Now that the academic year is largely done, the Federal Way School Board can concentrate on a matter of serious grave urgency.
Flip flops. Oh, and also "...slippers, pajamas, halter tops, shirts that expose the stomach, unusually low-riding pants and shorts and skirts that are shorter than the end of a student's fingertips."
My high school effectively banned flip-flops by writing into the dress code that all footwear had to go around the back of the ankle in some way, so sandals that had a strap going round the back were acceptable. I've always thought that was a pretty elegant definition that made enforcement easy.
ReplyDeleteBut the rationale for that rule was even stupider than what's presented in this article. The reason for the behind-the-ankle strap rule was to ensure that footwear would be more difficult to remove so that — get this — it would be harder to use as a weapon.
Yes, administrators at my high school apparently feared that students would remove their flip-flops and Birkenstocks to use them as weapons.
I wish I was making this up.
And the clueless TSA lets us wear them while flying! I'm calling my congress-man, -woman, or -child.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting this image of Krushchev pouding the UN podium with a flip-flop. The Cold War would have ended way sooner--we'd have laughed him out of the geopolitical landscape.
ReplyDeleteOf course, one thing that we students often pointed out at the time was that while footwear without an ankle strap may come off more easily, bigger, heavier shoes make for better weapons. Plus, if it takes you longer to unlace your Doc Martens, slip them off your feet, and use them to assault and batter a fellow student, the prohibition of quicker, lighter shoes only ensures that injuries inflicted by footwear will be (1) more severe and (2) more premeditated.
ReplyDeleteGod forbid that school administrators think that hard about the rules they make, though.