A soon to be Leo High School graduate will be skipping out on her big day this weekend because she won't be allowed to wear her Marine Corps dress blues.
Private Kylie Furnish graduated from high school early and recently graduated from Marine Corps Boot Camp.
Private Furnish had hoped to walk with her class this weekend wearing her Marine Corps dress blues, which is Marine Corps policy for a ceremony like this.
[. . .]
"The attire for all graduates of East Allen County Schools is a Cap and Gown representing the high school from which they graduate. This is a ceremony to recognize the achievements of four years of high school effort as seniors leave us and go on to many different aspects of life: work, college, military, service, homemaker, etc. Whereas we are aware there are many students who would prefer to wear their own choice of clothing at graduation to symbolize all different sorts of things, the Corporation's policy is that participation is contingent upon the required attire of a cap and gown. . ."
My immediate reaction to this story was to side with Private Furnish. We ask a lot of our soldiers, potentially including the ultimate sacrifice. If an exception is going to be made, it certainly should be made for them.
But the more I thought about it, the more I sympathized with the school system. Volunteering for the Marines is an admirable act, and the private deserves our gratitude and thanks. But that has nothing to do with the graduation, which is a ceremony to honor the four years of achievment of all students in a class. If she attended in her dress uniform, she would be the star, the center of attention in a way that detracted from everybody else's recognition.
And it's a little bit ironic that someone who has joined the military, in which unit cohesion is stressed and individuality repressed, would choose a battle over not being able to stand out from the crowd. The private is wrong, by the way, to suggest that the Marines require the dress uniform to be worn for such non-military occasions -- the uniform may be worn. She's young, so that's allowable overstatement, but of all those reporting on this story could have done a little simple research.
