Dr. Rosalind Osgood, a preacher and member of Broward County’s school board, brought up the issue of parental dress code at a recent board meeting. She’s tired of seeing parents in curlers, pajamas, and sagging pants. Aren’t we all? But that isn’t really the issue.
What Dr. Osgood fails to realize is a number of things. So many are coming to mind I can barely type quickly enough to get them all down. I’ll outline just a few.
You can’t legislate class or taste. Welcome to the 1st Amendment Dr. Osgood.
Why is Dr. Osgood serving on the school board when clearly she wants to legislate the entire community’s dress code? Maybe she should run for school board and try to change the city dress code.
While it is good for parents to model good behavior, it’s not the school board’s purvue to decide for parents what they should be modeling. Maybe Mr. Saggy Pants IS modeling his best behavior? Have you seen him at his worst? Maybe he’s doing the best he can? Maybe he just lost a ton of weight and can’t afford new pants?
And her comment about trying to avoid embarrassing students with the way a parent dresses. Has she ever had a teenager? It doesn’t matter what you wear. They’re going to be embarrassed simply because you are converting oxygen into carbon dioxide. It’s something you learn to live with as a parent.
Thankfully, nothing but a few parent seminars will come of this. If the attendance of those is anything like the PTA attendance, it will be a non-issue. And just how many of those curler-haired, pajama-wearing, droopy-pants parents will be there for the lecture? ZILCH!
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Photo Credit via Flickr Irina Slutsky
