Back in the 60’s, we fought for the right to wear jeans to school. The ideal of freedom of expression was paramount, and we would no longer accept our parents’ and teachers’ idea of how children should dress. We would not be bound by conformity. Eddy Haskel was dead and the Beav wore love beads. Right on!
And where did it get us? Well, plenty of good came out of those days, but some things didn’t turn out exactly as planned. When disco replaced rock, things started going south. Designer names on shirts and jeans replaced the rebel that fought to allow jeans in the first place. Leave it to free enterprise and marketing to accomplish what no authoritarian figure could.
As my kids return to school, I confront another year of what’s hot and what’s not. This was never supposed to be the point. The ability to express oneself by one’s attire was not intended to morph into the right to show one’s status by the cache of designer labels.
But times change, and freedom of expression has become the right to show how much money Mommy or Daddy is willing to spend on clothing and accoutrements so that the kddies can prove their worth. What a terrible shame that this is what’s happened.
Of course, the law of unintended consequences kicked in to produce a result that was not only unanticipated, but anethma to the movement that fought against uniformity. Be careful what you wish for… The end result (at least for now) is class division, with the wealthy showing off and the less wealthy suffering the stigma, and pressuring their hard-working parents to waste money on designer togs so that they aren’t branded as poor by their classmates. Like every teenage girl NEEDs a Louis Vuitton pocketbook in high school.
And so I’ve come full circle. It’s time to return to uniforms. Perhaps not the uniforms of old, with girls in plaid jumpers and boys in shirts and ties, but a uniform to eliminate the class warfare that exists in the hallways of public schools. There is benefit to decorum that doesn’t interfere with the educational mission. While the “order” part of law and order is often overrated, that lack of order sometimes proves to be a problem. The benefit of ending the tyranny of uniformity is outweighed by the stigma of Gucci-less-ness.
And so, with great pain and deep sorrow, I hereby admit that my efforts to stop the man, free the students and make the world safe for full and unfettered personal expression for students may have overshot the mark. And if I see another teenager with the word “Juicy” printed across her butt, I’m going to puke. Enough already.
And where did it get us? Well, plenty of good came out of those days, but some things didn’t turn out exactly as planned. When disco replaced rock, things started going south. Designer names on shirts and jeans replaced the rebel that fought to allow jeans in the first place. Leave it to free enterprise and marketing to accomplish what no authoritarian figure could.
As my kids return to school, I confront another year of what’s hot and what’s not. This was never supposed to be the point. The ability to express oneself by one’s attire was not intended to morph into the right to show one’s status by the cache of designer labels.
But times change, and freedom of expression has become the right to show how much money Mommy or Daddy is willing to spend on clothing and accoutrements so that the kddies can prove their worth. What a terrible shame that this is what’s happened.
Of course, the law of unintended consequences kicked in to produce a result that was not only unanticipated, but anethma to the movement that fought against uniformity. Be careful what you wish for… The end result (at least for now) is class division, with the wealthy showing off and the less wealthy suffering the stigma, and pressuring their hard-working parents to waste money on designer togs so that they aren’t branded as poor by their classmates. Like every teenage girl NEEDs a Louis Vuitton pocketbook in high school.
And so I’ve come full circle. It’s time to return to uniforms. Perhaps not the uniforms of old, with girls in plaid jumpers and boys in shirts and ties, but a uniform to eliminate the class warfare that exists in the hallways of public schools. There is benefit to decorum that doesn’t interfere with the educational mission. While the “order” part of law and order is often overrated, that lack of order sometimes proves to be a problem. The benefit of ending the tyranny of uniformity is outweighed by the stigma of Gucci-less-ness.
And so, with great pain and deep sorrow, I hereby admit that my efforts to stop the man, free the students and make the world safe for full and unfettered personal expression for students may have overshot the mark. And if I see another teenager with the word “Juicy” printed across her butt, I’m going to puke. Enough already.
Discover more from Simple Justice
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.