{"id":776,"date":"2016-04-02T16:59:25","date_gmt":"2016-04-02T21:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/facultycorner.com\/main\/?p=776"},"modified":"2016-04-02T16:59:26","modified_gmt":"2016-04-02T21:59:26","slug":"uniform-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/facultycorner.com\/main\/2016\/04\/02\/uniform-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Years of Uniform Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"students<\/a>One of my students strolled in five minutes after the 8 a.m. bell rang and I stated that she would get a tardy. \u00a0 She proceeded to argue with me about the mark on her record, and asked “what does it matter if I come in late or not.” \u00a0 \u00a0 The question is valid, but I didn’t really want to spend valuable class time explaining the importance of being on time, how time is the one thing you can never get back, why it disrupts the\u00a0class and potentially interferes with her success. \u00a0Instead, I asked her to stay after class to discuss it.<\/p>\n

The thing with rules and the enforcing rules is that those who are in authority want to understand that there’s a valid reason for enforcing a rule. \u00a0When we enforce the tardiness rule, there are good reasons (as stated above.) \u00a0When my students aren’t allowed to wear open-toed shoes or bring drinks into the lab, there’s a reason for it. \u00a0 My cell phone policy also has reasons; even my students who hate the rule will concede that the reasons are sound.<\/p>\n

Then we get to the dress code, which requires students to wear black or khaki pants with a polo shirt.<\/p>\n

We’ve had five years now of the dress code and as I walk through the halls of the final quarter of 2016, it doesn’t seem that we even have the\u00a0policy. \u00a0Don’t get me wrong, the kids are dressed fine, nothing majorly inappropriate, but I don’t see the polo shirts and khaki pants they are supposed to be wearing. \u00a0What I do witness is a sea of yoga (or stretch) pants and either black or red t-shirts, which are the school colors. \u00a0 It’s close to the dress code and the students know that most teachers probably won’t send them to the office over it. \u00a0 If they do, well, they have a polo shirt in their locker that they can throw on over that t-shirt on their way to the principal’s office. \u00a0An hour later, they might end up with a detention or a warning, but\u00a0they have most assuredly missed the lesson for the day, and possibly even multiple classes if they get assigned to In School Suspension.<\/p>\n

So why aren’t teachers consistent with enforcing this rule? \u00a0 The main reason\u00a0probably has to do with time. It takes time out of class to deal with the kid wearing the wrong shirt, and \u00a0then you will need to fill out the paperwork and send the kid to the office. \u00a0In addition, the student who has left the class because of a t-shirt has now missed class, and most teachers understand that missing class does interfere with that student’s success. \u00a0Teachers will quietly ignore it, thinking that maybe another teacher in another class that isn’t doing \u00a0important things will catch it. \u00a0The problem is, we are all doing important things. \u00a0 That t-shirt just isn’t as\u00a0important as the student learning the quadratic equation, the causes of the civil war, or the significance\u00a0of the endocrine system.<\/p>\n

\"student<\/a><\/p>\n

Is there a reason for the policy? \u00a0 There are definitely pros and cons to having a school uniform. \u00a0 This page<\/a> has a comprehensive list of the arguments for and against imposing a strict uniform on students. \u00a0 \u00a0Going forward, there is some talk of revisiting the uniform policy, \u00a0discussing what changes could (or should) be made. \u00a0Ultimately, it is the decision of the school board and superintendent, though it would probably help if students and staff had a clear view of what the policy is supposed to accomplish. \u00a0 \u00a0In addition, I would like to see discussions on how we can improve enforcement of the policy with minimal disruptions to learning, and reducing the conflict that occurs between teachers and students over what they are wearing. \u00a0 Classroom and school culture is important, and most teachers know that to encourage and motivate teenagers, you must develop positive relationships with them.<\/p>\n

The truth is, what students\u00a0are wearing doesn’t really matter to me, what matters is their engagement in the lesson, their attention, and their willingness to learn. \u00a0 All of those things can be done with or without khaki pants and polos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my students strolled in five minutes after the 8 a.m. bell rang and I stated that she would get a tardy. \u00a0 She proceeded to argue with me about the mark on her record, and asked “what does it matter if I come in late or not.” \u00a0 \u00a0 The question is valid, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,64,67,38,160,159,161,162],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/facultycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/facultycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/facultycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/facultycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/facultycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"http:\/\/facultycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":805,"href":"http:\/\/facultycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions\/805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/facultycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/facultycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/facultycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/facultycorner.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}