The Dress Code Nazi’s Strike!

Earlier last week when I opened Matt’s school bag, there was a notice in it advising that he was wearing the wrong socks to school and that the socks that he wore yesterday were not acceptable under the school’s dress code.

• Did he have the wrong colour socks that day?
• Did he have multi-coloured socks on that day?
• Did he have socks with offensive images on them?

The answer on all three counts was a resounding no; he broke the rules by having socks that are not the right length.  That’s right, the colour was correct, just the length was wrong – by about 1cm – 2cm.  Oh, also he didn’t have his hat either; ok one out of two is in need of correction.

The note explained that if he is caught with incorrect school uniform again he will be referred to the principal’s office.  Now you might expect that he is in grade 4 or higher; no, he’s a prep student who is having his 5th birthday this Saturday.  What school does he go to?  St. Andrew’s College, Redlynch.

Yes, it is a private school, but really, a 5 year old referred to the Principals office for not wearing the right length socks??!!

What is even more ridiculous is that the school uniform shop does not sell the correct socks in Matthews’ size.  Even worse is that the uniform shop is only open 3 days a week and then only before school.
I sent an email to his teacher this morning which is reproduced below:

Thank you for your note that we found in Matthew’s bag this morning.

We will endeavour to have the issue corrected with regards to the socks that Matthew wears; however my wife tells me that it is difficult to find stores that stock the correct size for Matthews age.  We have also found that we are unable to purchase the correct socks from the school uniform shop, which we find ironic.

Given that we both work long hours (usually 7:30am to 5:00pm) getting to shops to try and find conforming socks can be difficult when mixed with children’s sporting commitments.

At the end of the day, when the school cannot facilitate the correct clothing through the school uniform shop and local stores do not stock the right sizing, we feel that the policy is a bit petty when the issue is the length of the socks, not the colour and there are a few more pressing issues in the world than the length of a student’s socks to be concerned about.

What annoys me is that make up and iPods are also banned under the school rules; that doesn’t mean that students in the senior school don’t use either.  I’ve seen several on the odd days that I drop Matt off which students are wearing (both) in plain view.  While I understand that they are trying to get the dress code and its importance into the younger students; they really need to get things equal across the board, not just pick on one section of the school this month and another the next.

Honestly, there are enough politically correct idiots walking around this planet with fence posts up their arse worrying and spreading fear about what might happen if something happens or if some poor over sensitive little soul gets offended.

Build a bridge and get over it St Andrews!  There are bigger and more important things happening out there in the world and in people’s everyday lives much more important than the length of a 5 year old child’s school socks!!

Strangely enough, I haven’t had any reply to my earlier mentioned email…