Georgia Middle School Students plan to Break Dress Code. Suspended for Terrorism

[FoolKiller]

Well that's... I mean I... But... Fuck it! I give up trying to understand the motivations behind stupid. This is ludicrous.

Dress codes in schools are almost always goofy or puritanical anyway. What? Is that girl's skirt going to get caught in machinery and cause a "workplace" injury?

Is my hat so well crafted and beautiful it's distracting everyone around me in a quantifiable way?

I'm going to guess no, though I can't cite any sources

They're just rules that are there not for utility, but just because norms or something and such.

And getting in that much trouble for what is basically a right in any ways is crazy.

Aside from the idiocy of this situation there are some benefits to having a uniform.

1. It reduces the instances of people picking on each other about what they're wearing
2. It makes it harder for intruders to come into the school as the student mass who belongs there are easily identifiable.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Show of hands, who would like it if stupid people in the United States south would stop being given positions of power so that we can hear about the fine smart people the south has to offer? Just for a change.

Yes. Apparently lots of people in the US South are very angry at being mocked due to this sort of thing, by people in the US North who quietly overlook issues closer to home.

It's not like the south of the US, or the US in general, has a monopoly on this sort of thing.

 

[maxben]

Well that's... I mean I... But... Fuck it! I give up trying to understand the motivations behind stupid. This is ludicrous.

Dress codes in schools are almost always goofy or puritanical anyway. What? Is that girl's skirt going to get caught in machinery and cause a "workplace" injury?

Is my hat so well crafted and beautiful it's distracting everyone around me in a quantifiable way?

I'm going to guess no, though I can't cite any sources

They're just rules that are there not for utility, but just because norms or something and such.

And getting in that much trouble for what is basically a right in any ways is crazy.

Not to start an argument or anything but I really enjoyed wearing a uniform for school, it was very relaxing and I never had to worry about what to wear or how it would look. It saved me from a lot of stress as a person suffering from anxiety issues. It also promoted large scale unity by undermining cliques. In groups often require a specific way of dress, or have that as central. I mean, there were cliques of course but they were not as strict as in the other high schools I was in (those without a uniform).

This is just a personal opinion on what I think of uniforms, not an objective of measurement of whether they are important or not.

 

[Lilani]

I would rather like to know why they were doing this in the first place. The picture in the article says they were all going to wear red, and maybe bring sheets and covers. But why? Not that is justifies the principal's actions or anything, I'm just curious.

Also, I'm pretty disturbed by that essay. As far as doing things to express your dislike, civil disobedience is not only recognized as a fairly peaceful way of doing it, but it's also a historically significant one in America. Sounds like this principal just doesn't like anybody questioning his authority ever, and is willing to treat a bunch of 12~ year olds like they just threatened to rig the school with TNT in order to assert his dominance.

 

[Lieju]

What dresscodes they were breaking?
We never had any official dresscodes in any of the schools I've gone to (Finland). Kids were just expected to know how to dress and not forget to put on clothes on the morning.

Apart maybe from when we handled food or heavy machinery or chemicals, but those were kind of special circumstances.
And it was just the common sense of keeping your hair tied if it was long and not having anything that might get stuck in the machinery.

 

[Yopaz]

And the students are being punished by writing essays on why civil disobedience is bad.

Why not write an essay that discusses why individuality is bad? Or conformity is good? How we should blindly follow authorities? Why free thought is discouraged? Why "Land of the free" has lost all meaning?

OT: When I read the title of this thread I almost decided to write a response right away, but you should always check the source article before making conclusions. So I did, I was still baffled and not familiar with the source so I consulted Google and I got numerous confirmations. It really is this stupid. Even if the principal backed down he still went straight for the "TERRORISMMMMM!" card at the kids showing signs of organizing and showing discontent with rules that exists simply for the sake of having rules.

 

[Ragnar47183]

So I guess I will just share some information with you guys since it seems appropriate here.

I am from Georgia and went to public schools (23 now). Our public education here is just the worst. If I didn't have decent parents and a drive to learn things myself, I would be in a very bad spot.

I had 3-4 of my classes each year that were an online only class because either the school was to poor to hire a teacher to come to the school or it was on a subject that our education system here doesn't seem too interested in promoting. Basically anything to deal with computers was online only, and languages besides German or Spanish, or most advanced classes on college levels.

