school dress code

[BiGKaT]

If you left it up to the parents, kids would play video games in their spare time and go to school looking like hookers and homeless people. Oh wait they do that already don't they.
All schools should take the examples set by private schools and set a dress code. Jackets and ties, skirts or slacks, blazer etc., it is cheaper than these designer clothes and still allows for variation in prints patterns, and colors.
The parents are no better than the kids. They wear ripped, tattered, faded jeans and shorts to church, restaurants, school functions etc. How and where are the kids going to get an example to follow? "But, Mom and Dad, you dress like a slob so why can't I?"

[RGarrey]

I would like to add my support for uniforms. I cannot believe some of the clothes that kids are allowed to wear out in public never mind in school. I also don't buy the argument that the kids are just expressing their individuality. Quite the opposite in my opinion, they are trying desperately, and at great expense to mom and dad, to look like everyone else. In my opinion uniforms would help create a much better atmosphere for learning. It would also eliminate the competition to have the latest styles, which some families just can't afford. I wore a uniform for my elementary and high school years and I never once had to worry about what I was going to wear, or if my parents would approve. Just my thoughts.

[morganika]

Well, I think what we are seeing here is a lack of parenting. The parents obviously are buying these inappropriate clothes and advocate the wearing of them.

It's too bad the school has to parent someone else's kids!

My grandchildren live in Florida and they had uniforms beginning in kindergarten. They were simple, I think a white shirt and blue shorts. There was a rule about how long the shorts had to be but that was it.

Think about it, easier laundry and quicker getting dressed in the morning!

[Bulldog]

morganika, get a grip. When you wore your stuff at your ankles, FDR was in office.

To imply that "there is a lack of parenting" is alot of Bull.

I'll agree with you that uniforms are alot easier.

[LouS]

The reality is that a dress code addresses the relative responses and conforms them but does nothing to effect the core reasons for so much of the inappropriate behavior of school age kids. I agree that if the school needs to step in that a behavior modification tool is uniform use.

Is there more inappropriate behavior now than there was years ago? Not sure, but the fights that errupted in most schools went unnoticed then, but using knives and guns makes them stand out a bit more now.

Is there more drinking? Drug use? One thing is for certain...there are more kids driving vehicles which in and of itself makes the use of these intoxicants a greater offense.

The bottom line is that parents abdicate control over their children about the same time that our Drug Programs run out.

You think not? Spend some time at the high school and see the results. Where are your kids after school and at night on the weekends.

Most parents have no idea other than to say, they are with friends, etc.

Most kids are inherently good. However, they are swayed by peer pressure. When kids partake in afterschool activities, whether they be athletic or academic they have less unstructured time to act out.

Many parents try to be their children's friends rather than parents. To this end, it is the parents or parent or guardian or whomever has the responsibility of raising the kid that may have the most impact as to keeping their child from choosing the wrong path.

We were just discussing the fact that if a drug testing tool was available (much the same as security companies use) would the parent first have the guts to make their child use it, would the child try and back off from using it and what would be the parent's before and after responses?

My bet is that the majority of the parents really do not want to know what is going on.

I could go on but the bottom line is the parents, however school uniforms are a start.

[morganika]

Dear Mr. Bulldog:

Stick with what you know, which I suspect is precious little. When I wore my stuff around my ankles you must be referring to my graduation gown I wore when I graduated from Wethersfield High School in 1980.

Morganika