As I mentioned in my profile, I volunteer at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) two days a week. Currently "Body Worlds, the Story of the Heart" is the featured exhibition. Obviously we have a lot of nursing schools coming through to visit, but we also have a lot of High School students which is all about my Dress Code Forum. About 90% of the girls wear jeans and most of them look like they're painted on and many of the girls are wearing low cut tops. It's almost like watching cleavage come and go. What are your thoughts about what the gals wore to school in 1959 and what girls are wearing today? I'm sure all of you retired school teachers could chime in on this topic.

If I remember correctly as an incoming freshman in February, 1955 we could wear Jeans. My sister was a junior at Redford and she didn't want her younger brother looking square. So, I was dressed in a white oxford cloth button down shirt, with a powder blue v-neck sweater, jeans, and saddle shoes. The following fall (still '55) I think the dress code was changed where all boys could not wear jeans. (Of course girls could not wear pants of any kind) This brought in the age of khaki's into our high school clothing. I'm not sure what year it happened, but by 1957-58 boys khakis came with a small adjustable belt just below the waistline and above the pockets.

Boy, if you didn't wear that style you were truly uncool. I really think dress codes are okay, because they set a standard of behavior that is acceptable in society. By that, I mean for work, school, and business. I also think that if you are allowed to dress like a bum, you act like one, both in your workplace or school. You become casual about your responsibilities and generally don't care if things are done correctly. My biggest complaint about young men today is the wearing of baseball caps inside buildings, schools, even at the dinner table! What happened to manners? Now I'm showing my age, but we always took our hats and caps off when entering a building, school, home, etc. It really bugs me. Well, that's how I feel. Ken Barna

[quote="Ken Barna [Jan 59]"] If I remember correctly...... My biggest complaint about young men today is the wearing of baseball caps inside buildings, schools, even at the dinner table! What happened to manners? Now I'm showing my age, but we always took our hats and caps off when entering a building, school, home, etc. It really bugs me. Well, that's how I feel. Ken Barna[/quote]

This is something that bugs me also. My grandsons come to the house wearing caps and I'm always taking them off of them. They don;t understand, they see all sorts of people on TV wearing caps anywhere even celebs wearing them for talk shows. Then there are those who wear the cowboy hats indoors and that's even worst. Like you said... "Where's the Manners?".

Dress code?  kahkis?

No greaser would wear kahkis.

Jeans, tee shirt, pointy toed shoes.  What dress code?

frat code?  maybe?

Think about the Mill.  You could tell the groups apart by the clothes alone.

I recall two groups.  The upscale group was from Rosedale Park and there was a certain dress style for these kids.  Then there was the Brightmore crowd.  I lived near Burt School kind of on the dividing line of sorts.  I was always more comfortable with the Brightmore folks I guess, although it really did not matter to me.

Taught school for 38 years.  During this time in Detroit, Grosse Pointe and Tucson Arizona where I worked there were dress codes that kept changing depending on the administration of the school.  No matter what the rules (codes) were, kids would always figure out ways to challenge them.  When I began in Grosse Pointe (1969) there was a rule that boys could not have sideburns below the ear lobe.  Some of the teachers were in violation back then.

What I came to realize is that when an administration would not make a big deal about a dress code, then there was little for students to challenge.  Generally things were ran more smoothly during these times of this code free environment.  If teachers observed a student with something they felt was obscene, then we could quietly refer the student for some counseling on an individual basis.  Periods during my career with this unwritten code worked best.

The hats.  Teachers were either for them or against them.  There were some (like me) who thought it did not matter.  One student I had was being treated for cancer and his hair fell out.  This was during a period of the no hat rules.  He was allowed to wear a hat.  To me this seemed embarrassing for him as he was now singled out as the only kid with a hat.

So this retired teacher is in favor of a more laissez-faire approach to dress codes!  The debate will never end, however.
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