Some students are returning to school with new bans in effect

[ZLoth]

From CNN:

All-black outfits, hoodies, Crocs, cell phones and mirrors. Some students are returning to school with new bans in effect

It's a new school year – and with a new school year comes new rules.

Cell phone bans, dress code changes – in some cases banning hoodies and all-black clothing – and even the removal of mirrors from school bathrooms are among the changes schools across America are making in the name of safety and better student engagement.

Officials often cite concerns for students' physical or mental health as reasons for the new standards. But the rules – and their enforcement – aren't always cut-and-dried.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

My thoughts on this is that a school's primary mission is to educate the children and provide them with the skills to be self-sufficient adults and contributing members of society.  As such, keeping the kids away from distractions is generally a good idea.

Cell phones? While I'm not a parent, I can understand the kids having a cell phone considering that the telephone companies have dropped pay phone service and letting third party providers handle that service. This has resulted in pay phones disappearing from our society. Having the kids put the phones in shielded pouches during the school day is a good idea. If the parent needs to get in touch with their child, they can call the school office and leave a message.

As for dress codes... again good idea.

[Stephane Dumas]

Maybe some public schools could adopt some school uniforms like some private schools or having uniforms like the school uniforms of Japan then we see often in various animes.


And it would be interesting to see pay phones coming back.

[SEWIGuy]

"Meantime, in El Paso, Texas, students at one middle school are encouraged to pick from lighter parts of the color wheel as they plan their outfits for the school day. Charles Middle School Principal Nick DeSantis informed parents all-black clothing is banned this school year due to it being associated with mental health issues like depression"

That may be one of the dumbest things I have ever read.

IMO, dress codes that get too specific like "jeans with no holes above the knees" are almost always terrible. Cover your body parts and don't wear shirts with indecent sayings on them. That's the only dress code I had, and pretty much the only one my kids had, and they were all fine.

[Amaury]

I don't understand the removal of bathroom mirrors, either. Some people like to do touchups throughout the day, such as rinsing sweat off their face, especially if they know they won't be home for a while to take a shower. Or fixing up their hair during lunch or any other kind of break if it's gotten a little messed up.

[SectorZ]

I don't understand the removal of bathroom mirrors, either. Some people like to do touchups throughout the day, such as rinsing sweat off their face, especially if they know they won't be home for a while to take a shower. Or fixing up their hair during lunch or any other kind of break if it's gotten a little messed up.

Imagine having food stuck in your teeth and not being able to see it, yet enduring the ass-kicking from a bully for it because that's what school is all about, all because it allegedly helped someone's self-esteem.

[LilianaUwU]

"Meantime, in El Paso, Texas, students at one middle school are encouraged to pick from lighter parts of the color wheel as they plan their outfits for the school day. Charles Middle School Principal Nick DeSantis informed parents all-black clothing is banned this school year due to it being associated with mental health issues like depression"

That may be one of the dumbest things I have ever read.

It's from Texas, so no shit it's gonna be fucking stupid.

[vdeane]

I find the anti-cell phone stuff to be a bit much.  Are teachers not allowed to deal with phone usage in class or something?  I would mandate that all phones be on silent during the school day and ban usage in class with a "three strikes" system.  First offense, you get told to stop.  Second one, your phone gets confiscated for the rest of the day.  Third, and then we go with the pouch.  Shouldn't be hard to keep track of with the electronic attendance/class management software that's been in use for 20+ years now.  It's especially ridiculous given that schools are giving kids Chromebooks these days, leading them to post on sites like this one when they should be paying attention in class.

Some of those dress codes seem overly strict.  No open-toed shoes, no skirts of any kind, no tights (not that they make sense if you can't wear a skirt)?  Seems like they're trying to ban all forms of feminine clothing and mandate that all girls be tomboys (is it an anti-Plastic rule or something?  Next thing you know, they'll ban wearing pink on Wednesdays).  Seriously, I feel like every other girl was wearing a shirt, denim skirt, and flip flops when the weather got warm when I was in high school.

And no mirrors in bathrooms?  There are good reasons why bathrooms have mirrors and they're taking away from the functionality of the bathroom.

Each and every one of these things sounds like it's collective punishment because they are somehow unwilling or unable to enforce the pre-existing rules.

