Wear a dress, get suspended from school

[Jagos]

Link

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. – A 15-year-old boy has been suspended from school after wearing high heels and a dress to school as a part of a challenge laid down by his mother.
Sam Saurs, a ninth grader at Sedgwick Junior High School in Port Orchard, said he told his mother that wearing high heels wouldn't be that hard. Saurs' mother challenged him to try it and he accepted. To take it even further, he decided to wear a dress, too.
"I was pretty," said Saurs.
After Saurs showed up at school Wednesday in the dress and heels, the school suspended him for the remainder of the year. That suspension was later reduced to three days. But, Saurs won't be allowed to go to the ninth grade dance or the class party at Wild Waves.

Yeah, I shouldn't have given up drinking... But I gotta admit, the boy has balls. Getting kicked out for wearing that...

*Thumbs up buddy*

I won't EVER do it but more power to ya...

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Originally Posted by Jagos

Link



Yeah, I shouldn't have given up drinking... But I gotta admit, the boy has balls. Getting kicked out for wearing that...

*Thumbs up buddy*

I won't EVER do it but more power to ya...

I could see the school's reasoning behind this if they interpreted him as making a joke (which was the general impression I got from the article) at the expense of others. And what's up with this mother challenging her son to do something that could get him a lot of shit from other people? I get letting your kid be themself but putting them in a position where they'll get harassed makes no sense to me.

[Aerozord]

plus some schools can be rather strict on dress codes. I've heard of ones where even girls cant wear dresses

[Jagos]

Originally Posted by Aerozord

plus some schools can be rather strict on dress codes. I've heard of ones where even girls cant wear dresses

That's a lot of irony considering most conceptions on girls is that "pants will bring down society" while dresses are considered more appropriate for young ladies.

(Yes, private schools are weird)

[Kim]

Crossdressing shouldn't be a punishable offense. End of story.

[synkr0nized]

While I wholeheartedly agree with Noncon's post, I feel it's worth noting you didn't quote the part of the article that mentions he's been suspended before for playing with the dress code rules. That doesn't make it right for them to set the precedent that cross-dressing is some kind of super terrible offense, but it could have partially been motivated by having him on a list as a troublemaker.

[rpgdemon]

Originally Posted by NonCon

Crossdressing shouldn't be a punishable offense. End of story.

It might not be the crossdressing that's the punishable offense, but instead a breach in dress code. For example, there might be a rule banning dresses, which he broke.

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by rpgdemon

It might not be the crossdressing that's the punishable offense, but instead a breach in dress code. For example, there might be a rule banning dresses, which he broke.

There's not.

It says that right in the story.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Originally Posted by NonCon

Crossdressing shouldn't be a punishable offense. End of story.

While I agree with this statement, I don't believe that's the sole reason for why he got suspended. It's very easy to see how it could be perceived as a distraction or even a joke when a fifteen year old boy wears a dress to school. If I were the one to make the decision, I'd have suspended the kid too or at the very least I would have sent him home for the day.

There's nothing wrong with expressing yourself but do we have any reason to believe that this kid was doing this for any other reason than his mom put him up to it and he thought it'd be funny? That can easily come off as ridiculing people who have alternative (I can't remember the PC term so forgive me if I get it wrong) gender identities/lifestyles.

If the kid legitimately wants to wear a dress then... I dunno. That's his choice and I'm sure the distraction that it would definitely impose (I know it's the 21st century and everything but a guy wearing a dress is gonna turn heads) would disappear after a couple weeks and a bunch more media attention.

[Kerensky287]

Originally Posted by The Sevenshot Kid

While I agree with this statement, I don't believe that's the sole reason for why he got suspended. It's very easy to see how it could be perceived as a distraction or even a joke when a fifteen year old boy wears a dress to school. If I were the one to make the decision, I'd have suspended the kid too or at the very least I would have sent him home for the day.

There's nothing wrong with expressing yourself but do we have any reason to believe that this kid was doing this for any other reason than his mom put him up to it and he thought it'd be funny? That can easily come off as ridiculing people who have alternative (I can't remember the PC term so forgive me if I get it wrong) gender identities/lifestyles.

If the kid legitimately wants to wear a dress then... I dunno. That's his choice and I'm sure the distraction that it would definitely impose (I know it's the 21st century and everything but a guy wearing a dress is gonna turn heads) would disappear after a couple weeks and a bunch more media attention.

I'm gonna go ahead and agree with Noncon 100% on this. They didn't give any reason for suspending him because he didn't break any rules. It doesn't matter if they think he's trying to incite rebellion, or draw attention, or whatever. That stuff isn't against the rules. Yes, he got suspended before, and yes it was because he knowingly violated the dress code.

But the big thing here is that HE DID NOT VIOLATE THE DRESS CODE THIS TIME. He broke no rule but got punished anyway.

Let me draw a parallel here. Say you've got a drug dealer who's been taken in multiple times for possession with intent to distribute. He's been known to use his own product as well. One day, they find him after he's been released, and he's carrying around 5 kilos of cough medicine.

Can they take him in? Well, it depends. You can get high off certain kinds of cough medicine if you take enough of it. But they don't know that's what he's trying to do. They've just found him carrying around a LOT of a substance that is legal despite the possibility of recreational use.

Is he doing it to spite the police? Maybe. Probably. But you can't arrest somebody for that. Maybe he's giving the cough medicine to poor, sick children who need it but can't afford it? Maybe he's just stocking up? If you take him in on the basis that he's broken similar laws before, then you risk jailing an innocent man. Saying that "he's probably trying to do it for this reason" is not a good enough reason to punish him, especially if he's explicitly not breaking any laws. If you could punish people for their attitudes, the streets would be a LOT more empty.

In this case, the kid wore a dress. They punished him for it. It doesn't matter what they SAID they did it for, it doesn't matter what they said HE was wearing a dress for. The point is, they punished him for doing something that didn't break any rules. He should not have been suspended. End of story.

EDIT FOR NINJA'D:

Originally Posted by Aerozord

This reminds me of a book I read in middle school, A Hero aint Nothing but a Sandwich. In the story a kid was suspended for "singing the national anthem." Then it turned into a huge media event about how he was a champion for rights and patriotism and the school were just oppressing his right to express himself.

But no, he was just humming it in class because he wanted a reaction then decided to play it off the way the media was spinning it so he looks like the injured party and could get out of his punishment.

This kid isn't a crossdresser that was having his rights oppressed, this is a kid that knowingly broke the rules for the sake of breaking them and the school didn't put up with it.

But this wasn't breaking the rules. That's the whole point. Sure, he's a shit disturber, and sure, he wore hats BECAUSE he knew that it was against the rules. This time around, regardless of his intentions, he hurt nobody and broke no rules. They would have had exactly as much precedent to take him in on a day where he's wearing jeans and a t-shirt, if all the reason they had was "We're sick of your shit."