Boy wears skirt to school in protest

vansmith said:

Respect and self-control are not products of socialization? Do they not differ across cultural contexts? If they were genetic, understandings of respects would be universal. Disease? Absolutely genetic (or biomedical). Respect, control, perceptions of behaviour, etc? Socially determined. What was respectful 100 years ago doesn't qualify now. What is proper behaviour is also culturally contextual.

So, it seems we have taken a philosophical/social turn...lol.

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I'm sorry if I sounded like I was contributing it to genetic inheritance. What I'm saying is the more imperfect our bodies and brains become, the worse we behave. I'm going back as far as the beginning of mankind. But see, that gets into a Biblical realm and I respect the fact that not everyone wants to hear about it. Not saying you, personally. I have no idea of your views on the Bible.
This is probably a good point to end our discussion.

Perhaps it is (nice to have a tactful conversation though).

Bad choices make for good stories.

Good article. This kid is a future Libertarian.

Im a manager at my job and the owner of my business has a lot of policies of what he likes to see done in his product listings. I have to follow them whether I agree or not.

Sometimes an employee below me doesnt follow protocol and obviously he gets angry, and if I didnt catch it that reflects badly on me. sometimes the employee will say its because they dont agree with it, at the end of the day its his decision. Your uniform at work, same goes, its a policy.

If school is supposed to prepare you for real life it makes sense that there are rules that should be followed. I feel like encouraging certain behaviors like this may breed more of this thinking. Dont agree with it, screw it, dissent. Its hard to draw a line for where to draw the line, but I really feel like its not good to teach kids at a young age to just not follow policies they dont agree with. Its something that will be repeated in all aspects of a persons future possibly..

Yes, a school is supposed to socialize children for the world beyond the school. That said, it's not supposed to socialize them to become mindless "yes men." Schools are not support to foster a understanding of rules and norms in which you follow them blindly whether you like it or not. This should apply to their own rules as well. And let's remember that he's not actually breaking any rules here.

Brunhild said:

Its hard to draw a line for where to draw the line, but I really feel like its not good to teach kids at a young age to just not follow policies they dont agree with.

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So, teach them to follow everything they're told even if they have genuine objections? I agree a line needs to be drawn between acting on dissenting views and following the rules but you need to have both sides.

The employment/school analogy is weak as well. You have a choice of jobs or can get a new one if you so choose. A student has no choice given that their legal guardians are responsible for choosing for them. I had no choice of school and I imagine that he doesn't either.

12 years old and already rising up against the system....

and to be honest, its a bit of a stupid thing to protest about.

When I was in school, yes, it was quite hot wearing trousers, but I just got on with it.

you dont get everything you want in life, sometimes you just have to grit your teeth. if they suddenly allow this boy to wear shorts after protesting about it in such a manner, he will grow up thinking that this applies to everything he doesn't like.

Employer: "You have to wear trousers while working for us."

Boy (now Adult): "But it is far too hot outside! i want to wear shorts!"

Employer: "Unfortunately, that is not company policy. You are required to wear trousers."

Adult: "Screw you, i will do what I like!"

(Goes home and wears a skirt to work the next day.)

Employer: "You are fired."

Again, I think it's worth noting two things:
1. He didn't actually break the rules. Nothing in the rules said he wasn't allowed to wear a skirt.
2. He is acting out against a double standard. Your analogy isn't apt because it doesn't acknowledge this. Your example is only legitimate if the boy worked somewhere in which there was a double standard regarding attire.

At what point is it appropriate for a student to engage with something they think is wrong? Who gets to set that criteria?

What you are saying is very true, and I agree with what you are saying. There is no way to "measure" maturity. People mature at different rates. You can find many 12-14 year olds that are more mature than 18-20 year olds. In this fashion we also cannot set criteria that states when students should speak out against things they don't agree with.

But, do you not think this is an immature way to go about it? Why could he not go to the Headmaster and ask why it is that they are not allowed to wear shorts, and maybe go about organising a petition to show that most of his fellow students are of the same opinion as he is?

What I am trying to say is that by protesting in such a way is almost identifying him as immature (compared to the other methods he had available), and because of this I don't believe the school should change the policy. School introduces students the to world, and the world has rules you have to live by, even if you do not like them. Especially in terms of employment, where you are usually representing a company.

Obviously they need to re write their uniform policy.

Perhaps that would have been a more "suitable" way to get his message across but for all we know (assuming that this article is all we each know of the situation), he tried that. And seeing how this was passed in 2009, I'm sure this isn't the first that the admin has heard about this. I went to a high school with uniforms and uniform "questions" were common every single day. We see this at the school in question - the headmaster noted (source) that, "The issue creeps up during the summer months."

As for immature, perhaps we'll have to disagree as I don't see this as immature. It notes in the article (the one I linked to) that the dress code was developed in consultation with teachers, parents and students. I find it very hard to believe that the boys would have argued that wearing pants year round was a good idea. Make me wonder how much voice they really had. Given that, they probably don't have much pull in the school so they have to find other creative ways to express dissenting opinions. That said, I'd say his response shows a level of maturity - he didn't do this for no reason, he did this to express serious concerns over school policy.

Murlyn said:

Especially question us moderators who are in authority here! Or maybe.. I encourage dissent to authority, unless of course I am in authority! Ill have to use that quote sometime

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Dear Leader does not like dissent.