One more reason to support school uniforms!

A new Wall Street Journal article (I don’t know either, they’ve just had a few good stories the past couple days) talks about fashion bullies. If you don’t think it’s affecting your students check this out (from the article):

“In one study, more than one-third of middle-school students responded “yes” when asked whether they are bullied because of the clothes they wear. Susan M. Swearer, associate professor of school psychology at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, surveyed a total of more than 1,000 students at five Midwestern middle schools from 1999 to 2004, with about 56% of the sample female. While the prevalence of fashion bullies was greater in wealthy cities and towns, where more designer clothing is available, she found the problem is significant in poorer communities, too.”

I have to admit, I wore Toughskins and Roebucks when I was a kid…my dad worked for Sears, and well, my parents loved the discount! I can remember the taunting comments coming when the whole parachute pants craze hit, you remember how cool they looked- those and Z Cavaricci’s or Zubaz (evidently, you can order them today), come on you know you owned a pair…

I tried, but couldn’t pull off the look. Alas, another fashion faux pas for Jay (no, that’s not me in the picture). Anyway, it seems like the topic of fashion is yet again fodder for youth groups to talk about. It really does make me think that school uniforms might not be such a bad thing.