Miniature corporate drones

[rikibeth]

That's what they want the kids to look like, at her school, it seems.

melovechocolate goes to a magnet school. There's been a dress code in place since kindergarten -- navy or khaki pants/shorts/skirts/jumpers, white, navy or burgundy tops, solid colors, and some guidelines about length of shorts and skirts.

Well, I just got a notice in the mail that it's changing. Pants, shorts, or skirts can now be navy, khaki, or black; tops have to be their new LOGO EMBROIDERED tops in white or royal blue (the middle schoolers also get a choice of light blue).

Worse, they're POLO SHIRTS, short or long sleeved. And the sweatshirt is V-necked.

This message brought to you by the Society for the Pronunciation of the E-U Dipthong. EEEEEEEEUUUUUUUUUUUUUW.

I have promised her that she can wear skateboarder shorts every damned day if she wants to. Although I told her that underwear showing is Right Out. (She agreed.) And although she's at an awkward in-between size for Converse sneakers, she can have all the freaky shoelaces she likes for whatever sneakers she winds up with. We used to do brightly patterned tights and socks, after all.

Skateboarder shorts have another advantage, actually... she has long legs and a very skinny butt, and it is nearly impossible to find pants (even the Old Navy adjustable-waist slims) that aren't either too short or falling off her nonexistent hips. If skateboarder shorts are an inch or so longer or shorter, well, whatever. So, practical.

Polo shirts.

Sheesh.

Comments

[alchemine.livejournal.com]

Ick. I think some kids' school uniforms are cute (the kind with little tartan skirts and white blouses), but anything that involves a polo shirt is definitely not cute.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Her first day of kindergarten, with the little blue jumper and the little white blouse, she was adorable. I was able to use her school stuff for improvised Sailor Moon before. Now? Ick.

She agrees that a full-on first-movie Hogwarts uniform would be a lot more entertaining to wear, because it would look cooler.

We've offered to let her get a Ravenclaw tie to wear on picture day, if she likes, too.

[follybard.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah, I was just thinking maybe the polo shirt wouldn't be so bad if only she could wear her wizarding robes over it.... :)

(I have extra sympathy this week because I went out last weekend trying to find clothes slightly nicer than jeans to wear for respectability in my new position, and came home emptyhanded... because I was Defeated By Pants! Now *I* want wizarding robes to wear to work!)

[daniellec.livejournal.com]

Ew. That's just, blah. Personally, I think kids should wear clothing that expresses their creativity.

[daniellec.livejournal.com]

Allivans has Hogwarts things, if you didn't know that already.

[djinnthespazz.livejournal.com]

Creativity?
In SCHOOL?!?
Scandalous!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Kid's already got a fancy-schmancy wand from them, yeah.

[surelle.livejournal.com]

You don't wanna know about my Catholic school uniforms.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I have to confess I am relieved that the school dress code precludes such atrocities as short-shorts with logos or provocative sayings across the ass... not that she appears to want such things, jogging shorts that I would not have thought twice about at her age make her faintly uncomfortable.

But polo shirts, ick.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

But, see, if we're talking tartan jumper and little white blouse, that's CUTE.

Polo shirts are just yucky.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Defeated By Pants, the horror!

You ought to consider working in a British university, they wear the academic robes on a daily basis...

[cherrybutterfly.livejournal.com]

Can't wait to see you on Tuesday. Dan's car can't really make it that far...

So if we can make plans, give us a call! *hugs*

[distraction77.livejournal.com]

I've had that very same problem with pants my whole life. It a'int easy being a leggy blond! Which may be why I dye my hair... But anyway, way to go for fighting the Man!

[djinnthespazz.livejournal.com]

Heh. I live in polo shirts.

Cotton? colorful? comfortable? transition from home to work and back again seamlessly? check, check, check, check.

*grins*

[surelle.livejournal.com]

Grammar school:

Pink (gag) Peter Pan blouse. Maroon and gray plaid jumper. Maroon socks.

7th & 8th grade:
pink blouse with pointed collar. Maroon plaid skirt. Maroon polyester weskit. Maroon socks.

Freshman year in high school was:

choice of white or yellow Oxford shirt
green, gray, and yellow plaid skirt (UGLY)
Green socks
Green polyester waffle-weave blazer.