[LilianaUwU]

Some of those dress codes seem overly strict.  No open-toed shoes, no skirts of any kind, no tights (not that they make sense if you can't wear a skirt)?  Seems like they're trying to ban all forms of feminine clothing and mandate that all girls be tomboys (is it an anti-Plastic rule or something?  Next thing you know, they'll ban wearing pink on Wednesdays).  Seriously, I feel like every other girl was wearing a shirt, denim skirt, and flip flops when the weather got warm when I was in high school.

I feel like there's a greater reason why the ban on feminine clothing exists.

[Rothman]

Adults will always find more and more ways to torture the younger generation and then be shocked at the subsequent resentment.

[Scott5114]

Second one, your phone gets confiscated for the rest of the day.

I have problems with confiscation of personal property by school staff, as when I was in school, I experienced teachers attaching arbitrary conditions as to the return of confiscated property. (I had my algebra calculator confiscated during a science class once, and was only allowed to have it back when I completed an essay about a fictional character portrayed by Red Skelton.) With cell phones specifically, we are talking about a several-hundred-dollar piece of equipment, which presents a liability to the school district if the teacher is careless about keeping it secured while in their custody. American schools have enough expenses to worry about without a parent taking them to small claims to replace a phone that was lost or stolen after it was confiscated.

Some of those dress codes seem overly strict.  No open-toed shoes, no skirts of any kind, no tights (not that they make sense if you can't wear a skirt)?  Seems like they're trying to ban all forms of feminine clothing and mandate that all girls be tomboys (is it an anti-Plastic rule or something?  Next thing you know, they'll ban wearing pink on Wednesdays).

Most of the time these sorts of dress codes arise from the old-fashioned notion of blaming the distraction of male students on female students dressing provocatively. (Which is absurd on a number of levels: 1. any cisgender man can tell you that a typical teenage boy will be distracted by the object of their attraction no matter what they are wearing*, 2. it completely shirks the male student's responsibility to learn how to handle attraction in a responsible and respectful way, 3. it does nothing to address male students being attracted to other male students.)

*I speak from personal experience: my teenage crush was on a tomboy who wore loose T-shirts and baggy jeans every day. She still lived rent-free in my head during class hours.

[Bruce]

I've read a lot of praise for the cell phone bans from teachers as of late, so it is probably the way forward for many districts. While there is always the argument that some emergencies warrant their use, in day-to-day situations it's better to not have a distraction in the pockets of students.

[Max Rockatansky]

Isn't being overly fussy about superfluous rules just part and parcel for how K-12 schools are managed?

[GaryV]

no skirts of any kind

Wasn't that all long ago that all girls had to wear skirts, no pants.

[SEWIGuy]

no skirts of any kind

Wasn't that all long ago that all girls had to wear skirts, no pants.

Define "all that long ago." I'm 55 years old and there was never such a dress code when I was a child.

[SEWIGuy]

Isn't being overly fussy about superfluous rules just part and parcel for how K-12 schools are managed?

Yeah, I don't think this is a Texas thing. I think many K-12 districts are into rules for the sake of rules.

Let's face it, all black clothing doesn't have any correlation to whether or not a child is depressed. I mean, it would actually be cool if it were because then the districts would know who needs help right?

Adults just don't like the way the child looks when they wear all black - so let's make a rule!

[GaryV]

no skirts of any kind

Wasn't that all long ago that all girls had to wear skirts, no pants.

Define "all that long ago." I'm 55 years old and there was never such a dress code when I was a child.

Well I've got you by a few years. In elementary, girls didn't wear pants. Maybe it wasn't a written rule, but everyone knew the rule.

Later, school uniforms were almost always skirts for girls. Yes that was mostly at private schools, but also at some public academy-type schools.

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^

That was a thing in my grade school back in the mid 1980s.

Isn't being overly fussy about superfluous rules just part and parcel for how K-12 schools are managed?

Yeah, I don't think this is a Texas thing. I think many K-12 districts are into rules for the sake of rules.

Let's face it, all black clothing doesn't have any correlation to whether or not a child is depressed. I mean, it would actually be cool if it were because then the districts would know who needs help right?

Adults just don't like the way the child looks when they wear all black - so let's make a rule!

When I was middle school in New Milford, CT there was a moral outrage over a girl having a pink strand of hair.  The suspension blowback got so bad that she and her parents ended up on the Phil Donahue show.  My mom and the neighbors started advocating for school uniforms.  Seemed stupid to me then, still does now. 

