School To Put Students In 'Prison Jumpsuits' As Punishment

When I was in high school, I was constantly in direct violation of breaking the dress code. I decided not to tuck in my shirt-tail when I was in 9th grade (1994). I ended up failing my English and History class over a shirt-tail...!

What lesson did I learn from that? That in order to pass a class, you must conform like everyone else? If people didn't push the boundaries, society would be non-progressive; and I think training our kids to be like everyone else is a great mind-set to teach our children - if our goal was to sterilze thier ability to think outside the box and have them walk around with mind numbing thoughts.

The real issue is, what is the current dress code of the school district? I would agree with this new policy if a student were found wearing HATE SPEECHES on their shirts; or sex crazed slogans, or if girl(s) run around exposing thier chests, et cetera.

On the other hand, I would be against this new policy for minor infractions such as not tucking in your shirt-tail.

I will end by quoting the late Senator Robert Kennedy:

"There are those who see the things the way they are and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not?"

ok iv read the dress code and i have a few problems with it and il now present them .

2. Hair must be neat and clean. Boys’ hair must not extend below the bottom of the collar of a dress shirt, below the bottom of the ear, or over the eyes.

(so no long hair, sience when is long hair a hinderance to education? and what about native americans for who long hair is a cultural tradition?)

4. Males must be clean-shaven if facial hair is noticeable. Sideburns cannot extend below the bottom of the ear.

(once again how does long side burns cause a problem to the learning process?)

7. All shirts will have a collar and sleeves. All shirts will be free of words and/or pictures and may have a logo of not larger than a 2 inch square. NO t-shirts are allowed except for Gonzales Apache spirit shirts which may be worn any day of the week. All shirts worn by males must be tucked in. Shirts worn by females must be tucked in if they are longer than the bottom of the hip.

(ok so you must wear dress or polo shirts with no decoration and if you want to wear a t shirt you have to pay for a t shirt from the school? thats a convienent money maker)

10. Oversized clothing or coats may not be worn. Sweaters, sweat shirts, and jackets must not fall below the back pockets.

(what the hell so you cant even wear a coat thats bigger then your shirt? how exactly does a coat longer then your shirt disrupt the learning process?)

12. Students shall not be permitted to wear hats, caps, sunglasses, sweatbands, or other disrupting apparel in any building on campus during school hours

(what about jewish kids? are they allowed to wear their yamachas?).

14. Males may not wear earrings. Females may wear earrings. No other body piercing jewelry of any kind will be accepted.

(ok why cant men wear earings? this isent the 50s many men now have pierced ears its common and even in almost all work places is accepted so that "preparring you for workplace" crap dont fly here)

23. No cargo pants allowed.

(why no cargo pants? this just seems astetic in purpose only considering sagging pants is outlawed, and all males must wear a belt i dont see how cargo pants is disruptive to a learning enviroment)

I can just hear the news headlines "A Texas school boy was shot today by police officers who mistook him for an escaped convict" and you know it could very easily happen!

The public school system shouldn't be allowed to do this. At my (public) school if a student is out of dress code then the school provides the student with clothes. NOT a jumpsuite, they will give them school clothes such as a class shirt or PE shorts or something along those lines. The prison jumpsuite disgusts me.

And for the people who say that school is to get you ready for work: Hmm, that's funny, I always thought that the purpose of school was to EDUCATE people. Granted they haven't done such a good job but you DO still learn some things.

I haven't read every post here, but the school may have just started a new fad. I can just see students from competing schools wearing their jumps as colors.

Entrepeneurs, start your engines!

Krill: I actually don't get the cargo pants thing myself. But that's how the world works, if you don't want to follow their rules, don't go there. I joined the military at 17 and had to adhere to much stricter standards, so maybe I just don't "get it."

Flyingwoody: If you aren't going to get a job, then what do you need an education for?

reply to post by Heike


the state is required to provide education for children in the district they live in when you live there you pay taxes for the upkeep, acsess to and continued operation of the public schools. so if its publicly funded i dont see how they can have arbitrary rules that dont have anything to do with safety or quality of education of the children.

banning clothes with obscene or violent images, clothing associated with local gangs, images containing drugs, liquer or tabacco , clothing that is revealing or sexualy sugestive are understandable. but dictating hair style, hair length, piercings that arent provocative, style of shirt that isent sexualy sugestive ect are all about control of style and demanding conformity and having nothing to do with the education process or safety.

reply to post by krill


Having never had a child in school, I will decline to further debate with you on this particular subject in the interest of denying ignorance

That said, I thought there was a school council or something that got to vote on this stuff which included parents. I remember seeing something about that school's 08-09 dress code having been voted in .. ? If so, then the fact that even in a democracy or a republic, majority rules, applies. If not, I don't know what to say. My guess is it would be up to the parents of those children to fight it, or not.

