help me put my feelings into words

[blessedwithboys]

ok, i'm a loud-mouth. first the snacks and lunches, then animal dissections, now this. LOL i'm not going to actually complain about this to anyone, i just cant figure out how to express why this bothers me.

school uniforms. dont love 'em, dont hate 'em. i was asked to be on the advisory committe to pick new ones for next year.

we group our grade levels into three categories. all three categories get the same two color choices for pants. the elementary category gets 2 color choices for shirts, both gender neutral. middle schoolers get two different colors, both gender neutral.

for HS, the boys get white and blue dress shirts and the girls get pink. i asked if the boys could wear pink if they wanted and the answer was no bc they were only asking the vendor for pink shirts in the fitted ladies style.

this really bugs me but i couldnt verbalize why, so there was no chance of getting it changed at the committe meeting. i dont even have a girl, so i'm not going to start a whole new campaign to change it, but i'd just like to be able to make a clear argument if i'm invited to be on the uniform advisory committee again next year.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by blessedwithboys

for HS, the boys get white and blue dress shirts and the girls get pink. i asked if the boys could wear pink if they wanted and the answer was no bc they were only asking the vendor for pink shirts in the fitted ladies style.

can the girls wear white?

This is wierd. These are high schoolers. I know many people color-code babies so you can tell the boys from the girls, but you don't generally need to color code teenagers.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by blessedwithboys

this really bugs me but i couldnt verbalize why, so there was no chance of getting it changed at the committe meeting. i dont even have a girl, so i'm not going to start a whole new campaign to change it, but i'd just like to be able to make a clear argument if i'm invited to be on the uniform advisory committee again next year.

You could say that men wear all colors now (dh has a purple dress shirt, though he only wears it outside of work) and it would be more equitable for there to be the same choices for everyone.

Ds is going to a public charter next year that has eliminated skirts. Everyone wears the same uniform.

I worked at a boys school in England that had grey uniforms with pink trim and hats.

[sapphire_chan]

Are they doing it that way at the highschool level so it's more obvious if there's one girl or boy in a big group of the other sex, or if there's a boy and girl making out someplace?

Okay, that's not it, because girls can wear the white shirts too, right?

Having attended a high school located just off of downtown PDX, I'm automatically leery of any clothing that says "highschool girl!!!!" at 100 yards.

[mattemma04]

The pink shirts for girls would bother me. White for all!

And I don't like short skirts for girls too,lol.

[sunnmama]

Throwing out another pov---

I'd be more inclined to push the issue if the pink/blue shirts were for the younger kids. Since this is the hs group, why not let the hs kids handle it if they have a problem with the color choices? It sounds like an appropriate issue for hs kids to debate and handle on their own. Kids that age tend to be enthusiastic about pushing this kind of issue.

[blessedwithboys]

ftr, girls in lower grades may wear skorts to the knee. HS girls may wear A-line skirts but the skirt must go below the knee while standing.

girls may wear the white shirt or the white with blue stripes. boys may not wear pink. in the elem. and middle grades, both shirt color options are unisex.

i asked my ds to pass around this info to his classmates so that any who objected would have time to speak up before the contract with the vendor is signed. he said he didnt think too many of the girls would wear pink, but he knew a few boys who might. (apparently, the "pink is pimp" craze from a few yrs ago still rages on in our school! LOL)

there is absolutely no reason why pink was chosen, other than we needed to pick colors for HS and one mother of all girls shouted out "pink?" and no one objected. well, i did, but not vehemently. i simply said it seemed unfair that the lower grades had more freedom of choice than the young adults and that pink shouldnt be a "girl" color only. no one agreed and the meeting moved on.

[sunnmama]

Originally Posted by blessedwithboys

girls may wear the white shirt or the white with blue stripes. boys may not wear pink. in the elem. and middle grades, both shirt color options are unisex.

Ok, better understanding now. I was under the assumption that the girls could only wear pink.

So the major difference between hs and lower grades is that they offer two different styles of shirts (regular aka boys and ladies fitted). It makes sense to me that they would not do each color in each style, and instead offer a "regular" color (in this case, 2 colors) and a "ladies fitted" color. The pink seem incidental, as the boys could probably not fit in the "ladies fitted" color no matter what it was. And the girls can fit in the "regular"---so if they choose pink, it is because they like the cut and color. Is there really a problem here?