Get Over It Grandpa

In the fall of the year 1995, George Judson wrote an article appropriately titled "Uncool in School: Dress Code Debate. The article is centered around a parent and member of the Board of Education, Marc Peyser who is vehemently against teenagers and children wearing baseball caps to school. Peyser and the Board of Education at Stamford High School, believed to be in Massachusetts, are trying to incorporate a new and more specific dress code for the students. Judson carefully represents all sides of the argument, being from the students, parents and the school officials. He even delves into the possibility of a teacher dress code then promptly addresses the issues that parents are facing when it comes to actually finding school appropriate clothing in retail stores. The article ends with the results of what the student committee supported and how the Board of Education amended the code for the students to help ensure that it passes. Judson closes the article with specifying the contradictory views that surround hat wearing between adults and teenagers. This article uses more of personal beliefs and opinions rather than facts and statistics, but there are both used.

George Judson makes it a point to show how cool and understanding Marc Peyser is when it comes to the way teenagers dress. He states that he has no problem with clothes and styles of dress that come with the times, for example, the baggy pants that represent the grunge look of today’s teenagers but that he hates baseball caps. His problem with the baseball caps is the lack of respect, or even, disrespect that it shows to teachers and administrators around the nation. Apparently Marc is not alone, there is a movement to vote in a dress code which addresses the hat issue along with all the other dress issues facing high schools. This dress code will specify what is allowed and what is not allowed more so than the previous dress code. Judson adds that there is a lot of controversy surrounded the necessity and appropriateness of the dress code. It almost seems like a last ditch effort for the schools to gain control in a society that is more accommodating to the students and parents wants and needs.

In George Judson’s article he interviews quite a few people that are involved in the dress code debate. Judson’s main interviewee is Marc Peyser, a father of a teenage boy and a member of the Board of Education in Stamford. Peysers biggest dress code concern is baseball caps being worn in schools, as is written, “Kids have this hat thing, but he [Peyser] and some other board members have a respect thing, and hats in class, they say, do not show respect.” (Judson) This article centers on the proposed dress code high schools in Stamford, which is believed to be in Massachusetts. Hats are not the only issue here, “no hats, no bare midriffs, no see-through clothing, no underwear showing, no vulgar T-shirts, no sunglasses, no beepers, no cellular phones [and] no oversized jewelry that can be used as weapons,”(Judson) are the proposed bans for this dress code. This would be the first dress code to be established in Stamford, as said by Stamford High School’s principal Anthony Markosky, he has always gone by the guideline of, “If you’re conspicuous by your dress, you can be referred to the office.” (Markosky) To bring things into perspective on the hat ban, William C. Newman, lawyer with the Civil Liberties Union of