Every time a school district decides to adopt a school-uniform policy, there is a story quoting somebody or other worrying about how it will affect all the poor people. A couple of years ago, I made the gentle point that even poor parents have to buy clothes for their kids, and uniforms are not usually designed to be extravagant. A school board member merely starts with that observation and then unloads:
A little more than a week ago, the Osceola County School District decided to implement school uniforms. Since then, he says parents have complained saying they can't afford the new clothing. He disagreed with parents and fired off an email to them saying:
"Everyone can afford Wal-Mart and if they cant they need to think about turning of their cable TV or stop buying alcohol or cigarettes and spend their money on their children."
Whew, way to go; put the blame where it belongs. Almost everything schools do these days that distracts them from their education mission is aimed at the one thing they can't really fix -- making up for what parents should be doing but aren't.
