SOME WEEKS ago it was reported that principals were up in arms over the need to institute dress codes for parents who were visiting their compounds.
The suggestion was that the attire of some parents was inappropriate and that they were setting a bad example for children. So apparently serious was the issue that we heard that discussions about this took up the large majority of time at a recent meeting of the Association of Public Primary School Principals (APPSP) and that primary school teachers were willing to go as far as talking to the Attorney General.
Principals were also moving to enshrine the measures in their handbooks and prominently display the expected standards for parents.
I think that most of us who have children at the primary school level more so would agree that the dress of some parents can border on the ridiculous and the uncalled for. I have been witness to the curlers, the botty riders, overexposed bosoms, violent tattoos on display and the clothes so tight a 25 cent would not find a space a hide.
I have often looked at the children with parents dressed like this and wondered what was going through their minds, and wondered if they felt embarrassed or if for them this was par for the course.
On this score, therefore, I was firmly on the side of the principals and was happy that our often temperamental Minister of Education Ronald Jones indicated that he was backing the teachers and called for full collaboration on the development of the dress code.
Of course, there are things to be worked out. As usual the issue is how do we implement. Will there be a specific dress code guard with a whistle watching bottoms and breasts and measuring hemlines?
Do we expect that these parents will be self-regulating and therefore automatically change their appearance or will we have a special section of the police force set up to respond to dress code infringements at schools? Codes and regulations are only as effective as the enforcement policies which back them up.
Someone has to monitor and apply the standards consistently. I will challenge anyone to show me any place in Barbados where positive standards are consistently monitored and applied.
But while there has been much focus on the need for a dress code for parents, very recently some rumblings are suggesting the same thing might be necessary for teachers.
I found out is, though, that while indeed the principals called for a dress code for parents there was also discussion on the need for a similar dress code for teachers. Apparently, in our school system there are teachers with nose and tongue rings, and also those exposing inappropriate tattoos. The crisis of the poor quarter that cannot find a space to hide is not only found in the dress of parents but apparently it has the same challenge with teachers as well.
The stories do not stop there; they go on to include too-short outfits and inappropriate hair styles. It would appear that some teachers are intent on replicating street style in the classrooms throughout the island. It would appear therefore that teachers, and not only parents, need a dress code guard.
Of interest: one section of the media indicated that principals reportedly approached the Ministry of Education to seek assistance with this issue, but none was forthcoming. You see, we are very happy when we can point the fingers at others but do not have the same fervour and zeal when we need to call those in our immediate space to account.
All of a sudden principles’ hands are tied when it comes to dealing with their teaching staff.
Of course, the ministry, as is the norm, catches laryngitis conveniently when it comes to addressing complex issues that require more than a rant and rave from the minister.
We can argue about the whys and whatnots of the declining standards, we can blame society and the church and whoever else but the real failure is when we refuse to act. I would argue that it is important to get your own house in order before you look outside or at the same time you are looking at others.
I would suggest as well that it is easier to demand and enforce standards of those you employ and have direct control over than people on the outside. The issue of applying standards of dress for teachers should be easy.
I would take a leaf out of Matthew Farley’s book – assemble all of them get the ruler out and all those who do not meet the requirements, send them home with a letter.
• Shantal Munro-Knight is a development specialist and executive coordinator at the Caribbean Policy Development Centre. Email: shantalmunro@gmail.com