Parents' Tantrums on Uniforms Unbecoming: Home Edition

Parents' tantrums on uniforms unbecoming:[Home Edition] GREG STRANGE. The Atlanta Journal - Constitution Atlanta, Ga.:Nov 6, 2002. p. A.23 Subjects: Uniforms, Parents & parenting, Demonstrations & protests, Public schools, Dress codes Locations: DeKalb County Georgia Author(s): GREG STRANGE Document types: Commentary Section: Editorial Publication title: The Atlanta Journal - Constitution. Atlanta, Ga.: Nov 6, 2002. pg. A.23 Source type: Newspaper ISSN/ISBN: 15397459 ProQuest document ID: 232711251 Text Word Count 689 Document URL: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=232711251&Fmt=3&clientId=8832&RQT=309&VName=PQD Abstract (Document Summary) I'm a boomer too, by the way. When I was in school I fought dress codes with a zealotry usually reserved for Samurai warriors. In fact, if I had wanted to come to school actually dressed like a Samurai warrior, I would have thought that was totally cool, it was my constitutional right and anyone who tried to stop me was a right- wing fascist agent of the military-industrial complex.

It was all about me. Me, me, me, all day long, 365 days a year, and the rest of the world, including my parents, teachers and anybody else, be damned. There was nothing wrong, as far as I was concerned, with wearing sloppy and tattered clothing that would have embarrassed most Skid Row winos. And I certainly had no problem with the girls wearing micro-miniskirts, a daring fashion statement that made something as mundane as bending over to pick up a pencil a bawdy adventure.

Judging from most of the signs at the big protest rally, one might have mistaken the whole thing for a convention of insipid platitude writers. Here's a sampling: "Uniforms kill diversity"; "America is NOT a land of UNIFORMity"; and "Honor diversity, support responsible choice." Full Text (689 words) (Copyright, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution - 2002)

The DeKalb County school system's new Dress For Success program just keeps making the news. Seems a lot of folks have a problem with the fact that it limits what students are allowed to wear to school. You would expect a lot of bellyaching from the kids because they aren't mature enough to know any better, but what's up with some of these parents?

What kind of parents would stand outside the school board building on the side of a busy DeKalb County street with their children protesting a school dress code, the intent of which is to provide some semblance of an orderly and dignified environment in which serious learning can take place?

You would think that parents would be more concerned with their children's actual education than their children's "right" to go to school dressed like a gangster, a bedraggled hobo or a streetwalker in training. What gives?

The only explanation I can think of for such cockeyed prioritizing is a value system overburdened with rebellious nonsense that was internalized in the '60s and '70s by millions of baby boomers who have since become parents. Primary features of that value system include such sage admonitions as "if it feels good, do it" and "resist all authority."

I'm a boomer too, by the way. When I was in school I fought dress codes with a zealotry usually reserved for Samurai warriors. In fact, if I had wanted to come to school actually dressed like a Samurai warrior, I would have thought that was totally cool, it was my constitutional right and anyone who tried to stop me was a right- wing fascist agent of the military-industrial complex.

All I wanted was to celebrate my glorious individuality, or, as they say nowadays, my "diversity." The truth is, I was a thoughtless little snot who didn't know my nostril from a hole in the ground.

It was all about me. Me, me, me, all day long, 365 days a year, and the rest of the world, including my parents, teachers and anybody else, be damned. There was nothing wrong, as far as I was concerned, with wearing sloppy and tattered clothing that would have embarrassed most Skid Row winos. And I certainly had no problem with the girls wearing micro-miniskirts, a daring fashion statement that made something as mundane as bending over to pick up a pencil a bawdy adventure.

But a funny thing happened to me over the years. I went through an arduous process, apparently unknown to many of my boomer brethren, that is sometimes referred to as "growing up." It's a process I highly recommend to those who have yet to partake.

Like the person who held up this protest sign: "Judge my children by the content of their character." Can you believe that an actual adult lifted this line from something as noble as the civil rights movement and used it for something as trivial as her childish disdain for a school dress code?

Judging from most of the signs at the big protest rally, one might have mistaken the whole thing for a convention of insipid platitude writers. Here's a sampling: "Uniforms kill diversity"; "America is NOT a land of UNIFORMity"; and "Honor diversity, support responsible choice."

Let's face it. As important social causes go, this one ranks somewhere just below Mothers Against Reckless Rollerblading.

If you're a parent and you don't care if your children look like something the cat dragged in, or worse, then fine. But why does it have to be at school? Can't they be little bohemians and rebels on their own time instead of at school, where their appearance and behavior have an unavoidable effect on a captive audience?

With the '60s long since over, you just have to shake your head in wonder at those now middle-aged people who are still fighting such nonsensically counterproductive battles, and through their children, no less.

Greg Strange is a writer living in DeKalb County.

[Illustration]

Photo Protesters gather outside the DeKalb school offices to express their opposition to the new policy on school uniforms. / RENEE HANNANS / Staff

Credit: FOR THE JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION