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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Tales from a substitute teacher's diary part 1

I hate seeing students underwear. I just want to say that upfront. And I am NOT some pervy cho-mo who's looking. I'm in the classroom every day and I see it, right in front of me. I would have to stare at the ceiling or floor to NOT see.

First, let's take boys and baggy pants. They wear baggy jeans, halfway down their ass, or under their buttcheeks, with about 6-9 inches of boxer shorts hanging out the back. Or my new favorite, 6-9 inches of gym shorts hanging out the back. Now, if they're gonna bag the jeans that low, and wear shorts underneath, why not just wear the shorts??? It looks stupid. The boys spend most of their time, making sure the jeans don't slide to their knees, or grabbing their crotch, probably because they're chafing. They also walk on the hem of their jeans so they are ripped and dirty. And there's a TON of extra jean length at their ankles, so they trip. They can barely climb stairs since the pants are falling, and they walk like geishas, with tiny little steps, since the pants keep sliding. (And there are 2 girls I see who dress like this and I want to puke. 'Nuff said.)

The girls are worse, if that's even possible. Bras are popping out the top of t-shirts, which are usually skin tight. The shirts technically follow the dress code, but are about 3 sizes to small. even skinny girls have 'muffin' top in shirts like this. But back to underwear, yes bras and bra straps are exposed all the time. And thongs. Thongs, thongs, thongs everywhere. If a student drops something I practically dive to the floor to hand it back so I don't have to see a damn thong hanging out the back of the frickin low rise jeans.

Now that I have that off my chest, I do have to say kids are super dress casual these days. I can stand in a classroom or in the hallway during a passing period and am lost in a sea of denim. There are no skirts, no khakis, certainly no dress pants, and very rarely are there a pair of sweats or warm up pants. A few years ago, there was some diversity. Gap did a huge campaign on khakis and that's when seeing jeans was the rare thing. A few years ago, skirts and tights were all the rage- not so any more. Even the jocks aren't wearing their "jock uniform". I am not kidding- it's just all jeans, all the time. And t-shirts. The girls all have long hair, either down and hanging in their faces or pulled into a ponytail. Long, straight hair, not even curly. They are all carbon copies of each other. Hell, when I was in school we wore leggings, leg warmers, high heeled tennis shoes with layer socks, stretch pants, and jean skirts. Oh shut up.

The middle school kids have to dress up to present their portfolios so they can advance a grade. Dressing up last year was scary, is all I can say. Black jeans do not a dress outfit make. I just worry about that the state of dress casual is coming to in the future of corporation. Just think, in about 10 years from now Casual Friday will be jammie pants, clogs, and a hoodie!

Skirt wearing,
Ms Maggie Mae

6 comments:

Hecate said...

I am so thankful for the dress code where my kids go. There isn't a baggy pant in sight! I love it!! The girls can't have low cut shirts and if anything under garment shows they have to cover it.

I never understood the whole pants half way down your ass.

Bragger said...

I'm with you on the underwear thing. I'd like to see one of those guys get out of the building if it were on fire. Or maybe I wouldn't..... Ooooo, that was ugly.

Some of our kids DO wear jammies to school. Sigh. I'd love for them to wear jeans.

Curley said...

I might be dating myself. I went to high school during the era of hot pants and micro mini skirts. Not a lot of difference here, just the angle from which you are seeing the underwear. And lets not forget hip-hugger bell-bottom jeans.

Maggie said...

Hecate- we have a dress code but it doesn't seem to be strongly enforced.

Bragger- I have to say that the school does crack down on pj's- they are NOT allowed. Nor are ripped jeans ABOVE the knee. But bras, thongs and boxers seem acceptable... ick.

Curley- did you even wear underwear under skin tight hip huggers? Didn't ya just go commando? ;)

Jimmie Earl said...

I guess the boys wearing the baggy, saggy jeans isn't too much worse than when I went to school. We pegged our jeans so tight in the legs that we had to put on socks and point our toes just to get them on! But, our butt cracks didn't show. Neither did our jockey shorts.
Just today I threatened to send one of my male students to the nurse's office for some of the cord she keeps there just for the kids who "forget" their belts. He pulled up his shirt and showed me that he had already been there and was sporting the cord to prove it. LOL! What can I say?????
JE

Wiley said...

"Just think, in about 10 years from now Casual Friday will be jammie pants, clogs, and a hoodie!"

I work in a pretty formal office environment - almost everyone wears suit pants/skirt and a shirt/blouse. And the general rule is that casual Friday is ok as long as you have a suit just in case you need to give a no-notice briefing, so most of us don't bother with casual clothes. There's one guy in my office, however, who tends to wear cargo pants, ludicrously loud shoes with mis-matching shoe laces and a hoodie every Friday. Some 'normal' weekdays he wears a hoodie over his business shirt if he's cold. It kills me. And he thinks he looks cool. I could just be getting old, but I think he looks like a spaz.