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You can take my freedom, but you'll never have my haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat

waffle

One of the Regulars
Messages
129
Location
Miami, FL, USA
handlebar bart said:
My son wears his fedora to elementary school everyday. The teacher even put up a special hook to hang his hat on in class. He gets to wear it to recess [huh]


your son just won the 'coolest kid award'... hahaha
 

DerMann

Practically Family
Messages
608
Location
Texas
I just graduated from high school, and every school I attended from first grade to my senior year did not allow hats of any sort to be worn in school (including the horrible "hoodies").

My high school was brand new when I began attending it, and our town is a very well-to-do suburb of Houston, no gang violence or even a problem with crime. I believe the banning of hats was a district-wide regulation, and some of the schools in the district do have problems with gangs and what not.

Our school was a bit more lenient in terms of dress code in the times of pep-rallies (which I never attended). The one time I chose to follow one the pep rally themes was the time they had the theme of represent your favourite decade. After considering it for half a mo', I set out to school in complete morning dress topped off with nothing less than a silk topper.

On this particular occasion, I had to walk from one end of the school the other, passing the main commons/foyer area, where most of the principals stood in the morning. One of them (dressed in jeans in polo for casual Friday), stopped me and told me and told me to take off the hat. Sort of surprised by his anti-hat stance, I respectfully touched the brim of the topper and said "I shan't wear it in class, only in the halls." He then smiled and said,"A gentleman removes his hat indoors." Absolutely stunned by his blatant oversimplification of the rule, mouth slightly agape, I removed it, not wanting to have a row with him, and walked onward to my class. As I approached a rather large group of students about 50 yards from him I put it on again. Wore it in the hallways for the rest of the day, no one else said a word to me about it.

This was by no means the first time I had worn my topper to school. Many people called me Abraham Lincoln because of my sideburns and top hat (even though Lincoln had neither). I always followed proper hat etiquette, removed it when entering a class room or for lunch, and stowing it out of sight - never got any complaints, and my teachers always loved it. Also got a bit of flak for wearing an authentic toga (made it myself from 6 yards of cloth, and even sewed the purple piping on). Why can't the administration handle a bit of costuming?
 

BellyTank

I'll Lock Up
ADHD librarian said:
... This is odd, because a lot of schools in Australia are enforcing a 'no hat no play' rule. Where students are not permitted outside without a lid.


This is CRAZY- in NZ, kids are told to wear hats outside, due to the fierce sun.
Australia's sun is even stronger. Last visit to NZ, my 6 yr old nephew was sporting a wide brimmed cloth cricket hat at school, so were most.


Real freedom is long gone- now it's just a Govt. sport to destroy peoples' fun.
YOUR hat WILL be next!


B
T
 

BrewCrew

New in Town
Messages
40
Location
Minneapolis, MN
Well regarding the ruling style has nothing to do with it, nor does protection from the elements. Don't get me wrong, MN is a place of extreme weather, but at least when I was in high school we had indoor gym and not recess.

MN still is one of the highest ranked states in terms of the standard of living and academics, but problems with youth indifference, gangs, dropping out, etc., is hitting us as well. We have pretty decent kids for the most part, but a teacher's ability to discipline the unruly ones is very limited. Politically MN is a strange place, we traditionally hold fairly liberal political views, but our residents are inherently conservative. This results in a society that hesitates to restrict individual freedoms, but doesn't really like people to stray to much outside the norm. Thus such common sense rulings such as this no-hat one causes endless debate, and is taken only with great reluctance.

BTW you should hear the problems with "sex dancing", that is, dancing where the couples imitate having sex, is causing here! :eek:
 

waffle

One of the Regulars
Messages
129
Location
Miami, FL, USA
well, i grew up and still in live in Miami, FL. I'm 25, so i graduated high school about 7 years ago (wow, I felt old just saying that)... anyway, I don't remember ever being allowed to wear hats in school. Although it seems to be a pretty rediculous rule, it's one that makes total sense. Times now aren't how they used to be.. and kids these days aren't like they USED to be either. The only way to avoid certain problems is my being extreme in some cases.. even if that means no hats allowed.

I do remember that although we couldn't wear the hats in class and sometimes even in the hallways.. we could however wear them before and after school (on school grounds of course).
 

Charlie Noodles

A-List Customer
Messages
357
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Just for some perspective on the issue outside of the US and in my local Melbourne if anyone is interested:

I can't say I'm familiar with the policies of all schools here. But both Primary and High Schools all have a uniform as far as I know. That's for both Public and Private schooling.

(Private schools are usually a little more formal and include ties and blazers. Public schools usually go for polo shirts and slacks.)

I left High School several years ago. At that point there was a zero tolerance policy with the uniforms; in the morning a teacher would send you home if you had the wrong colour of socks on. This was a very working-class school too.

Hats were not to be worn inside the classroom. Hats could be worn in the yard; but only the ones the school sold or possibly a plain navy blue ball cap. I couldn't say for sure what would be said of a navy blue fedora or eight panel cap.

In our local schools the student spends almost all of their recess and lunch breaks outside. There are no cafeterias and the library isn't always open. I don't believe that's the case of most schools in the US? There is some shelter of course; but they'd be quite silly to tell students they're not allowed to protect themselves from the sun with a hat.

Bear in mind most of this is from personal experience with one school and an educated guess about others.

It struck me as crazy that the US schools would open themselves up to possible skin cancer-related lawsuits. But from what I’ve seen on television your schools are also a much more indoor affair?
 

MattJH

One Too Many
Messages
1,388
Charlie Noodles said:
It struck me as crazy that the US schools would open themselves up to possible skin cancer-related lawsuits. But from what I’ve seen on television your schools are also a much more indoor affair?

In elementary school (grades 1 through 5), we had one 15 minute outdoor recess in the morning and a full one hour for lunch / recess in the afternoon. Lunch was eaten indoors only, but when you were done, you could go outside and play. In middle school (grades 6 through 8), we had the same thing. In high school (grades 9 through 12), we had the same thing except you could also eat outside. We were outdoors plenty. I went between the years of 1983 through 1995 and skin cancer was never even talked about, much less prevented in any way.
 

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