STUDENT "COUNSEL"

I had an interesting discussion with my 13 year old this morning. He wanted to wear wind pants to school and I told him I thought that was against the dress code. Turns out I was wrong. Sweats and wind pants are allowed. But should they be?
Okay, I come from a different generation. ( Gen X-Lax) and things were different when I was in high school.
Girls did NOT wear pants to school. (I mean slacks or jeans. They did not wear slacks or jeans. That is DEFINITELY not the same as going commando, which I don’t know if they did or didn’t.)
Boys wore pants that DID NOT show their underwear. (And admittedly, they COULD have been going commando, but under those dress codes, no one would have suffered with that decision but them)
We DID NOT call our teachers by their first names. Or by a nickname (to their faces. My principal was bald, and we called him Old Chrome Dome behind his back. But no one would have shortened that to Mr. CD and then used that in addressing him.) Mr. Kiefer, my chemistry teacher, would have made me sit in front where the room smelled like sulphur for calling him Rick. Okay, his name was Robert, but still…
I suppose I am hard nosed, but I just would like to see kids become students again. My generation was no smarter, nor were they more inventive, than today’s kids. So why was America ranked with the major players academically then and now we can’t even compete with third world nations? I think it comes down to attitudes.
CONSIDER: There was a wide debate over whether to use red pencil to correct student papers because the red color seemed so judgmental. It could traumatize them. Maybe they could use some trauma.
We have no way of knowing if our kids have done their homework (or have done it correctly) because they get a couple of periods a day to work on it and they don’t bring it home. In other words, kids don’t really have homework any more. My 13 year old dashes something off on an assignment and hands it in, correct or not. I HAVE NO OPPORTUNITY TO CHECK THE WORK. Okay, again, admittedly I don’t remember how to do a lot of the math, but I am STILL a force to be reckoned with when it comes to English or history

There is some evidence that, under certain circumstances, use of an Ipod during class might help a student tune out voices and other noises that could be even more distracting. Okay. I can sort of see that. I guess, to old people like me, it just seems disrespectful to teachers to attend their classes with an earbud in you ear and a cord hanging down your body.
But cell phones are another matter. Kids are allowed to bring them to school, but not use them in class. Like that happens. Stats say most of kids texting happens during class time. AND older teens spend an average of nearly two hours a day texting in addition to half an hour talking.
I’m going to investigate this Ipod-vs. distraction thing further. There may be something to it.
And I am not against girls wearing slacks to school (though low rise jeans give them that little belly bulge (the new term for it is muffin top, I think) which is SO attractive.
But I believe that dress DOES affect attitude. And if we want kids to respect us, we have to model that for them.
AND IF THEY’RE GOING TO BRING MUSIC TO SCHOOL, I VOTE FOR TEXAS SWING OR SQUAREDANCE.