Rules, Rules, Rules

Guess what! I found this unpublished post on my computer and now you get to read it. Wouldn't wanted any of the 7 people that sometimes read my blog to go into withdrawals because I made bad decisions last week. Read and be delighted!

As I have said before, I went to private school (I'm a pretentious asshole, remember?), and, as is the case with many private schools, we wore uniforms. Starting in first grade and continuing all the way up to twelfth, I wore basically the exact same thing 5 days a week, 9 months a year, and I freaking loved it. Actually, at the time I didn't really think about it at all, but now I'm glad for the experience. Never once did I have to think about what I was going to wear to school. Sure I spent hours deciding what color ribbon (or scrunchie between 1995 and 1998) to wear and whether to bunch my tube socks at the ankle or pull them to the knee, but that was about the extent of my worrying for a good 12 years of my life. By the time I got to college, I actually had a hard time dressing myself for class [Note: this is a joke, if you didn't get that, stop reading here]. Not only did it save me a lot of time, but it saved my parents a lot of money, which they then funneled directly back into the school. My point is that, for the most part, uniforms were a good thing. They served not only as an equalizer, but also, and it pains me to say this because it's exactly what the school wanted, it helped me to define my character as something separate from the way I dress.
Of course, as a child I bitched and moaned when I would get in trouble for wearing non-uniform shoes or socks or jackets, and it only pissed me off more when my parents took the side of the school. How dare they?! I am their child, their baby, they should always agree with me. ALWAYS. Their "reasoning" (if you can even call it that) was that I knew what I was doing was against the rules and I did it anyway, so I deserved the consequences (which were usually nothing, I was a nerd, teachers generally let the nerds get away with more). Now, being a wise and mature 22 years old, I actually agree with my parents. It's amazing what a few years can do for your reasoning skills.
I've been ruminating on this because of a news story I recently read. Some first grade boy in San Antonio was suspended from school for wearing an earring and refusing to cut his hair. Now every idiot and his mother, including that beacon of stupidity, Perez Hilton, has jumped all over the school for their evil policy. People are mostly enraged because the little boy in question is growing out his hair for Locks of Love and how dare the school not allow him to help kids with cancer. Ok, here's the thing, I think Locks of Love is a fantastic organization. I have donated hair to them twice. I support Locks of Love. BUT it's against the school's policy for boys to have long hair. Also, what the hell is a first grade boy doing with an earring? My annoyance has nothing to do with his being a boy and everything to do with him being in first grade. Children with earrings are trashy. Sorry. Anyway, I realize that a lot of people view traditional gender roles as being on par with racism, but just get over it. Honestly, I think gender roles are wonderful. Sure they shouldn't dictate every single decision made in a person's life (I'd go so far as to say that almost nothing should hold that sort of power over a person's rationale), but they're nice. After all, how can I be proud of being a woman if being a woman is exactly the same as being a man? Also, androgyny creeps me out a little bit. Back to the issue at hand. The kid, or rather his parents, as he's only 7 so I don't hold him responsible, broke the rules. If they would like to change the rules to fit with their very lofty ideals, then perhaps they should engage in a rational discussion with the school. If they cannot persuade the school to change their policy, then they either need to switch schools or move on. Believe it or not, there are actually a lot of things in the world a lot more worthy of outrage than some kid getting in trouble in school because he broke the rules. Teaching your child to answer opposition with whining rather than reason is only setting him or her up to be a lazy, impotent adult with entitlement issues. Shocking as it may seem to the generation of "adults" currently raising small children, rules and boundaries are a good thing. They teach children that there are consequences for actions. I'll use my own life as an example here. I fucked around in college and now I'm having a hard time finding a job. Whose fault is that? As much as I'd love to say that it's UGA's fault for being located in Athens, GA (a line of reasoning that these people seem to think makes total sense), I know I can't. It's my fault. I could have studied and worked hard and done internships and been a research assistant, but I didn't, and now I have to live with the consequences. Obviously, a little boy having long hair and an earring does not necessitate his being unsuccessful in life, but rewarding him for breaking the rules might. Change is not gotten by complaining, but by being proactive. Rules are set in place for a reason; if you break them, you will be punished. If you sense that the rules are unjust, set about changing them in a calm, mature fashion. If you have enough free time to worry that much about something as insignificant as a school's dress code, you need to grow up and get some real problems. I don't even have real problems, and even I think you sound pathetic. Really the only part of the school's decision I disagree with is that the parents went unpunished. They knew that his having an earring and long hair was against the rules, and they chose to ignore that, which in turn teaches their son that if you disagree with a rule you can just break it, thus perpetuating the problem. It sounds to me like this poor kid's parents are using him as some sort of statement against authority because they weren't loved enough by their hippie-turned-yuppie parents. Also, the mom's name is Kandi, which basically says everything right there. Sorry if this turned into a bit of a rant, but, as someone who fully supports civil disobedience when it actually means something, this little bullshit really annoyed me. Go about your day.