There was one year that a "computer science" class was taught in my school. Including myself there were 5 people in the class. The Teacher for this course was chosen because she, "had the most computers in her class." She was an engineer and design teacher. For the first 6 months we would watch TV and on Fridays we would watch a movie and order pizza. (Not joking) For the second 6 months she decided to actually try something and found an online site that taught HTML programming. I was the only one that really had an interest in the subject so I ended up teaching myself HTML and then teaching the other 4 students what I had learned.

I had a Biology teacher who had to teach Biology because they were short staffed. He normally taught Chemistry.

I had a German teacher who got as far as teaching us to count to 10 and then the class basically became do whatever you want. I would play Magic the Gathering with friends on most days, other kids would watch Dr. Who on the TV or play a game called "Tanks" on the computer.

Then my school adopted 2 policies that I have no idea if they were local only or they are something that is done nationwide. They upset me so much that I refuse to look up anymore about them than I already know.

One is called "No Child Left Behind" and the other is called "Second Chance." Basically what this means is if a student failed a class, they would be put in an online version of that same class. The way this online class worked was completely automated. It would have, for instance, 5 lessons for the course with a test at the end of each lesson. The tests were between 10-20 questions and were all multiple choice. You could take these tests as many times as you wanted until you scored at least a 75. The tests were the only thing that was graded and to pass the course you had to pass the "final exam" at the end. The final exam unlocked after each test was taken and passed. It too could be taken as much as you wanted and you had to pass it to pass the class.

There were no teachers watching you and nothing was stopping you from using Google for the answers if you didn't know them. I saw a lot of people that could just barely manage to breath graduate High School.

The 7 years I spent in middle and high school were the biggest waste of time I have ever seen. I learned more things on my own and from my parents than I did in school. The only things the schools here care about are sports and mechanical work. This is from a school IN METRO ATLANTA with a city population over 20,000 people. I would hate to see what the systems are like out in the rural areas of Georgia.

Also if anyone was interested or care, I viewed college as about an equal waste of time and moved into starting my own business which is about the only thing keeping me in Georgia. I also have more horror stories about public schools here but this post is already to damn long.

 

[kommando367]

Why bother planning to break dress code?

I've broken dress code out of habit throughout the entirety of middle school and high school. The faculty gave up after the 7th grade because they were tired of writing that shit down and most high school teachers didn't care that much in the first place.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Spoiler: So this

Oh no, he's... breaking school policy! Heavens no!

Spoiler: is on the same level as this

This is the IRA, perhaps one of the most brutal terrorist groups that live a 4 minute ferry trip away from me.

You're kidding me, right? This is all just an elaborate, tongue-in-cheek joke to showcase how stupid the American education system is?

Right? It has to be, right?

 

[Thaluikhain]

Actually, now that I think of it...if the ones aren't in uniform are the terrorists, then the police can easily tell which students to pepper spray, right?

Then my school adopted 2 policies that I have no idea if they were local only or they are something that is done nationwide. They upset me so much that I refuse to look up anymore about them than I already know.

One is called "No Child Left Behind" and the other is called "Second Chance."

Dunno about "Second Chance", but "No Child Left Behind" applies to all Federally funding schools in the US. It's terrible failure is famous the world over.

 

[Colour Scientist]

This is the IRA, perhaps one of the most brutal terrorist groups that live a 4 minute ferry trip away from me.[/spoiler]

I didn't realize that the IRA had taken up a permanent residence. XD

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

I hate the US school system. Ineffectiveness and poor curriculum for real life aside, civil liberties are voided so easily with every new court case that come out because of some issue like this. If I was one of those kids, I'd write about the violation of free speech and over abuse of power used against me and the misuse of the word "terrorism." (The Founding Fathers could have been labeled as terrorists as soon as the shot heard 'round the world was fired, possibly before that.) I'd also write a separate paper of what they want and give it to them if they made fuss about my protest. Going to court about them hating me response might get some power hungry administrators canned but is almost guaranteed to have the court somewhat side against me even if they do find what the school did to also be wrong.

