I hold the key to your freedom! |
These
thoughts came crashing back when I got the note. See, last year I’d sent my
youngest to school in a pair of striped socks. What can I say? I hadn’t
laundered the whites and found myself in the morning in a bit of a panic. But
then I spied the striped socks, which my son really likes, and all was right
with the world again.
However, when
Thomas came home from school that day he told me, “Teacher said we couldn’t
wear stripped socks to school.” Incredulous, I said “What?!” but then resolved
to forget about it (and be more responsible about the laundry).
The school
year ended, summer started, summer ended, and what do you know?, it’s time to
get ready for the new school year. While inspecting Thomas’ back-to-school
packet I saw it. The note, which stated that due to a couple of “incidents”
last year, school administrators thought it wise to clarify the dress code.
Therein followed two bullet point items, and the second was about the socks.
Only white socks are to be worn to school, the note stated, no colors or patterns
except on “Crazy Sock Day.” Huh? Are they serious?! A second-grader wearing
striped socks to school is an “incident?” I have to say that I thought this was
a bit much. A bit fascist. Listen, I’ve been an HR professional for the last 14
years. I get the importance of dress codes, okay? But come on. So I complained. Not to the school. I don’t want to be one of those parents, alright? I complained to Adam.
And that’s when he reminded me about the red button.
In
addition to those unflattering khakis I mentioned earlier, male students are
allowed to wear either an approved polo-style or plain white button-down shirt.
But Adam, who is a bit of a rebel,
didn’t appreciate the school trying to stamp out every trace of his
individuality, so he decided to assert himself by sewing a single red button on
the lapel of his white button down. According to him, said action had
administrators anxiously scrutinizing every line of the dress code, desperately
looking for proof of a violation (they found none). Adam also claims that he
started a revolution, and other students began sewing red buttons on their
lapels, but I gotta’ admit that sounds a little farfetched. Nevertheless, I now
get it.
I suppose
that a strict dress code is a small price to pay for a quality education
provided by decent, even loving, and knowledgeable
staff, but I don’t know. After I finish this blog I think I’m going to hit the
notions store and buy a bunch of red buttons. Do you think anyone would notice
a sock with a single red button sewn to its leg? We’ll see.
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