I don't recall what the resolution was for the pink strand of hair. 

[1995hoo]

I attended public school in Fairfax County in the 1970s and 1980s and the only form of a dress code I remember at any point (not counting gym uniforms in junior high and high school, of course) was that my junior high school had a rule saying girls could not wear, quote, "transparent blouses without bra"—which, in turn, had all the guys thinking it was too bad they didn't provide any pictures of the girl who prompted the school to enact that rule.

[SEWIGuy]

^^^

That was a thing in my grade school back in the mid 1980s.

Isn't being overly fussy about superfluous rules just part and parcel for how K-12 schools are managed?

Yeah, I don't think this is a Texas thing. I think many K-12 districts are into rules for the sake of rules.

Let's face it, all black clothing doesn't have any correlation to whether or not a child is depressed. I mean, it would actually be cool if it were because then the districts would know who needs help right?

Adults just don't like the way the child looks when they wear all black - so let's make a rule!

When I was middle school in New Milford, CT there was a moral outrage over a girl having a pink strand of hair.  The suspension blowback got so bad that she and her parents ended up on the Phil Donahue show.  My mom and the neighbors started advocating for school uniforms.  Seemed stupid to me then, still does now. 

I don't recall what the resolution was for the pink strand of hair. 

Oh no. A pink strand of hair!! Grab the fainting couch.

[mgk920]

The mirror thing was (at least a few years ago) that the girls would kiss the mirrors with freshly lipsticked lips, making a horrible mess.  And yes, many (some well publicized) tactics were tried, mostly unsuccessfully, by the various custodial staffs to combat that.

Many of the other things that are cited strike me as having 'wokeness' origins, too.

Mike

[jeffandnicole]

I recall skirts being mandatory was/is more of a private school thing. 

The only real dress codes I recall were along the lines of no crude sayings.

As far as cell phone bans go, I've also seen schools suggest smart watch bans.  There's just too much cheating going on.  And as far as emergencies go - lots of parents claim they need to get in touch with their kids in case of emergencies.  I'm not sure what qualifies as an emergency nowadays, but I'm thinking most of these parents really just want to get in touch with their kids about mundane info.  Back in the day, if there was an actual emergency, parents called the school - school contacted the room via intercom or phone.  Today, the same thing can still occur.

Oh no. A pink strand of hair!! Grab the fainting couch.

This is more along the lines of shock value at the time.  Today we don't think anything of it - often due to court rulings - but back in the day when no one colored their hair (except for, say, Halloween), it ran afoul of some dress codes.

We had one kid in my school - in my class actually - who sued the school over a book bag policy implemented at the time.  The defendants asked to have the case dismissed, and the judge ruled in their favor.

[SEWIGuy]

Maybe it's because I grew up in Madison, WI, but students coloring their hair and wearing all sorts of torn clothing was a pretty normal occurrence when I was in high school.

[Max Rockatansky]

To be fair the shock value was way higher when my mom found out about Mortal Kombat and Doom.  The shock was amplified when she found out not only did my dad endorse both products he bought both for us to play.

[SectorZ]

To be fair the shock value was way higher when my mom found out about Mortal Kombat and Doom.  The shock was amplified when she found out not only did my dad endorse both products he bought both for us to play.

17 year old me got Doom II for a brand new computer (in 1995) from my father's 50 year old best friend. My father at 45 enjoyed playing it as well. That 50 year old was such an old fart for his age to begin with yet there he was playing Doom in his spare time. Until your post I never gave thought to how out-of-spec it was for his generation.

[Max Rockatansky]

To be fair the shock value was way higher when my mom found out about Mortal Kombat and Doom.  The shock was amplified when she found out not only did my dad endorse both products he bought both for us to play.

17 year old me got Doom II for a brand new computer (in 1995) from my father's 50 year old best friend. My father at 45 enjoyed playing it as well. That 50 year old was such an old fart for his age to begin with yet there he was playing Doom in his spare time. Until your post I never gave thought to how out-of-spec it was for his generation.

During one of my mom's rants she asked me why I had to kill everything in Doom.  Given she never played any of the games I explained that the enemies were demons from Hell and Pacifist runs were a thing.  Even someone into 90s mom outages could agree that demons couldn't be reasoned with.