Hoodies banned for being "gangwear"

[Adam West]

My son is in middle school and I found this irritating. He said that today you could wear a hat to school if you paid $1 (I guess into the PTA fund).

I asked him what the normal rule was for hats and he said they were not allowed.

It got me thinking about this topic again and how scorched I was to hear that the school is trying to raise funds by allowing something that is disallowed? What kind of backwards thinking is that?

[Hulk]

My son is in middle school and I found this irritating. He said that today you could wear a hat to school if you paid $1 (I guess into the PTA fund).

I asked him what the normal rule was for hats and he said they were not allowed.

It got me thinking about this topic again and how scorched I was to hear that the school is trying to raise funds by allowing something that is disallowed? What kind of backwards thinking is that?

Same thinking as used in the corporate world to allow jeans or t-shirts on casual days if you donate to the United Way. Its not only annoying, but it actually becomes a way to make people stick out if they DON'T pay up. The place I worked at before this did that, so I work a suit to work to spite them (I donate to my favorite charities directly). All day long my coworkers and managers were asking me if I had an interview for another job. I just laughed, walked away and took a long lunch.

[txteach]

I teach at a school with a low socioeconomic status so we could not do the donation thing. I'm glad because it sounds like a bad idea. We are more plagued with gang problems and fighting. I like this debate but I think many are out of touch with what today's schools are like. Maybe the suburbs don't need to take drastic measures but we do. I'd love uniforms here (even for the teachers)to help these kids get some uniformity and pride in something. I also believe in searches and metal detectors. The minute something goes wrong in one of the rich, lilly white schools in our country you'll see how they change their tune. Do you think Columbine just went back to what they had always done? Maybe I'm in the minority here and thars ok. I just invite you to take a tour of where I work and not lump all schools together in one nice, neat package.

[toys2cool]

I teach at a school with a low socioeconomic status so we could not do the donation thing. I'm glad because it sounds like a bad idea. We are more plagued with gang problems and fighting. I like this debate but I think many are out of touch with what today's schools are like. Maybe the suburbs don't need to take drastic measures but we do. I'd love uniforms here (even for the teachers)to help these kids get some uniformity and pride in something. I also believe in searches and metal detectors. The minute something goes wrong in one of the rich, lilly white schools in our country you'll see how they change their tune. Do you think Columbine just went back to what they had always done? Maybe I'm in the minority here and thars ok. I just invite you to take a tour of where I work and not lump all schools together in one nice, neat package.

It's true John.No one really knows until they've seen them all.I had the bad luck of going to some real rough schools at one time,Places where I use to get teased and jumped for wearing my GNR,Kiss or even Metallica shirts.One really bad school had gotten burned down due to some riots and they sent half of those kids to our school right by the orange bowl,and man they destroyed our school, These guys were gangster hip hop guys who came to school with weapons,drugs and you name it.Those were some of the worst years of my life,but you don't know until you've been there

I do believe in metal detectors and not uniforms,but maybe some sort of dress code

[ABMAC]

I teach at a school with a low socioeconomic status so we could not do the donation thing. I'm glad because it sounds like a bad idea.

His point was that it's a stupid idea to set up a rule and then selectively ignore it in exchange for some kind of bribe.

We are more plagued with gang problems and fighting. I like this debate but I think many are out of touch with what today's schools are like. Maybe the suburbs don't need to take drastic measures but we do.

Drastic measures aren't always effective measures. It sounds like the school system is concerned with appearing to address the problem, but they're only attacking one of its symptoms.

I'd love uniforms here (even for the teachers)to help these kids get some uniformity and pride in something.

Forcing kids to adhere to a strict dress code will only make the hoodlums look like everyone else. If enforced conformity instills pride, prison inmates must be the proudest people in the country.

I also believe in searches and metal detectors.

They're effective, and they address the problem directly.

The minute something goes wrong in one of the rich, lilly white schools in our country you'll see how they change their tune.

Yeah, I lie awake at night worrying that gangs of rich kids with positive parental role models are going to start riots at expensive private schools, decimating our future Conservative population.

Do you think Columbine just went back to what they had always done?

I don't know what they've done, or whether it was effective. Do you? If their problems have been resolved, it may be that the measures they took had nothing to do with it.

Maybe I'm in the minority here and thars ok. I just invite you to take a tour of where I work and not lump all schools together in one nice, neat package.

I don't doubt that your school has a problem, or that banning hoodies will appear to solve your school's problem for a short time, but it's all smoke and mirrors.

[txteach]

Thanks for your response Ant. You are always entertaining. H