After such a long absence, wouldn't it be good if I returned in a positive mood? Sorry to tell you but it is my grouchy meter that has got me writing again. This morning on CBC radio (where else?) there was a discussion about proper attire for students. After all it is the season for showing some skin. With about six weeks to go in the school year, some schools are attempting to clamp down. On Ottawa Morning there was an interview with some grade seven and eight students. I was not surprised to hear the students objecting to the school rules. After all, that's what you expect students to do. What got me was the mother who was also interviewed. She objects to schools complaining about girls' short shorts. It was enough to set me writing again. I sent this letter to Ottawa Morning.
Well here we go again. Yet another debate about proper clothing. As a mother, a grandmother and a retired teacher I often find it sad to see how today's teens dress. This mother thinks her daughter's dress is "okay by me" but her standards may not match the school's expectations. It is not unreasonable for a person's shorts to have to meet the person's fingertips. For a few years I worked in a school where the administration was very reluctant to say anything to students who obviously broke the school's dress code. Male principals and VPs do not want to be seen as harrassing young female students. The mother in your interview said that the male teachers who objected to girls' clothes were sexualizing those girls. I'm sorry but parents who allow their daughters to dress in skimpy clothing are the ones who are sexualizing those young women.
The high school I worked in went from grade 7 to 12. You know what was sad? In the fall of grade 7, the young girls, fresh from a K to grade 6 school, came to school dressed in regular, appropriate clothing. However, many of the girls, by Christmas time, had radically changed their clothing to reflect the clothing that they saw around them. Suddenly they were sporting low cut tops, so low that on one occasion I had to argue with a student to take her cell phone out of her bra. She assured me that all the girls carried their phones in their bras. She was not embarrassed that I could see her bra. As summer rolled around I kept a supply of my husband's old t shirts in my classroom and had students wear them over their tops if I thought their clothes were too revealing.
School is school, not a beach or a Saturday night party. How are other students supposed to concentrate on their work? School is a place where we should be able to teach students about proper attire for school and work. The trouble is that many adults themselves seem to have missed that particular memo. When I'm on an OC transpo bus or in a store or at a bank I don't want to be looking at anyone's breasts or butt cheeks. I find it sad and depressing that young women today feel that they need to expose private areas of their bodies in order to fit in. If only they could be recognized for their sense of humour, their intellect, their caring nature, their sense of responsibility, their athleticism and not by their suggestive clothing.
I'm happy to report that my former school now has an administration with a more clearly defined dress code which is posted in all classrooms. This new admin team is not afraid to enforce this code and I respect them for that.
No comments:
Post a Comment