Last Tuesday we had our school's homecoming assembly. I haven't been to one of these assemblies in a couple years. Since I travel to the middle school every morning to teach, I usually just work right through these things. However, I decided to go check things out this time around.
Wow. It was horrible. I suspect you'd like a little background info. :) The way our homecoming assemblies work is that each of the 24 candidates are introduced and a bunch of nonsense is read about them. Honestly, it is not important information. Or at least 90% of the candidates don't really take it seriously. Plus, throughout the whole event the student body in the audience is not very respectful. At all. Perhaps the biggest letdown of this whole event was the attire. Geesh! It was not appropriate whatsoever. Yeah the girls were beautiful, but I felt like I was looking at them on stage buck-naked! They did not leave much to the imagination. And then one of the boys ditched his pants last minute and walked out with just his wrestling singlet....and coat jacket. That was awkward.
So I sat through the whole thing, thinking, "My girls are watching this!". Yes, I have some awesome, AWESOME young ladies I teach. However, I know some of them deal with body issues and this whole assembly was just pissing me off. Plus, then I though, "My boys are watching this!". The thought that I might be overreacting did cross my mind, but I still wrote this letter to my administration and the sponsors that put on the assembly.
I am not really sure how to type this email without it coming off as complaining to you. Just know that that is not really my intent. I attended the homecoming assembly today and was a little concerned about a few things. None of them really with how the teachers that organized it personally ran the event. I know they put in a lot of effort outside of the classroom on these things and it is a job very few of us would take on. So thank you for that.
Mainly, I would like to just express my concern with the dress code of the students in the assembly. In my opinion, there were only three out of the twelve girls that were wearing school appropriate attire. I realize this is a special event, but I can’t help but wonder what kind of message we are sending our students? These ladies were very beautiful in their dresses. However, I feel they were being really objectified. I realize my views on modesty and appropriate dresses to wear may not match up to societal norm; but that is not really the point. The point is we are telling all the young women in our student body that they all should be wearing skin-tight, super-short dresses. I am not okay with that. They get this message everywhere they turn and I think we should try our best to teach them otherwise every chance we get. The fact that these young ladies were in next to nothing really made me feel uncomfortable. I thought about this the whole time the scripts were being read. I can only imagine what a sixteen-year-old boy was thinking.
While the boys were better, I think there is also room for improvement. The only thought I really have about the boys is trying to enforce a stricter dress code. I think it is safe to say that sometimes our students do not take this assembly as seriously as they ought to. I know it seems like it is an impossible task to try to get the students to not yell or say inappropriate things during these events. However, if we enforced a stricter dress code and asked boys to wear slacks and a button up/tie, I think we would eliminate the instinct for a student to yell, “nice bulge!” out from the audience. If the participants on the stage take this event more seriously- as an honor- maybe our student body would too. Is there a way to enforce a dress code that will enhance the effect of the assembly?
Also, while I feel the students might enjoy getting to select songs to play for themselves, it seems to take away from the overall effect of the program. Can we honestly say that playing “I’m a Flirt” or “Ride Wit Me” is really appropriate? I even admit to being an old school Nelly fan but I just don’t feel a song talking about getting high should be in a school assembly. I think an easy fix would be to select one song and play it for everybody.
In general, I feel we should try to take this homecoming assembly to a point where it is a honor to be up on stage. After all, it is in fact just that. It should not be an event where we see who gets the biggest laughs. As teachers at this high school we get to set the standards of what our events are like. Let’s set the standards high and teach kids how to respect their peer’s accomplishments.
Let me know what you think! Once again, I appreciate all your hard work. Also, I don’t believe I could very well write this letter without offering some assistance to you. I am more of a behind the scenes type of girl. However, I’d be willing to help if we could make the assembly more school appropriate. Thanks for reading!
Sincerely,
Kasie
Whew! I felt better after that! A couple of sad things that I also discovered that day:
I discussed the assembly with my Horticulture students. I said, "Guys can we talk about the assembly today?"
All heads turn my way. Wow a very attentive audience. I say, "I don't think it was completely bad...."
"No, Ms. Bogart it was BAD!"
Many of them thought it as horrible as me. They agreed that those girls should have been wearing more clothes. However, this comment was made, "Yeah those are the clothes we should wear when we are 20. Or when we go to the clubs."
This is what is said, NOOOOOO! Don't wear them when you go to the clubs, people! You have to be safer than that. They did not get this. They thought I was off my rocker for the most part.
Then, there were also several young men that made stupid comments about "not seeing anything wrong with what they were wearing." Honestly, I have no idea how to help that problem.
Second thing that is kinda sad- It happened almost a week ago and I have yet to get a reply from my administration. The teacher in charge replied and it was very productive. Being ignored sucks.
Kind of a funny thing- Right after I sent this letter I walked in the teacher lounge and started reading the newspaper. Bad idea. Came across "The Gospel of Barack" and that just fired me up even more!
Fight on brothers and sisters! Peace.
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