Really are they that scared!

[Germankilter]

Found this article online, thought it was interesting and wandered if any of us have had this happen to them? Mods: Sorry if its in the wrong area, feel free to move it.



School Officials Ban Kilt at Prom Because It's "not Normal"


By Piper Weiss, Shine Staff | Parenting – Thu, Mar 29, 2012 6:30 PM EDT
At 19, William Carruba is old enough to serve in the army and vote. But according to his school administration, he's still not allowed to dress himself for prom.


Carubba, who's of Scottish descent, was planning to don a kilt with his family's tartan, instead of a standard old tuxedo on his big night out, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Even his date was excited about his outfit. (She has a crush on fellow Scotsman Gerard Butler).


But when the school board for Carruba's Missouri high school got wind of his plan, hub-bub ensued.
"It's not what we call normal wear," his school superintendent said at special meeting addressing the great kilt conundrum. "We must adhere to our [dress] policy, to do otherwise would be reckless on our part."


A kilt with a family crest is reckless but a tux with blue ruffles isn't? Explain that logic.


It's assumed that "recklessness" is code for cross-dressing , after comments were made about how "men should dress like men" for the prom.


While progress has been made in the past few years, prom brings out the worst in school officials. All the tolerance and anti-bullying messages go out the window, when one night a year, school leaders ban same-sex dates and thwart transgender or non-conformist kids from just being who they are.


The top-down mandates breed student cruelty too, as evidenced by Constance McMillan , shut out of both her high school prom, and later, her grade's "private" prom , simply because she wanted to bring her girlfriend as a date. It's up to officials to set the precedent of tolerance in a school, and when they don't it's even harder for kids to accept each other.


But this generation of high schoolers are already more tolerant than those who came before them. It was students who elected the country's first ever transgender prom queen last year. And students who supported the high school senior who fought for the right to wear a tux to her prom.


In Carruba's case, he had the backing of several fellow students and his date when he challenged school officials for the right to wear his kilt.


He made a great case too: "One of my great-grandfathers came to this country in the 1700s for freedom," Carubba said. "Saying I can't wear my kilt ... is a pronouncement that I cannot honor my family."


Still, the school board was unmoved, and backed up their decision to ban his kilt with the world's most infuriating reason: "attending the prom is a privilege, not a right."


When it was all over, Carruba said he understood "full-heartedly" and apologized for any fuss that was made over the issue. He added simply, "I'll just wear pants."

[TheOfficialBren]

Racist school board!

[Laird_M]

Typical of small minded people everywhere...if you're just a little bit 'different'...

[TheOfficialBren]

Post deleted.

[Father Bill]

You can't legislate common sense (or intelligence) when the societal norm is to make a rule for everything and follow it blindly. This kind of un-thinking thinking blows my brain!

[Big Mikey]

And it is surprisingly NOT unusual. In my years as a forum member I recall probably one case per year that we have heard about similar circumstances. Sometimes it involves teacher/parent groups in smaller cities and sometimes large. The common thread is always a good kid wanting to express a love of their family heritage and a little individuality running into a wall erected by supposedly better knowing adults.

When you look around many instances of some form of discrimination become evident. As a large, white, bearded and tattooed male I have been subjected to numerous delays going through customs because I have been "profiled" as a biker type. When I wear a kilt while travelling, I become a customs officers worst nightmare.

[davedove]

And to the original question, yes they are that scared. Scared that something, somewhere, sometime, somehow will cause an incident. I know their jobs are to avoid such incidents, but they always seem to imagine any little deviation will automatically cause a worst case scenario.

[madmacs]

It was in Missouri...what do you expect?

Hmmmm... Now y'alls sayin' we's rednecks or something?

It was sadly reported on the forum last year when it happened. Can't say I was impressed with the guys commitment to wearing it... International civerage and he uses his girlfriend as an excuse to just wear trousers...

[Llama]

I hear stories like this every year and it always makes me sad. In my state, there are a group of students trying to arrange a separate homosexual-free prom.


But then you hear of progressive proms where all are accepted, and it gives me a little more faith in humanity.

[usonian]

I have no doubt that there are plenty of common-sense, even progressive, school administrators out there but they're not the ones who make the news with stories like this. The job seems to attract a certain type of petty tyrant. When I was in high school the great moral panic was not kilts at prom, but Bart Simpson t-shirts.