> we have our answer straight from Arlington...it stands
 > for 21 letters in
 > the name USA...has become a traditional highest honor
THanks, I'll pass the word to my husband (who is getting ready to go to work 
as I type this).
 > uniform.  Then you end up making rules to delete those
 > identities and become frustrated with another fad.  I'm talking about
Right.
 > Somehow, now ten years
 > after uniforms, I have found delight in watching
 > students develop the ability to look "nice" with their own tastes.  Some
A few years back, I taught in a parochial school with a particularly "stiff" 
dress code: Girls had to wear dresses except on "exception days", the dresses 
could not be shorter than so-many inches above the knee, they could (and 
should) wear shorts under them if they planned to play on the playground, 
etc. Boys had to wear nice pants and shirts with collars (that eliminated 
most t-shirts). Hair on both had to be neatly coiffed and trimmed, and no 
goat tails (we had to explain that one to parents a few times, but most 
understood the significance of that particular rule once explained). Shoes 
for either had to be safe and surround the foot, meeting California public 
school standards. Teachers had a similar dress code, except that male 
teachers had to wear a tie, and female teachers had to wear hose and heels. 
(That rule about heels was later rescinded, thanks to my doctor. He told the 
school that they were in for a lot of workman's comp due to that rule.)
 > teachers who try to set the example.  Modelling was
 > not my choice of a career, but we do:  both unwittingly andc and
 > consciously.
(sighing) Yup, that's a fact. You have to draw the line somewhere between 
comfort and modeling for the students, tho. Of course I was almost always an 
elementary school teacher; I would imagine (from my 2 years teaching 1 hr a 
day in the high school) that modeling would be slightly even more important 
in the high school.
                                 -donna
--- GEcho 1.00
---------------