wrong was in a public relations sense by giving a reason for making the change: no matter what “reason” is given (discipline, leveling the economic playing field, school unity, fewer distractions, all the usual reasons), there are going to be some parents who are going to fight it, or come up with an excuse why their kid should not be “punished” for the actions of others, or its not going to work to solve the stated “problem”, or make up some b.s. excuse like they’re concerned about the overweight kids feelings (riiiiiight). Whatever happened to: “These are the rules, an authority figure is telling you what the rules are, and you will follow the rules”?
And for the kids who don’t like the uniforms, well, take a life lesson from it: pay attention in school and get good grades, because if you don’t, well you could be wearing a uniform of a different type, like they wear at the McDonald’s.
March 15th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
This is Minnesota. Won’t kids be cold in just a t-shirt for much of the year? I remember the schools I attended being chilly during the winter.
I don’t have much of an opinion on it. I don’t think it’s oppressive, but I also don’t know if it will do that much good at stopping problems. It certainly won’t stop kids from making fun of each other; they’ll find a reason.
March 16th, 2010 at 7:27 am
I understand having a dress code, but a stringent and specific dress code like this will do nothing. Tucking your shirt in? How’s that going to change things? If they want to smuggle in a weapon, they will find another way. Just enforce a reasonable dress code.
Middle school sucks, by the way.
March 17th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Anyone ever see how the student population dresses in the inner-city. They definitely need uniforms, but Shakopee?
Uniforms are cheaper. They equalize dress. They prevent unwanted types of dress. They identify truants. No real problems that I see, except tucking in a shirt is taking this a step too far.
March 30th, 2010 at 7:32 am
[...] He goes on to state that while he has no interest in creating a law to ban the practice, as he cannot and have it be legal, he wants schools to reinforce the message the policy via dress codes. [...]