03-26-2004, 01:21 PM
I understand their intent. Unfortunately the meaning of those symbols are not always universal. Banning doc martens with white or red shoelaces because they might mean something bad, to me amounts to (pardon the pun) nothing more than a symbolic, knee-jerk, and heavy handed gesture. Address racism, banning coloured\uncoloured shoelaces on boots will not get rid of the real problem.
But, what does it mean for a school board to address racism? They can't control what happens with these kids after class, so they can only really try to keep the issue from interfering with the learning environment as much as possible. I would say that if some students in class are offending each other with racial slurs, that is a real problem that the school will try to solve as best they can (which amounts to sending the offensive kid to the office, telling him he has to stop doing this, and using whatever school discipline is available to try to enforce that). But let's say instead of directly saying the racial slur and picking fights, the kid wears a t-shirt with the slur written on the front and back. It's still the same problem, isn't it? Now let's say instead of the t-shirt actually having the slur, it just has a big swastika on the front. I don't know that there is really much difference.
By the same token, no third grade teacher I know would let a kid get away with wearing a shirt that says "I Want Oral Sex". If most of the kids have an understanding that wearing a certain type of bracelet means just that, then perhaps those bracelets shouldn't be allowed either.
To adress the deeper problem really has to be the responsibility of the parents. And to all you parents out there I can only say "Good luck with that!"
But, what does it mean for a school board to address racism? They can't control what happens with these kids after class, so they can only really try to keep the issue from interfering with the learning environment as much as possible. I would say that if some students in class are offending each other with racial slurs, that is a real problem that the school will try to solve as best they can (which amounts to sending the offensive kid to the office, telling him he has to stop doing this, and using whatever school discipline is available to try to enforce that). But let's say instead of directly saying the racial slur and picking fights, the kid wears a t-shirt with the slur written on the front and back. It's still the same problem, isn't it? Now let's say instead of the t-shirt actually having the slur, it just has a big swastika on the front. I don't know that there is really much difference.
By the same token, no third grade teacher I know would let a kid get away with wearing a shirt that says "I Want Oral Sex". If most of the kids have an understanding that wearing a certain type of bracelet means just that, then perhaps those bracelets shouldn't be allowed either.
To adress the deeper problem really has to be the responsibility of the parents. And to all you parents out there I can only say "Good luck with that!"