School dress code

[kimo55]

Re: Casual Clothing or Indecent Exposure?

No, no, no. It's too perilous.

I like peril! Give me more peril!
(that was actually in peril of being cut!)
http://tinyurl.com/clrc4

[scrivener]

Re: Casual Clothing or Indecent Exposure?

some say the devolution of society.

I'm sure some would, but in the long run, are dress standards we currently consider decent or acceptable generally better for us or worse for us than the standards of the generations before us?

I submit that the trends our grandparents and great-grandparents considered indecent and rebellious for the most part have made us better.

Kids wearing blue jeans in school. Women wearing pants in the workplace. Exposed bellies on the beach. Hair long enough to go past the tops of ears on boys. Why did we ever think these were offensive? Now, I'm just as scandalized by what I see teenagers wearing today as anyone my age, but that's my point. If teens today weren't offending me in this manner, they wouldn't be doing their jobs, because someone had to make it okay for women to wear pants, and someone had to make it okay for girls to wear jeans to school.

Lest you think it's always the trend to wear less and less, I'll remind you that the micro-skirts of the early seventies didn't last long--it wasn't until just recently that those super-minis started coming back. Remember the "short shorts" of the seventies and early eighties? They completely disappeared, much to my dismay, by the late eighties. And while it seemed that bikinis were getting more and more revealing, for most of the nineties, the preferred beachwear for most teenaged girls was boardshorts and bikini tops. For every trend that goes "too far" one way, there's a later, nearly equally opposite trend that brings it all back.

[Ailina]

Re: Casual Clothing or Indecent Exposure?

(embarrassing) I was that girl. Except Mom didn't even try to keep me from wearing (or not wearing) what I wanted. I think that was the #1 problem. From experience, that's exactly why I dressed the way I did--to get attention.

Now, I have four girls of my own, and I have to say I'm something of a tyrant when it comes to what they wear. No midriff tops. No mini-skirts without shorts underneath. No baby-t-shirts that say things like "I kissed your boyfriend."

I know it's probably classic overcompensation, the pendulum swinging the other way. But truth be told--my lack of concern about modesty led to worse things. I think a certain amount of modesty in dress is evidence of a healthy self-respect. I'm doing my best to teach my girls modesty, help them avoid having to learn a few hard lessons the hard way.

[scrivener]

Re: Casual Clothing or Indecent Exposure?

So my kid wanted to be a missionary in South America? Hmmmm...sign me up too!

I know we're all just playing around here, and this is way off topic, but in case anyone thinks missionaries still think it's necessary to impose standards of modesty on cultures they work with, I'd like to say that in fact, the trend has been the opposite. Evangelicals no longer sweep into a culture and try to make things American, except where health standards are concerned.

[Glen Miyashiro]

School dress code

You know that the girls are really dressing way too sexy when Punahou starts enforcing a dress code.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: School dress code

I was amazed at that newspaper article when they compared Iolani's dress code allowing students to wear non-school logo'd attire. At Kamehameha my then 16-year old boy was suspended for wearing his shirt inside out.

He wore it inside out because when he got to school he realized he was wearing a Nike dress shirt. Hmmm so in order not to get suspended for wearing a logo'd shirt to school, he got suspended for wearing his shirt inside out.

Punahou is said to be a very liberal school with individualism as key to their success. However success in a college prep environment also means conforming to the ideals of a societal norm. Showing butt cracks is not what I consider normal. Actually it's a kind of voyerism and has no place in an environment of higher learning.

I think there's so much revolt against this dress code is simply because it's the only place outside of the home where these juveniles can dress that way without their parent's criticism. This isn't new, the sweet daughter leaves home in modest clothes, but under that baggy logo'd sweatshirt and knee length skirt is a skimpy blouse showing revealing her midriff and an even shorter skirt underneath that rice bag she's wearing over it.

Parents gotta wake up. Make those surprise school visits and see how their kids are acting away from the family. You'd be shocked!

