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opinion:
our view
Administrator
forces teens to strip
Sometimes adults put in powerful positions over children can
do the dumbest things. Rita Wilson, a vice-principal at Rancho
Bernardo High School in suburban San Diego, placed a ban on
skimpy underwear for female students.
At a school dance April 26, Wilson took it upon herself to
strictly impose her new policy. According to the Reuters news
service, Wilson had girls lift up their skirts and dresses
before they entered the dance to ensure that they were not
wearing "inappropriate underwear." Even more appalling,
is that Wilson had these students exposing themselves in full
view of male students and teachers.
We are struggling to find the logic in Wilson's actions. In
an attempt to impose her own personal, moral beliefs on underwear
and what is appropriate for teenagers she did nothing more
than objectify them and force them to act like nothing more
than strippers.
Wilson has been suspended for the time being but parents are
rightly urging for Wilson to be fired immediately. We could
not agree more with the parents.
Forcing girls to expose themselves to see if they are wearing
thong underwear completely defeats the purpose of trying to
ensure modest dressing. We can only imagine how humiliating
the experience must have been for the girls involved.
Educators and administrators' job first and foremost is educating
students. Their secondary job is ensuring the safety of the
students. We do not know where a girl's underwear falls into
this category, unless a girl decides to not wear pants to
school.
The decision of what kind of clothing that a teenager wears
is his or her own. The only person that should have veto power
over a teen's clothing is his or her parents -- not a teacher
or administrators.
If clothing begins to become a problem on a school campus
then administrators must deal with the problem. But it is
absurd to think that thong panties would become a problem
of a magnitude that it requires nothing more than teens stripping
for administrators.
High school officials should stick to their primary jobs and
leave the decisions of what kind of clothing is right or appropriate
to parents.
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