"Butt" what? Is there an answer to the sagging dilemma?

Is the attire of a student an effective indicator of their academic strength?

The sagging pants dilemma is plaguing my campus. I have to be honest, its exhausting trying to monitor the pants of young people on our campus. I can't walk from my office to the bathroom without stopping at least five to six people who act as if the "no sagging" rule is new to them. It takes a lot of man hours and power enforcing this rule too. I could be spending more time refining teacher practice by conducting walk through observations. Instead, I'm in my office, not being visible, inputting discipline for things like "sagging."   As much as I find it tiring to enforce, when I see the young men and women on my campus wearing their pants this way, I feel the disapproval of wearing one's pants so low rise in my blood pressure. I get this visceral, negative reaction and it goes to my brain and then to my mouth.

At the end of every day, I add up the number of dress code violations sitting on my desk, I
can't help but wonder... is this doing any good?


So now you may be wondering if I'm one of those hippie teachers who promotes existentialism and free expression. No, I'm not... not exactly.

I can't help but wonder, however, why is there such disdain of sagging in Western culture?  We all know we judge people based on looks.  We all know, and let's be honest here, that there is a perceived fear of Black men.  Especially Black men in groups, sagging.


Okay, I'll admit, I don't want to see any young person's underwear.  But while we are being honest, we all have made fashion choices in our young lives that we WOULD not revisit now, correct.  I can think of one: Cross colors!

I used to wear these loud clothing articles with pride.  Do clothing choices warrant disciplinary actions that could result in discouraging students from being successful in school.  I'm thinking so.  I think it is wrong to judge a student's ability based on their lack of conforming to the very Eurocentric mindset of American culture.  Let's face it, many Americans would feel a lot safer if all their Black men looked like this:

Instead of this:

Or Especially This:

So, back to the original question.  If dress code violations make administrative staff spend time on discipline, is implementing a dress code violation about sagging pants worth it?  Also, is it really fair to discipline a kid for how they dress?  Now when I ask the last question, I mean something that's not too offensive like short shorts, bra tops, etc... 

This blog entry was more of a discussion starter.  Should students be punished for a fashion statement that is a teenage thing now?  I'm not so sure.  I think everyone should just wear uniforms.