Rage Against the Dress Code machine
This is a rant for those who don't feel up to it. A dress code rant.
I sat down to lunch yesterday and caught the tail end of a conversation between two women I know. One has grown children and was telling the younger teacher/mother that it only gets worse. They were discussing the arguments with young girls about what to wear and not wear to school. I hear about horrors of what students wear all the time but never get to hear the parents' perspective. Well, here it is, apparently. The older woman, who I like terribly well, told the younger one, "Just give up. Let them go to school, and if they get sent home fine, and if they don't fine." I quietly poo-pooed this comment because of who all was present, but I should have found a box of soap and stood.
While chuckling lightly, this woman has basically illustrated what all parents are increasingly likely to do, pass the buck to the school (and not just on the issue of dress). Teachers who don't have time or don't really feel like it's their job to police dress policies don't notice. And yes, the kids get away with it. It does not harm anyone, the way weapons at school harm anyone. And what the fuck do the parents care? At least they don't have to listen to their children argue with them anymore. What I want to know is how parents can be so bad at arguing that they keep losing to 14 year olds. I deal with the punks as far as I can tell it's not even a fair fight. Adults should be able to outsmart them or at least say, "because I said so." Hey, don't judge! It's a card every parent's got; you'd be a fool not to use it some of the time!
so what I'm trying to say is what I should have said to the ladies that lunch. . .at the lunch table. . .in the school cafeteria. What I can't say because of the pitying eyes I get and will always get because I'm not a parent. So how could I possibly understand? But you don't have to work in waste management to know bullshit when you smell it. Be a parent to your kids. Tell them what to do and accept that they won't like your decisions. If the person who claims to love them so damn much can't teach them something how is some stranger with an apple mug on her desk supposed to?
I sat down to lunch yesterday and caught the tail end of a conversation between two women I know. One has grown children and was telling the younger teacher/mother that it only gets worse. They were discussing the arguments with young girls about what to wear and not wear to school. I hear about horrors of what students wear all the time but never get to hear the parents' perspective. Well, here it is, apparently. The older woman, who I like terribly well, told the younger one, "Just give up. Let them go to school, and if they get sent home fine, and if they don't fine." I quietly poo-pooed this comment because of who all was present, but I should have found a box of soap and stood.
While chuckling lightly, this woman has basically illustrated what all parents are increasingly likely to do, pass the buck to the school (and not just on the issue of dress). Teachers who don't have time or don't really feel like it's their job to police dress policies don't notice. And yes, the kids get away with it. It does not harm anyone, the way weapons at school harm anyone. And what the fuck do the parents care? At least they don't have to listen to their children argue with them anymore. What I want to know is how parents can be so bad at arguing that they keep losing to 14 year olds. I deal with the punks as far as I can tell it's not even a fair fight. Adults should be able to outsmart them or at least say, "because I said so." Hey, don't judge! It's a card every parent's got; you'd be a fool not to use it some of the time!
so what I'm trying to say is what I should have said to the ladies that lunch. . .at the lunch table. . .in the school cafeteria. What I can't say because of the pitying eyes I get and will always get because I'm not a parent. So how could I possibly understand? But you don't have to work in waste management to know bullshit when you smell it. Be a parent to your kids. Tell them what to do and accept that they won't like your decisions. If the person who claims to love them so damn much can't teach them something how is some stranger with an apple mug on her desk supposed to?