

Can a Boy Wear a Skirt to School? - scapegraced
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/fashion/08cross.html?_r=1

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billswift
>School, they say, is a rigorous academic and social training ground for the
world of adults and employment.

School is a slave-labor camp whose purposes are 1) to keep the kids off the
streets and out of the labor force and 2) to provide jobs for union teachers.
Academics are an afterthought at best, usually not even that.

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jacquesm
Sure, why not. Mind you, it is going to set him up for ridicule and he
shouldn't complain about that (especially not if it is a tutu), but I don't
see why not.

Girls can wear pants to school, can't they ?

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roundsquare
Thats fine until safety becomes a concern, at which point officials need to
step in. We don't let kids do things that can harm them (to some degree
anyway) and we need to keep a careful eye on the balance there...

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derobert
Requiring students (male or female) to tie up long hair or not wear loose-
fitting clothing when working with power tools in shop class is a safety
concern. Requiring long jeans in sheet metal working (to protect from sharp
edges) is a safety concern. Removing jewelry before doing electrical work is a
safety concern.

Prohibiting peaceful self expression because a jerk may bully about it is
blaming the victim, not a (legitimate) safety concern. Safety concerns don't
practice sexism.

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roundsquare
A safety concern is anything that risks the safety of people. In schools, its
anything that risks the safety of the students.

What you are saying is that in this case there are other concerns (self
expression) and those trump safety. Thats a reasonable view. However, the
school, and many people, don't believe that the school should prioritize self
expression over safety. I'm sure many parents don't feel that they should
either.

To say that the school's concern is not legitimate is unrealistic. Safety
concerns _do_ practice sexism all the time. Its unfortunate, but true. Most
people are more scared of a woman walking home drunk at 2:00 AM than a man
doing the same.

Edit: Deleted my last line.

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kevinh
The reason that kids would bully male students that would wear dresses to
school or female students that wear pants to school is precisely because the
administration forbids it.

The administration forbidding it is just confirming in their minds that the
behavior of these students is not normal and worthy of derision. In cases
where those in authority do not treat it as out of order, the students are far
less likely to bully the child.

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wjy
Don't kid yourself. It's much more primitive than that. There have always
been, and likely always will be, those who torment anyone who deviates from
the norm. Children can be especially cruel to each other. Kids in my school
didn't yell "Fag!" to certain individuals as a way to buck authority. They did
it because they were mean-spirited and wanted to bully someone.

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unalone
The solution is eliminating the dress code entirely and setting up kids to
believe there is a "right" and a "wrong" way to dress. Once crossdressing
seems natural and acceptable, kid'll stop being immature about it. The more
you try to say something's wrong, the most people you'll unintentionally hurt.

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moron4hire
I also believe that the failings of the group are always the failings of the
leadership. If bullying is rampant in a school, it's because the school
administration doesn't do enough to punish bullying. By banning cross-
dressing, they only reinforce the bully's belief system.

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moron4hire
I wear a kilt on occasion. I wore it to work one day. Technically, I was
compliant with the dress code, as there was no mention of sex anywhere in the
dress code document.

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fungi
its a free country

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cperciva
_its [sic] a free country_

... but if you read the article, you'll see that it apparently isn't a free
school system.

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jacquesm
True, but he can wear it _to_ school, maybe not _in_ school.

That said, I really think schools have enough of a problem with kids teasing
each other to go and invite more of that with cross-dressing pupils.

In plenty of countries they have school uniforms simply to reduce the friction
between kids due to wealth differences between parents, a side effect is that
there is much less teasing for not wearing the 'right' kind of branded
clothing, jewelery and so on.

This kid is just basically demanding something that is not going to give him
any real satisfaction, it's just going to cause a bunch more trouble so I
think the school is probably right in their decision.

As for the road to school, that's his own problem, he can wear there whatever
he wants, but it is quite ok with me if the school asks that their pupils do
not engage in dressing up in such a way that it will cause trouble, I'm sure
they have their hands full as it is.

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m_eiman
If everyone wears the same clothes, they'll just use something else as markers
of identity (and wealth). Maybe the kind of mobile phone they have, jewelry,
or some other minor detail where they're allowed some options.

If someone feels a need to bully someone, they'll find a way and a reason. The
solution to the problem isn't to try to remove all the "reasons" for bullying,
it's to do something about the bullies (sp?).

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jstevens85
Most schools ban jewellery, and mobile phones are not allowed to be taken
outside of a student's bag. You're arguing that every single student who wears
less fashionable clothes and is bullied or singled out would've been bullied
anyway, even if a uniform was made compulsory. My experience is that wouldn't
be true in quite a few cases. There doesn't have to be a single golden bullet
solution to bullying. Many small ideas put together can be very effective.

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ebrenes
Instituting a uniform is quite effective in cutting down on this, but it's not
foolproof. Having attended a school where uniforms were mandatory there was
still discrimination based on the brand name of the uniform.

The uniform code basically consisted of stating the style, color and form of
the items of clothing to wear. Leaving it up to parents to buy clothing that
suited their budget (within the uniform guidelines). So kids would be mocked
if they used a lesser known brand name instead of say, dockers.

I think current rules have been made stricter so now the school shirts are
sold by the school itself.

Granted, it does solve all the problems of kids just coming to school dressed
in attire that would be the cause of derision, either because the kid is
eccentric or because the parents are neglectful.

