School districts across the metroplex have begun to set and enforce standards for their pupils. School boards and some parents are realizing teachers across the nation are losing the battle for control of their classrooms.
Moreover, the last decade has seen instructors receive less support from their districts and more rights and privileges given to individuals barely into puberty.
In the last couple of years, a debate has picked up steam regarding individuality—dress and attitude in particular—and the point at which it becomes less about the person and begins to impair and distract the education of others.
Last year, Fort Worth Independent School District joined the growing list of districts that had had enough of unruly, intolerable students.
Through a series of public forums, FWISD decided on a standardized dress code to combat the slovenly appearance of students, which was becoming a distraction for both teachers and fellow classmates.
This summer the district released a revised dress code, which includes no sagging pants, sunglasses, hats, sleepwear or “grillz” and a rule requiring all shirts be tucked in. The revision will impact 80,000 students in 144 schools.
Duncanville ISD, having already enforced a dress code years ago, implemented a new cell phone policy this summer. District offices were inundated with complaints from teachers because of the disruptions the phones were causing in class. In response, and rightfully so, the district sided with its teachers.
In addition to cell phones, CD players, Blackberrys and radios are prohibited. Violating the policy will result in confiscation of the property, which will be returned only to the parent following a conference and the payment of a $15 administrative fee. A second violation will result in the confiscation of the item for the remainder of the school year.
Kennedale ISD added random drug testing for students participating in any extracurricular activities with severe penalties for those found in violation of the policy.
Although the new rules are necessary, we as a society need to ask why are they even necessary.
The answer is simple: parents are failing as parents.
Common sense should dictate that you do not possess entertainment devices, wear your pants around your ankles or behave like you are going “clubbin’” on a middle school or high school campus. But students learn from the examples set by their parents, who in turn seem to bestow very little in the form of principles and guidelines on their kids.
High schools should assist in laying only the groundwork for a student’s future and not become an overbearing, moral authority since many of today’s parents do not involve themselves in their children’s lives.
It is the parents’ responsibility to teach respect and values to their children in order for them to be successful in life. It is absurd that school districts must go to such lengths, that in addition to ABCs and 123s, they must also teach respect, integrity and the difference between right and wrong-—things that should be taught in the home.
But if the school districts do not, then who will?
