School Clothes IN TX

From Teacher Magazine

Comment: I thought this was wonderful. School clothes are an issue with good teachers because school clothes affect a child's whole day. Too often they are the focus of the parent and the child learns that clothes will make or break him or her, and without just the right clothes, a child can't focus on anything but the clothes.

Clothes NEVER make the child, and parents who think they do, are creating a monster. The child should always outshine his clothes. I remember my mother saying once, "That dress is wearing that child" and the very idea that my own children's persons would have been seen second coming down a hallway at school to an outfit is appalling to me.

Clothes are often seen as a status symbol. But that's the problem, the CLOTHES are seen as a status symbol and the child is worn by the clothes unless the child is so outstanding he or she can overcome their clothes. Is a Walmart shirt really less than a Gap shirt? Why?

My family once owned the lofts that made Brooks Brother's clothes. One of my great grandfathers was a furrier. Growing up I had very very few clothes, and often my school uniform was my best outfit. Of the clothes I had, my mother cut out every store label in every piece of clothing we wore. I Magnin's or K-mart, what difference would it have made to me at six or eight or ten? None.

Here's a story about what they are doing about clothes in Texas. I love it.

A Crime of Fashion

There are no bars on the windows, but Texas’ Gonzales High School could start to resemble a prison. A new policy at the school, located 70 miles east of San Antonio, states students who violate the dress code will be required to wear an inmate-style navy blue jumpsuit to class if they refuse to attend in-school suspension or don’t change their clothes, The Houston Chronicle reported.

“We’re a conservative community, and we’re just trying to make our students more reflective of that,” Gonzales Independent School District deputy superintendent Larry Wehde said. Dress code violations include spaghetti-strap tank tops, baggy clothes, miniskirts, clothes that reveal underwear, and earrings on male students. T-shirts have recently been added to the list, with students now expected to wear collared shirts.

Although school officials hope the policy will lessen clothing distractions in class, senior class president Jordan Meredith says some students plan to fight the policy by turning the jumpsuits into a fashion statement, even going as far as to say they will purposefully violate the dress code or purchase their own coveralls. “They’ll see it as an opportunity to be like, rebels,” he said. “I don’t think there’s going to be enough jumpsuits for everyone.”

Posted by Vicki Kriz on August 5, 2008 2:00 PM