Dress code and a "free" education
I acknowledge right on the left coast for pointed to this video on dresscode.
This is just some of the crap you have to put up with, in my opinion, when we hammers home the idea that education is a right, and that education should be free. There are always costs and sacrifices that are made when a service like education is provided "free of charge;" unfortunately, many individuals do not appreciate the educational opportunities afforded to every minor in this country, citizen or not.
So school boards, teachers, and administrators have to come up with all sorts of ridiculous plans, like making students where jumpsuits, when those students can't figure out how to wear something appropriate to school. Then the kids, according to one student, are going to purposely dress out of code so they'll be forced to wear the jumpsuits.
This is indicative of a mindset that does not value a "free" education, and, seriously, it's sort of hard to value free things. I'm not particularly impressed with my free grocery bags. I do treat the canvas ones with a bit more respect because I paid a dollar each for them.
These stupid dress code wars also demonstrate how failure to value a "free" education actually damages the quality of the education itself. Those students who, through hard work and determination, have mastered the skill of getting dressed appropriately for school in the morning, now have to have their school day interrupted because of boneheaded individuals who clearly value personal style more than an education.
When I played baseball in college, we had a "personal appearance" code. We had to keep our hair trimmed relatively short, it could not be any unnatural color, and we were expected to remain clean-shaven for the duration of the season. At one juncture in the season, a player began growing mustache, in clear defiance of the coach's expectations. When it was apparent that it was not a case of simply forgetting to shave for a couple of days, the coach absolutely exploded on him in front of the entire team:
WHAT THE (expletive) IS THIS (expletive) ON YOUR (expletive) FACE?
(absolute silence from 25 young men)
DO YOU WANT TO HAVE A (expletive) MUSTACHE, OR DO YOU WANT TO PLAY (expletive) BASEBALL?!! (EXPLETIVE!!!)
(At both universities I attended, I had college coaches with an affinity for the F-word. One coach, in moments of emotional fervor, even made a habit of inserting it in the midst of polysyllabic words.)
I remember thinking the facial hair rule was pretty stupid, and I thought it was wrong to embarrass him in front of the entire team. But the lesson, expectation, and choice were clear: either have facial hair, or play baseball. Which did we want more?
I began shaving more than usual.
So this is my dream: All of those participants in K-12 need to be made explicitly aware of what behaviors detract from the educational experience. Those that demonstrate contempt for the expectations, and thereby corrupt the experience for other learners need to be removed immediately. If education is as valuable as all sides of the political spectrum claim it is, then any individual who inhibits a child's ability to learn needs to be removed from the educational environment. It is of the utmost hypocrisy to proclaim that all students should have the opportunity to learn, and then to continue to suffer the whims of those students for whom education is not valued at all.
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