School rules in the US in general are so screwed up. I remember my high school making rules about being late to class (as in sitting down) more than once or twice a semester would result in out of school suspension for a day or more.[footnote]Pfft. The people who are constantly late or miss classes don't want to be there to begin with dumb asses. No wonder the country's GED rate is so high. The losers don't get that hard hitting lesson in reality until they try to find a job, when they should have been forced to sleep in the locker room until they made up for everything they missed.[/footnote] I had to go across the entire building up and down 3 flights of stairs for some classes while carting 3 heavy ass books, and I'm sure others were in the same situation. Fights would break out clogging the hallways so often teacher stopped caring as long as you got in shortly after the bell rang (or they heard people chanting "fight, fight, fight" a few minutes ago.

Their dress codes were kinda backwards, too. Skirts shorter than the finger tip rule were banned.(What, you don't want perverted guys sneaking panty shots at the obvious sluts who know better but still wear ass hugging mini skirts or them screwing in a corner with the easy access attire? I actually had that happen during a movie at work once. We knew what they were up to but didn't catch them, though.) Spaghetti strap tank tops were banned. (Fun fact: One of the dorky punk dudes I knew got detention from one of the macho coaches because he wore a pink fishnet shirt and tank top. I think I high-fived the coach when I heard it. Still gives me chuckles 10 years later.) But shirts that show so much cleavage you'd think bra's weren't invented, that's ok. (Their hypocrites for letting that one slide, but I wasn't complaining at the time.)

 

[Loop Stricken]

Is my hat so well crafted and beautiful it's distracting everyone around me in a quantifiable way?

Don't wear hats indoors, ya daft arse.

 

[IamQ]

It's things like these that make me happy not to be an american

 

[ckam]

Wait, what? Civil disobedience is bad now? So we should have uncivil disobedience?

 

[Imp_Emissary]

I would rather like to know why they were doing this in the first place. The picture in the article says they were all going to wear red, and maybe bring sheets and covers. But why? Not that is justifies the principal's actions or anything, I'm just curious.

Also, I'm pretty disturbed by that essay. As far as doing things to express your dislike, civil disobedience is not only recognized as a fairly peaceful way of doing it, but it's also a historically significant one in America. Sounds like this principal just doesn't like anybody questioning his authority ever, and is willing to treat a bunch of 12~ year olds like they just threatened to rig the school with TNT in order to assert his dominance.

Reminds me of the time in kindergarten when I got suspended for kicking the principal. ;p

As others have said, the more disturbing thing is the essay topic. Going crazy and calling dress code violation plans a terrorist plot is one thing. We had a kid suspended from a school from pointing his finger like a gun for lords sake.
Hyperbola and overly harsh punishments for nothing isn't new.

But someone in the U.S. saying you shouldn't practice civil disobedience? That's just messed up.

Especially for someone in the south. Then again, I guess there are a good few people down their who view civil disobedience as "That thing they did to make us do those things we didn't want to". ;p

 

[antidonkey]

This is laughable. Especially for me since something similar happened when I was in high school back in 1990. Guys were not allowed to wear shorts regardless of the fact that springtime in Texas is freakin' hot. Many of the students protested this by wearing the various bottoms the school had no problems with the girls wearing. There were a handful of suspension but it was for those that were troublemakers in the first place but eventually, they changed the dress code. Amazingly not a single person was accused of terrorism.

 

[Thaluikhain]

This is laughable. Especially for me since something similar happened when I was in high school back in 1990. Guys were not allowed to wear shorts regardless of the fact that springtime in Texas is freakin' hot. Many of the students protested this by wearing the various bottoms the school had no problems with the girls wearing. There were a handful of suspension but it was for those that were troublemakers in the first place but eventually, they changed the dress code. Amazingly not a single person was accused of terrorism.

Yeah, but that was before 2001. We take terrorism a lot more seriously nowdays.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

The terrorism thing is ludicrous, granted, but as Principle I would have punished or suspended those kids too. Violating the dress code isn't a crime, isn't terrorism but is against school rules. Students need to understand rules and discipline and not run amok doing whatever they wish.

Stupid students
Stupid principle
Sensible punishment
Best outcome

 

[Thaluikhain]

The terrorism thing is ludicrous, granted, but as Principle I would have punished or suspended those kids too. Violating the dress code isn't a crime, isn't terrorism but is against school rules. Students need to understand rules and discipline and run amok doing whatever they wish.

Certainly, though I suspect that might have been the point.

There's no point getting everyone together and simultaneously breaking the rules if nobody else cares.