[AuntieNellieKulolo]

Re: School dress code

Wow, how times have changed. At Punahou in the early '80s guys could wear shorts on Fridays but girls couldn't, then the rules were modified so girls could wear shorts but they had to be at least 'fingertip length'. No spaghetti straps, tank tops or bare midriffs. I wore a tank top in 8th grade once and had to wear my P.E. shirt over it. The big issue in those days was the punk look and my best friend was one of the worst 'offenders'. She had a large section of her head shaved and she would pull hair down to cover it when she saw a teacher around. There was actually a rule that you couldn't wear all black outfits because that was all she wore. Now it's the conformists who wear black, at least in NYC...

[craigwatanabe]

Re: School dress code

When I was at Wilson Elementary School in Waialae Nui, the girls couldn't wear shorts, only knee length skirts. We had a May Day festival one day at school which required the girls to wear casual shorts because of the events planned. The teachers thought it was okay for the girls to come to school dressed in shorts as practice was pretty much all morning with the event happening after lunch.

Well our principal (Mrs. Wong) was appalled and cancelled the May Day Festivities and made everyone do schoolwork the rest of the day. The teachers were upset, the kids were crying and parents were really pissed all at the principal.

Yes times have changed. One year I had to go to McKinley High School to investigate some of the school's shop equipment we were planning on purchasing elsewhere for our company. In their auto shop I saw this room full of kids dressed in everything from timid to slut doing their own thing while a TV was set to MTV and the teacher kicking back reading a magazine.

I walked in and asked for the teacher, they all looked at this man slouching behind a cluttered desk. He quickly got up and shut the TV set off realizing I had come in. I guess I looked like a DOE inspector because he practically crapped in his pants. He was supposed to be conducting an automotive class and pretty much was goofing off, on the clock.

I took advantage of the situation and told him to get this class in order and I'll be back in 20-minutes. I left and never came back but I lived for that moment and that moment was priceless.

[lurkah]

Re: School dress code

I took advantage of the situation and told him to get this class in order and I'll be back in 20-minutes. I left and never came back but I lived for that moment and that moment was priceless.

Sounds like a different twist on performing a random act of kindness.

Danged state workers. (I used to work at UHM. Hi Ryan. )

[1stwahine]

Re: School dress code

Hey Craig, did ya ever report it? The MHS incident? No wonder the "mechanics" here at MWH can't fix my car...they had training at MHS! (sshh, I graduated from there too!)

Auntie Lynn

[craigwatanabe]

Re: School dress code

I did tell the principal to go check on that room in a few minutes because I did notice some unusual behavior within.

I'm hoping that teacher took advantage of that 20-minutes to exercise some good classroom management before the principal came in.

[1stwahine]

Re: School dress code

I had a GUT feeling that you did! good for you!!!!

Auntie Lynn

[alohabear]

Re: School dress code

Here at Hilo High we have a dress standard ...not code so naturally it gets broken daily . What gets me is how even the "large" girls don't cover-up. It's good that they love thier bodies ...but come on do you really think they look in thier mirrors and say ....damn! I am the hottie today! Even the "nice" looking girls must not own a mirror because if they did... they would see a slut.

[tiptoetulip]

Re: School dress code

I have been appalled for some time now with the fashions that are available to young girls and young women. I'm no prude, but what the hell has happened to modesty and mystery? Why buy the cow when the milk is free? As for school dress codes, I'm all for it. Less hassle for the parents, less hassle for the kids, less hassles in general. I realize the fashion and music industries don't help, so it really becomes the responsibility of parents and mentors to help guide our young people. Someone has got to take a stance. Seriously, would you let your daughter go to school wearing sweatpants that say "cutiepie" on her behind?

[backwoodlessons2]

Re: School dress code

You know that the girls are really dressing way too sexy when Punahou starts enforcing a dress code.

I go to Punahou and agree completely.