Posted on 07/30/2002 7:35:53 PM PDT by marshmallow
The days of just rolling out of bed and rolling into class are coming to an end.
Pajamas, the preferred attire of some sleepy and study-weary students, are no longer allowed in Hillsborough County schools.
"I think as long as you don't look like a hootchy mama, you should be able to wear whatever," said Nevena Novakovic, 17, a junior at Robinson High School in Tampa.
The opening of Tampa Bay area schools this year will bring a variety of changes in the way students are supposed to look and act. Skate shoes, or athletic shoes with skates built inside, are strictly forbidden. Cell phones, on the other hand, are okay if turned off during school.
In Pinellas, the prohibition on "disruptive" hairstyles and colors has been dropped. And while pajamas are not specifically banned, they are not allowed.
"Pajamas are absolutely not acceptable, but at this point our principals didn't feel we needed to specify that," said Nancy Zambito, director of school operations.
In Hillsborough, the forbidden list includes flip-flop shoes, tube tops, miniskirts and clothes with sexual, violent or gang-related images. But the Hillsborough prohibition on pajamas is causing the greatest fuss.
"There's no need to wear pajamas to school," said James Ammirati, assistant principal at Stewart Middle School and a member of the student handbook revision committee that brought about the changes. "Pajamas are for at home."
Sleepwear is popular school attire during cold weather and on exam days, students say. Seniors often wear their bed clothes to school near the end of the school year as senioritis takes over.
"It's not inappropriate, just comfortable," said Nichole Clark, a Leto High School junior.
Some students said they believe the crackdown on pajamas will encourage the entire student body to look better and pay more attention to their appearance. Others called the new rule silly, since pajamas are typically just sloppy, not offensive.
Mallory Mooser, a 15-year-old Plant High student, said she doesn't think students should wear pajamas to school, but she's crossing her fingers that not all comfortable-looking clothing will be deemed out-of-line.
"You want to wear clothes you feel comfortable in,"t she said. "You don't want to get dressed up every day."
When asked whether she had ever worn pajamas to class, Mooser said: "No, I don't usually wear stuff I've slept in. But it is stuff I would wear to bed."
So what happens to students who stumble into school clad in their favorite jammies?
First-time offenders are required to call Mom and Dad and change clothes. The consequences for repeat offenders range from in-school detention to suspension.
Kids are not small adults because their brains are not fully developed and it's an adults job is to compensate for the undeveloped brain and give guidance.(Current estimates are age 25 is full maturity although some kids mature sooner.) The tendency lately is to treat kids as full fledged adults at age 7 and let them make their own decisions which is a crap shoot because you can't look into the kids skull and tell if they are developed enough to understand.
So basically if you let kids decide what to wear you'll wind up the next stupid fad and after that cools down there will be another stupid fad. If you live in a fantasy world thinking children will learn by the excerise it won't happen.
I have been wondering that, myself. And, I am only 35 years old!
I hope we saw the low point with grunge, gangsta rap, and hip-hop baggy jeans.
"Next thing they be telling us kids is that smoking ain't allowed in school neither. Them administrators are wound up so tight that the National Weather Service has us under a perpetual tornado watch, jus' in case one of them oppressive bastards should suddenly unravel!"
The post-college world isn't always much better. I supervised a large call center for a while and during the graveyard shift, half my staff showed up in pajamas and flip-flops. I didn't care as long as they didn't have smell bad (a requirement I did have to enforce on occasion).
Who doesn't? :-(
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.