Eugene White, who was in Fort Wayne Community Schools for 19 years and is now superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools, actually seems to think adults should be in charge of schools:
Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Eugene White is calling for strict new rules he hopes will force girls to cover their midriffs and boys to pull up their sagging pants.White has marching orders waiting for a new dress code task force: Spruce up students' appearance."It's going to be a new look in IPS in 2007," White said. "I think the parents on that task force know what they want to see."His main targets are students who wear inappropriate clothes, such as the pants worn by teen boys that seem to sag lower every year, he said.Task force members, which will include parents, teachers, business leaders, faith-based representatives and others, could make minor tweaks to the dress code, he said, or recommend something more drastic, such as uniforms districtwide.
Comments
Leo:
I'm sure you recall when we went to school...boys-button down shirts...girls- MODEST attire and NO miniskirts (darnit) or
"skorts" (more like goin' to church clothes)!
We wore SHOES to school...sneakers (or the more PC term "athletic shoes") were reserved SOLELY (no pun intended) for GYM class!!
Even JEANS (or any "denim" pants) were not allowed (in Philly public schools anyway) until AFTER 1970 (when we "escaped"...lol), that dress codes began to become "relaxed"...
But then something curious occurred...
Test scores began dropping....kids got "dumber", and the educational system has been reaping the numerous other "benefits" of this flawed decision ever since. And everyone wonders "what happened"?
MY take on it is simple....when in school, look somewhat professionsal...after all, school is there to PREPARE you for the "real world", isn't it?
Because when you LOOK like a slob...guess what other people will view you as? What does THAT do to your "self-esteem" quotient, kids?
Casual clothes belong anywhere else BUT school...period! You're there to LEARN, not be a fashion statement.
B.G.
Yeah, they even looked at our haircuts and told us we couldn't have any facial hair. Imagine. We had kids in high school known as "hoods" because of the bold, dangerous way they dressed. Today,they would look like Student Council members -- no piercings, no tats, nothin'.
Today's Old Fogey session is now dismissed.
Do they really need a "task force" to settle this? I'm sure they already have some kind of dress code - just enforce the damn thing.
My highschool principle enforced our dress code. There were no warnings; if you dressed in violation of the dress code you were suspended for the day. If you had more than 3 suspensions in a semester then you could be expelled. This really doesn't seem like something so terribly complicated that a blue-ribbon commission should get involved...
"task force" = cya
CYA is correct Leo. They need to cover all the bases before any kind of discipline is meted out....The lawyers would have a field day..