Education, politics, and anything else that catches my attention.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
There's Got To Be A Better Way
I have students remove their hats/hoods in class. That seems more likely to ensure they're not wearing headphones than banning hooded sweatshirts in school.
This step has also been taken by a local district in our area. It's bigger than just a fashion faux pas. Hoodies can hide earphones, cell phones and faces. Look at the evening news, and just about every thug that gets hauled in is wearing a hoodie, which he knows he can pull up in a heartbeat to hide his face from view. Add to that the large pockets, which can conceal all kinds of contraband from radios and MP3's to guns, knives and drugs. Most of our schools are heated. Kids by and large don't need to wear hoodies all day. They do it either to mimic entertainers that do so, or for other purposes some of which can be illegal or dangerous. I have the same issue with kids wearing the long black overcoats in class. Perhaps if I taught in a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood that would be more socially acceptable. As it is, it's a signal to others that you are involved in or support skinhead type activities. Hey, we've gone the route of banning colors-to the point that one of our local gangs is wearing pink-but in the end as much as I hate the idea, it's going to come down to requiring uniforms in school. If the parents will not check what their kids are wearing and why, then it's time to put some other measures in place.
I don't wear hoodies to conceal an iPod, imitate entertainers or for illegal or dangerous purposes. They're comfortable, and I don't want to have to carry around a sweatshirt all the time; it's easier to just wear it. Why shouldn't I be allowed to? Banning hoodies and expecting iPods to go away is like banning guns and expecting murder to go away - if a kid really wants to listen to an iPod, he'll find a way.
2 comments:
This step has also been taken by a local district in our area. It's bigger than just a fashion faux pas. Hoodies can hide earphones, cell phones and faces. Look at the evening news, and just about every thug that gets hauled in is wearing a hoodie, which he knows he can pull up in a heartbeat to hide his face from view. Add to that the large pockets, which can conceal all kinds of contraband from radios and MP3's to guns, knives and drugs. Most of our schools are heated. Kids by and large don't need to wear hoodies all day. They do it either to mimic entertainers that do so, or for other purposes some of which can be illegal or dangerous. I have the same issue with kids wearing the long black overcoats in class. Perhaps if I taught in a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood that would be more socially acceptable. As it is, it's a signal to others that you are involved in or support skinhead type activities. Hey, we've gone the route of banning colors-to the point that one of our local gangs is wearing pink-but in the end as much as I hate the idea, it's going to come down to requiring uniforms in school. If the parents will not check what their kids are wearing and why, then it's time to put some other measures in place.
I don't wear hoodies to conceal an iPod, imitate entertainers or for illegal or dangerous purposes. They're comfortable, and I don't want to have to carry around a sweatshirt all the time; it's easier to just wear it. Why shouldn't I be allowed to? Banning hoodies and expecting iPods to go away is like banning guns and expecting murder to go away - if a kid really wants to listen to an iPod, he'll find a way.
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