From The Past: January 6, 2005

Yesterday Ashley brought home a form from school discussing the dress code policy. The form states:

“Strode Station Elementary does feel that having a dress code is in the best interest of our students, their self-esteem, and our efforts to improve school safety, and increase academic achievement. Our superintendent and school board members have pledged support to any school that wishes to implement and enforce a stricter dress code policy.”                                    Blah, Blah, Blah on and on it goes. Then in bold lettering it says:

“Your child is out of compliance with this policy for the following:”

Under this there are seven different violations listed and a blank line beside each one so that the teacher can check off which violation the child made.

Now, what would Ashley have done that was so wrong it warranted a letter home?

*Was she wearing a shirt without a collar? (Gasp! Fire and brimstone to those who wear shirts without collars!)

*Was she wearing pants another color other than black, navy blue, or khaki? (Eternal Hell will be sentenced to those who like different colors!)

* Did she wear a sweatshirt without a collared shirt or turtleneck underneath? (Let’s damn all who want to be different. We want robots! Ever seen the Twilight Zone?)

Well now. Let me tell you her offense. She forgot to put on a belt. Yep. That’s right. Her self-esteem and that of others was almost tarnished because she forgot her belt. School safety was put aside because she forgot her belt. Her academic achievement was almost ruined because she forgot her belt. Sarcasm? You betcha!

Not only do I feel sorry for the students who have to go along with these asinine rules, I also feel for the teachers who are forced to check the apparel of their students each morning and deem who is and who is not in compliance. As if these teachers don’t have enough to do in one day, now they also check for clothing violations.

The point that gets me above all else is this: the dress code was supposedly created because certain children were being made fun of. The board members decided that they didn’t want these children to be called out in front of their other classmates because they were poor, so the dress code was created.

How is anything different now that there is a dress code? Now it’s not the students calling their classmates out; it’s the teachers themselves! The teacher has become the one now who calls the students to the front of the room telling them that they must go to the office because of their clothing.

Ashley was given the choice of either going to the school nurse and borrowing a belt or wearing a piece of yarn around her waist. She chose the yarn and it looked like this:

Now exactly how is this helping to educate my child? Morons! The people that make these rules are just unintelligent buggers!

Currently (2021): The situation in the post above still infuriates me. When Ashley started that school, there was no dress code. The following year, everyone had to go out and spend extra money in order to buy different clothes for school. I’m thinking it was the only public school in Clark County at that time with a dress code.

It’s circumstances such as these that make me so happy I no longer have kids in school.