Jonathon's Closet

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Boobs and Belly Buttons and Butt Cheeks, OH MY!

Monday night was the final band concert of the year. The 7th and 8th grade bands are uniformed; black pants, white tuxedo shirts, black bow ties. They looked, acted, and played respectably.

The 6th grade band, however, is NOT uniformed. And oh, what a serious mistake this clearly is. While nearly every boy I saw was dressed in khakis and a nice shirt, the majority of girls looked like sluts. 6th grade girls, for crying out loud ... 11 and 12 year olds!

Here are a few hints for 11 and 12 year old girls:

-If your "skirt" is shorter than the "skirt" on a bathing suit, it is inappropriate.

-If your skirt is not only overly short but also skin tight, it will ride up even farther when you sit down on stage - and guess what view the audience unwillingly has.

-If you add high heels to your disgustingly short and tight skirt, you should learn to bend at the knees instead of at the waist - cuz NO ONE wants that view!

-You are a child - we do not want to see your ass-crack or your thong, your cleavage or your non-existent cleavage, your belly button or your fat rolls at a school event. Save those things for the beach or better still the privacy of your own home.

-And if you have actually begun to sprout cleavage, skin-tight paper-thin spaghetti-strap tanks are highly inappropriate without some sort of undergarment. Again, NO ONE wants to see your nipples. (and yes, the audience could!)

-If you are wearing more make-up than Tammy Faye Baker, it does NOT make you look older. It makes you look like a CLOWN, or like a little child playing dress-up.

Oh, and for those little 6th grade girls who believe that dressing cheap makes you appear cool, here are a few comments that I overheard some of the audience members make in regards to your appearance:

"Middle school's got a whorehouse in it!" ... said in a sing-song voice by 2 high school boys as a 6th grade band member walked by with her instrument in her hand. (I can only imagine how this little girl must have felt, hearing that ... what on earth is wrong with her parents for allowing her to be subjected to this??? Yes, the boys were wrong to say this, but this child's parents are the ones who allowed her out of the house like that!)

"Who do those little girls think they're impressing? They look disgusting!" ... said by a white-haired woman to the lady standing next to her.

"My mother would SO not let me out of the house like that; they must all be ORPHANS!" ... said by a high school girl, rolling her eyes.

"Isn't that just begging for a child molester to abduct you, going out in public like that? That's so scary!" ... said by a wife to her husband.

"Yeah, all the 6th grade girls act like sluts - and they're always hanging around us, trying to get our attention." ... said by an 8th grade band member.

Some of the 6th grade girls were dressed appropriately, but the choices and actions of their peers was surely what stood out. And while I'm sure that "all" of the 6th grade girls do not act or dress this way (as the 8th grader shared in his opinion) this administration needs to realize that that the behavior and appearance of the students (ALL of the students, especially those in violation as unfortunately they're the ones who people will remember!) reflects on the school.

THIS SCHOOL DISTRICT HAS A DRESS CODE, for crying out loud! Or at least they CLAIM to!!! One that they strictly enforce when it comes to the boys! Heck, a boy can't even walk in the door in the morning and walk to his locker wearing a baseball cap. The cap must come off before he is allowed to enter the building!

I am absolutely appalled that the dress code for this concert was not equal to or better than the dress code imposed upon our students each and every school day. I would have thought that at the very least the same rules that apply to every day would apply to a mandatory musical performance. Any student who was scheduled to perform at the concert and showed up in violation of the dress code should not have been allowed on the stage at all!

I shared my concerns with the principal, who chose not to return my phone call. I then shared my concerns with the assistant principal, who chose not to return my phone call, and since I got no response whatsoever from the school, I publicly shared this in a (different) on-line journal, titled "If I wanted to see this much skin, I'd have gone to a strip club". The assistant principal THEN stated that they had received other complaints about this very same issue and that the band director would be addressing this issue in the future.

The assistant principal also shared that she felt personally attacked by the fact that this was made public. THIS WAS A PUBLIC CONCERT. THIS WAS MADE PUBLIC BY THE LITTLE GIRLS WHO CHOSE TO DEMEAN THEMSELVES BY SHOWING UP DRESSED IN THIS WAY, AND BY THE PARENTS WHO ALLOWED THEM TO DO SO! The unsuspecting PUBLIC was exposed (yeah, EXPOSED seems like the right word!) to this the moment those children were allowed onstage. If the school had wished to prevent this, they could have. Why didn't the band director simply decide that any student not in compliance with dress code would not be allowed to perform and would be marked down accordingly?

Ultimately, it is a parent's decision how they choose to allow their pre-teen daughters to dress (or appear in public in various stages of undress). And ultimately it is the parent's responsibility.

BUT IF THE SCHOOL HAS A DRESS CODE AND CHOOSES NOT TO ENFORCE IT, THEN THEY TOO MUST BEAR SOME OF THE BLAME.

*oh, and a note to the school administrator who disliked my pointing out that so many little girls looked like tramps? If you enforce the dress code and do not allow the little girls to look like tramps, you won't have to worry handling these matters!

4 Comments:

  • i'm consistently appalled at the way children dress. i know i was never allowed out of the house like that. furthermore, have you seen the clothes marketed to kids? there is nothing in limited too that is appropriate for anyone under age 21! it's ridiculous. kids are robbed of a childhood these days. i hope by the time i have children and they attend school that public schools have uniforms. there is nothing wrong with khaki, white, navy, and plaid. bring it on!

    By Blogger Southern jezeBelle, at 11:54 AM  

  • As a mother of a 5 and 2 year old, it is already hard to find in the mainstream stores (Walmart, Target, Kohls, etc.), clothing that is appropriate for their ages. I will not purchase it. They are little girls who should be able to dress like little girls and not women who are 23 that are going out to the bars. Congratulations on standing up!!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:22 PM  

  • Good for you! I especially hate the shorts that have things like "Angel" or "Sexy" written on them. These are CHILDREN! We just had a teacher arrested in our town this week for having a relationship with a 14-year-old he used to teach. He says she's "mature" and they're "in love". Hooo boy. While I think he's about as loony as they come, I also think the way 14-year-old girls dress these days may also be a factor. You NEVER heard of a teacher having sex with a student back in my day. I remember our homemaking teacher (does that term date me, or what) having girls kneel on the floor so she could measure how short their skirts were. And we were sent home to change if they were too short. No jeans in school either. I miss days like those.

    If I had children in school today (mine are grown), I'd be homeschooling. Things have gotten way out of hand in too many ways in public school.

    By Blogger Mindi, at 2:32 PM  

  • runescape u my frend

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:19 PM  

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