School Uniforms in Texas

During my investigative trip to Texas, back in May, 1998, checking to see if this was at all something I wanted to do, as in move to Texas, I was tasked with taking a teenager, 15, to his first day of school.

This was a kid who had been going to Mount Vernon High School in Mount Vernon, Washington.

He was about to experience his first dose of Texas culture shock. He wore what he wore to school in Washington. A t-shirt and cargo shorts and his skateboard shoes. He carried his skateboard with him, intending to ride it home.

I dropped him off. A few minutes later I got a call that I had to come pick him up. He was not properly dressed. He needed a shirt and long pants. And skateboards were not allowed at school. When I went to pick him up I saw a lot of high school girls dressed like they could have been working Harry Hines Boulevard. Of course, at that point in time I had no idea what Harry Hines Boulevard was. I was to much later learn it is an area of Dallas where you can hire ladies of ill repute to do some things best not detailed in this venue.

Several years went by. The Dropping Pants thing started happening. Gang colors became an issue. And then one year the schools in my zone of North Texas imposed a 'School Uniform' policy. A very strict policy detailing precisely what can be worn. White shirts, tucked in. Jeans properly around the waist. Girls with skirts of appropriate length. No cleavage.

I've seen the kids in their uniforms. While I do get the argument as to why this is a good idea, to me the good is outweighed by the bad. In that it seems totally un-American. In America we are encouraged to be individualistic. To me how you dress is as much a freedom as freedom of speech. It's a form of self-expression.

It seems wrong to me to suppress this form of self-expression.

I do think it is appropriate for schools to have some standards. As in girls can not come to school dressed like hookers. No hot pants. No droopy drawers on boys. No t-shirts with obscenities. But if you want to wear an 'Obama' t-shirt to school. Or an 'I Love Jesus' t-shirt to school, no one should be able to tell you no. Not in a public school.

I can understand why a lot of parents like this school uniform thing. It makes life easier for them. And cheaper. But if I were a parent I would not like being told how my kid had to dress. That would just irritate me.