Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2005 > December > 06
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Adults, not students should be in control
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Imagine a public high school where students wear khakis, collared shirts and knee-length skirts.
School uniforms: It’s what’s being proposed at South Gwinnett High. Clothes would have to be size-appropriate and one of four colors: beige, tan, navy or white. Exceptions would be made for religious apparel.
South Gwinnett school officials are looking for answers because dress-code violations are on the uptick.
Last year, the school had 62 dress-code violations during the first quarter. This year, 303 violations have occurred in the same amount of time. Time spent dealing with (super, not relaxed) baggy jeans and camis are hurting instruction. The school administrators say something needs to be done.
You see a lot of young men (and older ones, too) wearing those extra-long T-shirts and baggy jeans. Jeans so big they have to pull them up every three or four seconds. Guys, trust me on this one — you look like something, but it’s not necessarily cool.
And the young ladies, well, less apparently is more. Off-the-shoulder blouses. Over-exposed midriffs. Too grown. Too soon.
So my gut reaction is to applaud the idea of school uniforms. It’s hard not to. Parents would save money. And at least anecdotally, the behavior of students and their work might be enhanced, though research shows results are mixed. What a student wears will never replace good teaching.
But you know, the merits of school uniforms wouldn’t have to be debated if two things happened: Parents got tough; school officials grew a backbone.
On campus, those in charge should send a strong, superclear message from Day One. Anything we deem risque or unfit won’t be tolerated. Then, they should dare — yeah, I said dare — kids to defy them.
Rules serve a purpose. When young people are on campus to learn, they should adhere. Individuality and freedom of expression should take a back seat to conformity and order. And we keep forgetting something. School-age students aren’t grown, and they won’t be for years.
I suspect that school officials aren’t particularly tough on dress-code violations because their higher-ups don’t back them up. And there’s probably a fear of civil liberty lawsuits and negative reaction from some parents. Why else would the South Gwinnett principal say it’ll take 80 percent of parents to support the change for him to move forward?
I doubt if 80 percent of the parents even know what their kids wear. If they do, they apparently aren’t too concerned, or consider this a fight not worth picking. But it must be. Why else would South Gwinnett consider a change and other local schools be so jazzed to see what transpires?
In an AJC Gwinnett News article published Monday, one parent said that teenagers are too old to be forced to wear a uniform. OK, but can’t we dictate with a little more authority that they wear something more apropos? At least at school?
After all, Mom and Dad pay the bills that keep the lights on and food on the table. They, in most cases, buy the clothes, too.
What is there to discuss?
