Dress Codes are Stupid and so are People That Want Them
This story specifically relates to the people and schools in Lubbock, TX, but I'm sure there are plenty of people wherever you live that this would apply to just the same.
So I was reading a news story about some local LISD trustee candidates as they discussed the dress code for our kids. I finally came to a realization. All of these people are idiots!
This mostly has to do with tattoos, mohawks, faux-hawks, piercings and unnatural hair color. In other words, the more alternative styles that most of the "clean-cut" students don't wear anyways. So is it targeted at a small group of students that these "trustees" disapprove of? It sure as hell looks that way.
We haven't heard from all of the candidates yet, but most of the incumbents, and a few challengers seem to be drinking the same Kool-Aid. If you ask most of the candidates, even in separate instances, you'll get the same response from many of them. And it goes something like this:
"Kids should learn how to properly present themselves" in certain environments.
Or
"Students should learn at an early age the standard codes of conduct and attire applying in most situations in life."
Or even
"Students are transitioning into the world of work and need to know how to look presentable."
Much of this was then followed by asinine concerns about the students finding jobs with such inappropriate dress. One candidate, Mark Blankenship, actually claimed that business leaders had expressed concerns to him that the current dress code made it difficult to hire and maintain a young workforce. BULLS#!T. I'm sorry if you're having trouble staffing your 5 and Dime or soda fountain, or some other 1950's business that doesn't exist anymore with clean-cut all-american youth but the kids these days just choose to dress differently. And most people are totally ok with it.
Plus it s fairly simple premise for businesses that hire young people. Tell them that you have a dress code at your place of business and if they want to work there they have to follow it. When the person signing your paychecks wants you to look a certain way most kids realize that getting paid is way cooler than a certain hair color or style anyday. And if they don't, HIRE THE NEXT ONE! No one is forcing you to change your business, just hire young people that want to work for you. I had to cut my hair for my first job,and while I didn't want to, my dad made me because if I wanted to keep having money for gas and to spend on lunch at school, he sure as hell wasn't paying me anymore. Later I decided that I wanted to have a cooler career where dress codes didn't matter. So I got into radio, nuff said. (Oh and I am a professional with a Bachelor's degree, and a mohawk. Sometimes it's even been green!)
All of this is in an effort to stem the "classroom distractions" that these styles supposedly cause.
Once again I'd like to point out that the ONLY time any of this is distracting is when a teacher is required to stop the class in order to discipline a student for a style that is against the rules because of some draconian "code"! If no one makes a big deal of this, then it won't be a deal at all!
Sara Duncan is actually quoted as saying, "Can you imagine going to the doctor's office and seeing an employee in spiked hair and a wild color?" Why yes, you freakin' moron, I can because I HAVE seen that. And guess what? It doesn't bother me at all because they are professionals who do their job professionally. How they look has absolutely ZERO effect on how they care for me, the patient. Oh and if someone in a doctor's office does happen to look that way then obviously the DOCTOR that runs his or her practice made an executive decision that silly things like hairstyles shouldn't be a factor in how their employees care for their patients. As a free market capitalist I would say that it should be their choice and not some government bureaucrat to decide how they should run their business right? OH but I forgot that you people believe in those policies UNLESS they go against your personal moral choices.
WELL KEEP YOUR DAMN MORALS OFF OF ME AND MY FAMILY!
On another point, the actual LISD dress code has a line in it that says it "prohibits pictures, symbols, emblems, jewelry, or writings on your body, clothing and/or personal belongings that disrupt classroom instruction."
And guess who gets to decide what is and isn't distracting? Some douchebag "trustee" that's who. Not the parents, not the students, and not the most important people when it comes to deciding actual classroom issues, THE TEACHER! Essentially this gives them carte-blanche to call anything they want "distracting" and then ban it from our students. Don't our students have a right to free speech too? No one's is wearing t-shirts that advocate violence, or depict graphic sex scenes. So how the hell can hair be offensive?
I'm tired of most of these same people complaining daily about the government and how it's become such a "nanny-state" and then turning around and trying to control everything our kids do from what clothes they wear to how long they cut their hair! YOU ARE THE NANNIES YOU RAIL AGAINST! Hypocrite much?
This should be a non-issue, but since most people running Texas' public education system refuse to look at their own incompetence to answer the falling test scores and rising drop-out rates, they have to point the finger at somebody. And there's no better target than the defenseless students that we should be focusing on educating, not indoctrinating to some outdated concept of dress, and therefore morality.
At least we can vote these people in and out of office. The question is, will we? Or have enough voters been drinking the same Kool-Aid? Big Brother is knocking...will you answer?