This is in response to the dress code enforcements in New Hampshire. I was surprised that the story made the head master’s conduct seem so novel. Even when I was in Junior High we had dress codes almost identical to the one implemented at the New Hampshire school at my public school. I applaud the head master for his conduct, and as a 22 year old woman I remember what it was like to constantly compare my body to other girls at school. His attempt to lessen this self deprecating competition between such young and impressionable girls is admirable. Moreover, the parents that are angered by this should take a second look at the environment that children grow up in now. Any attempt to maintain innocence in a generation inundated with Facebook, Perez Hilton, and drugged out heroin-chic celebrities should be celebrated.

Why the story on sending kids home for appropriate clothing?
Schools are doing this everyday across the nation. As long as there are dress codes students will be pushing the limits. It is refreshing to know that there are standards upheld at a NH prep school, but the real interesting story is…Are standards upheld with regards to moderate dress in low income/poor performing schools? When standards (of any kind) are applied to poor schools the ACLU cries foul, sues and the administration gives up. Is there any correlation between the two?

I am responding to the story on the headmaster, Mike Riordan, who was trying to change the dress code in his school. The remark made by Robin Young that “isn’t it grand that the girls have the confidence to show their bodies as opposed to in earlier years when they wore turtlenecks because they were ashamed of their bodies.
Come on! Have you never heard of the virtue of modesty?

I enjoyed the piece on school dress codes. I work as a teacher consultant for middle and high school students, and I am frequently disturbed by the clothes young women and girls are wearing. I consider myself fairly liberal (I don’t vote Republican), but I think the image these young people portray is one they don’t entirely understand. I also feel it is important for young people to understand they do have choice about what they wear, but there are also expectations based on different settings. There is nothing wrong with having an expectation for young people at school to begin learning the difference between which clothes are appropriate for which settings.
As for the comment Robin made regarding girls demonstrating their confidence by dressing provocatively, I believe it is frequently quite the opposite portrayal. In my opinion, they are very often seeking attention and a self-esteem boost by dressing in such a manner. This is very different than true self-confidence.

The piece on school dress codes reminds me of my days in high school when the principal announced that “school is not a beach” and that certain modes of dress were not appropriate. The next day, a large group of us celebrated Beach Day with bathing suits, flip-flops, and conspicuously applied suntan lotion to demonstrate that school is in fact a beach.

Juvenile? Guilty as charged. But there was a larger point we were trying (albeit clumsily) to make. We hated dress codes because they stank of stiffling free expression. It was an issue of liberty. A stupid issue of liberty–but still an issue of liberty.

I’m also curious why it’s just the girls who are getting sent home from school. They’re dressing in a manner they feel is appropriate–and if it makes others feel uncomfortable, shouldn’t we just deal with it? Adolescence ends, eventually. But the inclination to tell women, young and old, what forms of expression are or are not appropriate for our comfort is ageless.

School administrators everywhere are fighting these battles with our children every day. The headmaster is correct that school teaches children how to be in public; sometimes they’re the only adults who are. I was one of 4 brazen daughters, teens in the 70’s, and my mom’s rule was always “Anything you want OUT of school” and boy did we push it! Her consequences were that she’s take away our favorite non-school clothes if we wore something inappropriate to school– many hysterical, screaming fights but we all learned the difference between work and party.

re: Venus- ooh-la-la. How very French!

While I agreed with the headmaster, I was a bit surprised when Robin asked him about the response from the parents and he said, “I’ve had a couple of negative emails but other than that, it’s been 100% positive!” Huh? You mean…other than the people that disagreed, everybody agreed!? ribbit.

hello all, quick comment, in asking if maybe there was something to be said that many young girls today don’t have shame about their bodies, I did preface by saying “playing devil’s advocate for a second”.

thanks all of you for weighing in!

Robin

[...] Wagner’s ‘The Ring,’ Comes To Life In Comics Posted by admin on Saturday, May 29, 2010, at 2:23 am. Filed under Briefs. Follow any responses to this post with its comments RSS feed. You can post a comment or trackback from your blog. [...]

Of course, school is where we learn our place in public life…so why not take that opportunity to teach girls, in no uncertain terms, that their bodies are public property to be dissected and judged by anyone who wants to? Why not teach them that slut-shaming is the inevitable consequence of making the wrong choice and wearing shorts that are an inch too short? Why not teach them that (straight) boys are just so very easily distracted that they can’t help themselves? (A slippery slope to “But she was asking to be raped, wearing that short skirt!”, don’t you think?)

In response to the New Hampshire Academy that imposed appropriate dress codes. I applaud the Headmasters’ stance in taking back control and decency in the school place and to not allow “Hollywood” to dictate dress codes, self respect or morality to the populace!!!! More power to you, it’s about time we start teaching our youth how to recognize and appreciate real values instead of foolishness, disrespect and depravity.