It did loosen up over time but it was bad when I preferred wearing the waffle weave to the new uniform sweater, forest green V neck with shamrock.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's all pretty awful! The one I see around here is a white blouse with a maroon-and-grey plaid jumper or skirt, and that's pretty cute-looking, but those sound ghastly.

Hogwarts movie uniforms are ever so much niftier.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

And on me, they look like ass.

At work I'm in a chef coat, this summer when not at work I'm in a shelf-bra tank top...

[iibnf.livejournal.com]

They learn about magnets?

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she's getting green Manic Panic streaks next week 'cause she's on the green team at camp...

I figure once she actually develops hips she'll be OK.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Magnet as in "interdistrict magnet," meaning they accept enrollment from several towns in the surrounding area. supposed to improve racial balance in a voluntary fashion.

Supposed to be an improved curriculum from the standard city public school to attract the (white) kids from the suburbs, too.

We can't afford private school, you see.

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

May I just be permitted to say...phooey?

[greeneyes-rpi.livejournal.com]

*faints at your icon*

oh...my...

Where? How? Are there more?

[grey-and-purple.livejournal.com]

It's called outcome-oriented education. After all, corp-drones is what kids are meant to be when they grow up

You should know (if you don't already) that our educational system is an industry and its principal industrial product is wage-slaves. That's the product that's in demand, so that's the product the schools make.

My earnest wishes go to melovchocolate that she should escape this fate.

[grey-and-purple.livejournal.com]

Oh, and by the way, if I were melovechocolate, I'd be spending an hour a day thinking how to push those dress codes to the limit and just far enough beyond to dodge the clubs. I know this because it's what I did in prep school.

[grey-and-purple.livejournal.com]

Supposed to be an improved curriculum from the standard city public school to attract the (white) kids from the suburbs, too.

Based on what I know of the Hartford school system, "an improved curriculum" is setting sights awfully low.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Mine, or iibnf's?

Mine came from amberdiceless. She's got a bunch.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Oh, we're already aiding and abetting on this one, trust me.

And as for wage slave? I have had it suggested that I start introducing her early to the rudiments of sound engineering. *There's* a career I could see her enjoying, outside the corporate-drone mold!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed, phooey.

[actual-size.livejournal.com]

You don't understand. It's nothing to do with turning the kids into corporate drones. They're simply trying to protect them. Haven't you heard about all these kids becoming sexually active at an alarmingly young age these days? I'm talking 10-year-olds. Now, I'm all for sexual freedom, but I do think one should have a little more maturity, a little more knowledge about the possible repercussions of what they're getting into, before they get into it. And I'm not alone.

Enter the polo shirt.

As we all know, there are countless ugly articles of clothing in the world. Who among us has not looked upon some eyesore of an outfit and thought, "What the hell were they thinking?" (I have a friend who works at Foxwoods. He once told me he wished he could stand at the entrance with a full-length mirror, stopping badly dressed people and saying, "Excuse me, but did you know you looked like that when you left the house?") Everywhere you look, you see evidence of poor fashion choices: distressing hemlines, retina-searing color combinations, nausea-inducing patterns, boxer shorts riding high above ridiculously low pants, any line of clothing involving a rap act. And yet the humble polo shirt--simple, modest, not at all gaudy--manages in its quiet, dull way to be more repellent than any of these. There is just something so totally, so powerfully...blah about it. Gazing upon the polo shirt, we do not shriek and cover our eyes, for the polo shirt does not evoke such an emotionally violent response, being as it is unable to inspire passion of any sort. We do not run from the room at the sight of it. We merely grimace faintly with distaste, abandon any thought of attempting to have our way with the person wearing the polo shirt, and return to our crossword puzzle or our tatting.

I speak from experience. For I have witnessed the lust-dampening power of the polo shirt (alas!). I personally have known a few people who could bring my hormones to a rolling boil merely by entering the room, but the instant they donned a polo shirt, the fire went out, baby. Like that. The polo shirt is sartorial saltpeter, plain and simple.

You see what I mean? What better way to get these kids to stop messing around than to dress them in polo shirts? Psychologically, it's a better game plan than flat-out telling them to stop, as nothing is more appealing than that which is forbidden. But make them wear polo shirts, and they'll immediately cool off without even thinking about it. It's brilliant. Brilliant, I tell you!