Posted on 12/26/2005 5:18:57 PM PST by SmithL
JACKSON, Mo. - Nathan Warmack wanted to honor his heritage by wearing a Scottish kilt to his high school dance. Then a principal told him to change into a pair of pants.
What began with a few yards of tartan has sparked an international debate about freedom, symbols and cultural dress. More than 1,600 people have signed an Internet petition seeking an apology for the high school senior.
Scots in the United States are assembling a traditional ensemble they hope the student will wear to the prom, and his family is trying to change the school's dress code policy.
''It's a kilt. It's going to turn heads, but I never believed it would have become what it is,'' Warmack said.
Other schools around the country also have wrestled with the issue.
A principal in Victoria, Texas, ordered two boys into ''more appropriate'' attire when they wore kilts to school in 1992, saying: ''I know kilts. Those weren't kilts and the boys aren't Scots.''
Warmack, a defensive lineman on the football team, lives in Jackson, a growing, largely middle-class city of about 14,000 people about 110 miles from St. Louis.
He got interested in his family's Scottish ties after seeing Mel Gibson's 1995 movie ''Braveheart,'' about William Wallace's battle to overthrow English rule in 13th century Scotland. Warmack reads books about Scotland and visits Web sites to learn more about his family's genealogy.
He bought a kilt off the Internet to wear to his school's formal ''Silver Arrow'' dance in November.
Warmack said he showed it to a vice principal before the dance, who joked he'd better wear something underneath it, and Warmack assured him he would.
Warmack's parents, Terry and Paula, helped him piece together the rest of his outfit, a white shirt and black tie with white socks and black boots.
''We knew it wasn't the formal regalia,'' his father said. ''We wanted it to be acceptable for the occasion.''
After Nathan Warmack and his date posed for pictures, principal Rick McClard, who had not previously seen the kilt, told the student he had to go change. Warmack refused a few times and said the outfit was recognizing his heritage.
Warmack alleges McClard told him: ''Well, this is my dance, and I'm not going to have students coming into it looking like clowns.''
The principal did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Cape Cod View The school district's superintendent, Ron Anderson, said McClard has the authority under the district's dress code policy to judge appropriate dress for extracurricular activities, including dances.
''It's mainly to protect from the possibility of a disruption or something that could be viewed as a disruption,'' Anderson said.
Several Scottish heritage organizations are angry, saying the kilt is a symbol of Scottish pride and considered formal dress.
''To say the traditional Scottish dress makes you look like a clown is a direct insult to people of Scottish heritage and those who live in Scotland,'' said Tom Wilson, a Texas commissioner for the Clan Gunn Society of North American, a Scottish heritage organization.
Do not insult clowns.
Everyone loves clowns. Everyone.
Don't piss off the scots....they still got some pride and the cojones to go with it...so, my advice is to apologize and do so nicely!
Long Live Scotland! Up with the kilt!
Scots ping..
Always gotta be someone pushing an issue in the name of freedom.
They are bashing my heritage. I can't stand for this! Let's get the ACLU to fight this cultural insensitivity.
SCOTS WHA HAE!
William Wallace said to be extremely upset.
Powder..Patch..Ball FIRE!
In 2002 I won the Scottman's Blue Ribbon at the Mid America Rendezvous... (Not on purpose)
I hate clowns. always have!
Daft laddie.
THIS is what ye wearrrr to the prrrrom.
Heather Carolin, yes
Several Scottish heritage organizations are angry, saying the kilt is a symbol of Scottish pride and considered formal dress.
I don't know what the big deal is. Let him wear his kilt. Girls get away with wearing very revealing dresses to prom I don't know why this kid can't honor his Scottish heritage by wearing the kilt.
I know that song. Dr. Demento right? Shame on ya for fallin down drunk to side o de road!
But at least ya won first prize.
Are these the clowns?
The principle must be English. Did the English ever reverse their outlawing the scots to wear their clan tartans?
Make me puke when I see Pr.Chuck wearing a kilt. Yuck!
Thats just nasty man
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