My boyfriend couldn't wait to send me this entry from the Blabbermouth.net topic board on goth gear being banned from a Wichita middle school. Pull out your hip boots and let's go wading in the muck:
Students at Wilbur Middle School who like the Goth look will have to rethink their clothing this year. Principal Cherie Crain announced last week that the black lipstick, eye shadow, nail polish and hair dye of the so-called Goth style, can't be combined with all-black clothing anymore.
Crain said the students dressing in so-called Goth style had become a distraction, and some younger students were intimidated. She also said she has had a rule banning clothing or accessories that define a group of students in the Wilbur rule book for at least 15 years.
"Anything disruptive to school is a no-no, too," Crain said. "And this is definitely a disruption."
"Clothing or accessories that define a group of students"? Could you be a little more vague? Does this mean the preppy kids have to make sure they don't all wear their new polo shirts on the same day? Are the cheerleaders forbidden from wearing their uniforms on Fridays? Do all the pro football team supporters have to make sure not to all wear their jerseys at once?
I mean, get real. If weird hair color and black nail polish is out, it's out, but don't make gang assumptions about the goth kids for - horrors! - wanting to dress just like their friends. And isn't "disruptive" in the eye of the beholder? Does this mean that cropped t-shirts and low-rise pants are out too?
In this case, the accessories like studded metal bracelets, the black makeup and graphic T-shirts advertising heavy metal bands are the biggest concern, Crain said.
In past years, only two or three kids among Wilbur's 1,000 students dressed Goth, and Crain said she let that slide. But when school started last week, about a dozen kids had adopted the Goth look.
"We just want everybody to feel comfortable at school," Crain said.
A dozen. Out of one thousand. That's only a little over one-tenth of one percent. And Crain thinks this is a problem?
Debbie McKenna, who supervises the district's safe and drug-free schools programs, said wearing Goth clothing can be a warning sign of other problems. Teachers are trained to check if students who wear such clothes have withdrawn from other students and if they're using drugs.
Oh, how caring. Are teachers trained to look for signs of drug use in students who aren't wearing black? Are teachers aware that experts in the field of teenage violence do not consider the impact of Black Sabbath or The Matrix to be meaningful influences on such behavior? Are they aware that violent sociopaths like the Columbine killers are not in the least bit typical of your average goth?
The bottom line is that a kid who is violent could look like Marilyn Manson, Justin Timberlake - or nobody in particular. For the school to focus this sort of attention on the dozen kids wearing black, all of whom are probably budding poets or art majors, is a waste of resources.
I understand that these looks might seem extreme for middle-schoolers. But if the school is truly displeased, then it needs to implement a dress code or uniform that's across the board. If you and your friends can't dress alike in black or wear your Lamb of God t-shirts, but the preppy crowd can all dress alike in polos and wear their Dave Matthews t-shirts, that's simply unfair.
Yes, goth kids can be moody, troublesome, and immature. But while disturbed kids may be drawn to the occult, it's ludicrous to say that every kid who shops at Hot Topic is disturbed (if so, that's an awful lot of disturbance). I consider myself a well-informed amateur on the topic of goth kids and violence, and have yet to see a single instance of a murderous goth kid who didn't have a family history of mental illness, poverty, abuse, neglect, and all-around bad parenting. In other words, the pathology underlying the behavior of disturbed goth kids isn't all that different from disturbed non-goths; they just choose a different wardrobe. The schools would do well to ignore the trendiness of the mall-goth crowd (or set less-judgmental dress code limits), and instead focus their therapeutic energies on the kids who are problematic in a non-black-nail-polish way (starting fights, showing signs of drug use, showing major fluctuations in their academic work, etc.).
Update: I've been unable to access my blog all day, and thus haven't been able to correct my error - 12 is indeed a bit over one percent (which I had actually typed the first time around), not a bit over one-tenth of one percent (which I typed from lack of coffee.) Plus, I have to say I LOVE the Dell goth/preppy commercial (free reg required), not least because (a) I started dressing goth in college myself, (b) I own a Dell, and (c) I used to own a pet python (although mine was much smaller than the one in the commercial).
Posted by kswygert at September 1, 2004 11:19 AM