I don't often agree with Dominion Post editorials, but today when he/she/it opines that teachers sometimes knows best and parents should not automatically spring to the aid of their little princesses.
I really wonder what type of parents are more worried about a teacher pointing out a girl who is wearing her skirt hiked up looks like a slut, than the fact the skirt was hiked up in the first place. Do they like their girl looking that way? Do they encourage that type of attire at home?
Where the Dom Post editor and I part company, is that he/she/it thinks that the length of the skirt is a trivial matter. I beg to differ. That girl, aided and abetted by her parents, is seeking to objectify herself. She's more interested that when her classmates look at her, they don't see her, they see her body. Is it any wonder that she's not doing well at school? A body doesn't need good marks, or good behaviour or any sort of future - it just needs to be used by others.
So I totally agree with the Editor's final paragraph:
I really wonder what type of parents are more worried about a teacher pointing out a girl who is wearing her skirt hiked up looks like a slut, than the fact the skirt was hiked up in the first place. Do they like their girl looking that way? Do they encourage that type of attire at home?
Where the Dom Post editor and I part company, is that he/she/it thinks that the length of the skirt is a trivial matter. I beg to differ. That girl, aided and abetted by her parents, is seeking to objectify herself. She's more interested that when her classmates look at her, they don't see her, they see her body. Is it any wonder that she's not doing well at school? A body doesn't need good marks, or good behaviour or any sort of future - it just needs to be used by others.
So I totally agree with the Editor's final paragraph:
Ms King is trying to equip her to enter the world. Rather than condemning her for doing so, Amethyst's parents should thank her and ask what they can do to assist.
Saw that story.
ReplyDeleteSeemed to me that the mother had her priorities completely screwed up complaining about the school's comment while by her own admission her child had problems with her behaviour.
That girl, aided and abetted by her parents, is seeking to objectify herself.
ReplyDeleteMaybe, maybe not. But if she is, then that is her choice to make.
A teacher likening her to a slut is also objectifying her, and in that the girl had no choice.
It seems to me that schools would be far more effective if they spent less time agonising over individual choice in clothing and more time in teaching how to think rationally.
Her choice, her consequences. That's freedom. Sometimes that freedom results in undeserved consequences. She can seek justice, but it doesn't undo the event.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that schools would be far more effective if they spent less time agonising over individual choice in clothing and more time in teaching how to think rationally.
Indeed. Would an exercise in rationality include discussing consequences of bucking the dress code, skipping school and playing up?
I too think the teacher's comment was inappropriate, but it is quite possible the girl has played a part in pushing for some form of negative reaction she could then run to mummy about.
Here's another lesson: people can think they are acting rationally, and yet still produce negative results. Learning to think rationally isn't the whole story.