Originally posted by Curious_Agnostic
This could backfire. Some kids will see the jumpsuits as trophies for being a badass.

It will backfire... they did the same thing in my schools ten years back, its a badge of honor...

%$#@%$@# idiots!

reply to post by Heike


the local school board which may have parents on it but it isent a requirement has to bow to a state education department. but for parents to fight it it would require lots of time to get others to organize and join the protest and then get a petition together and signed and then present it to the school board who votes on the matter.

if they vote no you can try all over again and if they still vote no you can take it to the state education department who are all usualy small time politicians and they will vote and tell you no again. this is a lot of time and resources most parents dont have to spare considering they work and have to take care of children, and run a household. now your other option is rund for super intendent.

of course that would mean if you won quiting your job for a office that wont pay much and isent garunted to be there after the next election. so thats not feasable for most parents eaither.

I just did a little statistics hunt. I didn't dig too deep. What I did find was the FBI crime statistics for 2003. A bit more digging would have come up with more current figures, but these are recent enough to make my point.
Los Angeles, CA: 12.7 violent crimes per 1000 people
Gonzales, TX: 10.5 violent crimes per 1000 people

Gonzales, Texas has a pretty bad violent crime rate for such a small town.

What does this have to do with the dress code? Practicality and psychology.

Oversize clothing, such as cargo pants and large coats, make it easy to conceal weapons and drugs.
T-shirts often bear logos. Most commonly, they bear athletic team logos. Why does this matter? Gangs often adopt athletic team logos as their own. Banning shirts like this helps cut down on rivalries. The same goes for hats and bandanas. I'm certain the school makes exceptions for religious headwear. What gang member is going to wear a yarmelke?

Gangs in small towns? Yes. They're becoming more common. The reasoning is simple. Families take their troubled children and ship them off to relatives in small towns in hopes that small town life will straighten them out. It doesn't work. Instead of becoming better behaved, these troublemakers bring the gang life with them. Small town youths crave big city excitement, and happily join in.

The rest of the dress code is simple psychology. If you look good, you feel good. What you wear has a large impact on how you act. Also, clean and simple clothing and hair styles required by the school help cut down on distractions. It's hard enough for teachers to keep students' attention without having to compete with a fashion show.

The students want to express their individuality by dressing as they like? Fine. They can do it outside of school. They're only in school for a few hours a day. Besides, they'll be expected to dress professionally when they get into the workforce. Would you take financial advice from someone who looks like they just rolled out of bed? Would you trust the judgment of a doctor who dresses like these students? I wouldn't.

Originally posted by Heike
Flyingwoody: If you aren't going to get a job, then what do you need an education for?

I dunno....maybe for something like intelligence?

On this, I'm kind of on the fence. As a part of the "poor population" I know last year my 5th grade daughter got some crap from the school/teachers about her jeans. No they are not baggy and hangin off her rear end they were simply too long.

Now, she takes after me. I am only 5'1 on a good mmmkay so she is, if not the shortest girl in her class, one of them. She has hips now (puberty!!) and can no longer fit into childrens clothes sizes so we upped her to the juniors department. She takes from a 1-3 in waist size and they fit perfectly except they are about 3 or 4 inches too long....

A couple of teachers made comments and the principal sent a note home saying she coupldn't wear jeans that long EVEN IF SHE ROLLED THEM because it's baggy and ill fitting clothing are against dress code.....

When I spoke to him I explained how hard it is to find her size in petite, and even when I do petite is STILL about 2 inches too long.... he informed me I should take all her pants and have them tailored.... when then explained our finances in great detail and I asked him if he was gonna pay for it he promptly shut up.

He really had no back up. She was not dressing provacatively or in "gang colors" her clothing was not baggy the pants were simply too long because she is shorter in stature than her classmates. I thought callin it to her attention and to mine was in poor taste but in the end I won and not another word was said about it..

