The practice of school uniforms and dress codes has always been high on the controversy list in public schools.
I’m sure everyone remembers worrying about plaid skirts and suit coats.
And I’m sure there were a few who railed against having to set aside their trusty trench coat after school administrations became convinced that everyone wanted to be like Keanu Reeves from The Matrix and conceal weapons.
Yet, despite the fact that students have to be reminded at the beginning of every semester what they can and cannot wear, the school dress code usually works.
Every school should have a system that covers every situation that will occur, just to avoid disruption of the school.
Yet some dress codes don’t do this, and the school has to pay the consequences.
Recently a 15-year-old girl received a $30,000 settlement for being suspended from school for a day because she refused to change a T-shirt when she was asked.
My above summary is the proper way to read this case. It looks ridiculous, doesn’t it? So why was there ever a problem?
The case seemed to focus on the fact that the student in question was openly gay, and the T-shirt in question bore the phrase “Barbie is a lesbian.”
Immediately gay rights came into the forefront. We certainly wouldn’t want to tell the girl that her lifestyle is wrong. We wouldn’t want to damage her psychologically.
Plus, she was only professing her beliefs and showing her individuality. Right?
That’s what everyone seemed to think. But there are major problems with this viewpoint.
The first problem is the T-shirt itself, and the fact that the girl was wearing such a shirt.
Do you think that the shirt would be a plain white shirt with the letters in bold-face print? For all we know, the T-shirt could have featured Barbie in a compromising situation with the Kira doll.
But, of course, all this goes back to intent. What did this girl want to do by wearing this shirt?
She might have been innocently wearing a shirt that she thought was just funny, but the more likely reason is that she wanted to stir up controversy.
I remember my school had a rule in the dress code that stated that there would be no offensive shirts intended to disrupt class. Surely this shirt would fall under that rule.
Obviously, the middle school had no such rule against offensive T-shirts.
Despite the girl’s claims of expressing herself and the gay community, the T-shirt about Barbie’s sexual orientation was not in favor of homosexuality.
It was actually using homosexuality as a joke in order to make fun of a well-known toy. So the girl is expressing herself by demeaning herself?
Ultimately, the problem is in the way that this case has avoided the real issue and undermined the authority of the school administrator.
The girl was not being punished because she was openly gay. In fact, the issue seemed to not have come into question until the T-shirt incident.
A public, or private, school is not a democracy. It is an autocracy in which the administrators and teachers rule and guide the students. That is as it should be. Grade students are not learned or experienced enough for self-government. They often make mistakes in judgment, like wearing a T-shirt that will get them in trouble.
The principal of the middle school seemed to have handled the situation well.
The principal called the girl out of class and gave her the opportunity to change her shirt without any further repercussions. The principal probably explained the rules to the girl.
The settlement sent a clear message. The law does not recognize administrators as competent authority figures.
They would rather pander to a student’s whims and show a student that they can get by the law as long as they can use special circumstances as a crutch.
Often cries of discrimination overshadow the real issues and blow everything out of proportion.
This example is only the newest form of undermining of the law.
Angela Adair is a junior English major. She can be reached at [email protected].