This year she will be attending middle school and from what i've heard they are even more strict in thier rules...

why don't they just buy uniforms for every kid, insist they wear THOSE and be done with it... would be a blessing for me!! ... not as much laundry and no extra expenses for a kid who outgrows clothes faster than I can buy em!!

Originally posted by flyingwoody
I dunno....maybe for something like intelligence?

Intelligence:

capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.

An education doesn't give you intelligence, you need intelligence to get an education!

If you look at history, there is a clear connection between the increasing complexity of the jobs people do and public education. When most people farmed or performed manual labor to make a living, children were not required to go to school. As our society changed and people needed increasing levels of skill and knowledge to perform jobs, public education became a requirement and the duration of it increased until people are expected to graduate from high school and go to college. This is clearly preparation for entering the workforce, not for living. In 2008, it is nearly impossible to get a job if you didn't graduate from high school, and the purpose of 12 years of education is to enable you to get a job and prepare you for the structure and requirements of the workplace. The goal and mission of public education is to provide business and industry with skilled and competent employees, not to prepare kids for "life." The latter is (or SHOULD be) the job of their parents.

reply to post by Heike
Our factory school system does little to help all but 20% become literate in the western sense. The twenty percent usually are segregated in advanced classes ,so I do not consider their success as proof of the greatness of American public schools. I think the factory system of education does way too much harm to the other 80 percent who were not meant to be treated like herd animals. The American age of invention was brought about by the men like the Wright brothers who went to little red school houses and Thomas Edison who was educated at home. I do not knock public education students ,but more often than not, their successes are achieved inspite of not because of public schools.



[edit on 30-7-2008 by eradown]

I liked my baggy pants. I don't like wearing tight stuff. Mine weren't excessively baggy though. I was a pretty good student.

If it's a public school, then what the heck is wrong with cargo pants and side burns.

I understand some of the dress code, but some of it goes to far.

Is it about conformity or is it about education?

So, now they can put you in prison uniforms in addition to feeding you Ritalin. Thanks for "helping mankind."

Troy

How about focusing on teaching the kids instead of enforcing all these irrelevant rules.

reply to post by eradown


I don't disagree with you on that point at all. I think our public schools today are a disgrace (and I have been a substitute teacher and an after-school enrichment program teacher).

I was merely trying to make the point that the GOAL of the American public school system is to provide "educated" workers to business and industry, thereby making the idea that the school environment is preparation for the work environment valid, as someone(s) had contested that idea.

One thing we haven't addressed is where are the parents in all of this? In my day (more years ago than some of you probably want to think about) the teachers did concentrate on teaching, and it was the responsibility of our parents to ensure that we were properly dressed and behaved properly in school. If I got in trouble in school (which I only did once), I was in double trouble when I got home. Today it seems like parents attack the teachers and the school in defense of their rebellious, rude, disrespectful, out-of-control, misbehaving children instead of disciplining them. And therein lies the REAL problem.

This is going to start a new fashion trend among misguided and stubborn youth who think theyre "hard" and a deserve a cookie. Before long we'll be seeing rap videos on MTV or Itunes with young rap artists sporting......goofy looking jumpsuits.

Just wait, this is going to make baggy pants look like Designer Fashion.

Jumpsuits, for Bob's sake can we just get freaking uniforms? How hard is that? Have these people dress like they work in an office or going to church. It can't be that hard to issue slacks and dress shirts, with optional ties or no ties at all that can be chosen by the student to give the cool kids a chance at expressing themselves.

Two, that is an invalid analogy. School is not leisure time, school is preparation for your working career. We can not wear what we want at work, we must abide by our employer's dress code. Therefore I find it perfectly reasonable that students - particularly older high school students who may already be working part time - be asked to abide by a dress code in school.

I am with you all the way on this. My job is fairly easygoing when it comes to the dresscode, but we still have to remain neat, and professional.
"When I was in school" we had minimum acceptable dress and its enforcement started at the breakfast table before the schoolbus arrived. I should mention that both of my parents worked 40+ hours per week, but they still made time to make sure that we did our homework, took our punishment, dressed appropriately, and never forgot to be generous with the appreciation and praise when that was warranted also.
By the time I was in high school, I did start wearing gang attire...I was in the Junior Air Force ROTC program. I am sure many of your know how difficult it can be for a teenager to get used to wearing a tie 2 days a week in Air Force dress blues.

So, Bully For Them getting this program in a public school. More should follow the example.