Utah school forces student to change out of kilt

[1oldsarge]

This made it to the Associated Press.

Utah school forces student to change out of kilt

WEST HAVEN, Utah – The principal of a Utah middle school has been asked to apologize for forcing a kilt-wearing student to change his clothes.

Weber School District spokesman Nate Taggart says Craig Jessop has been asked to extend an apology to 14-year-old student Gavin McFarland of Hooper after the school official's comments Wednesday.

Gavin says he wore the kilt twice in the past two weeks to Rocky Mountain Junior High as a prop for an art project. Jessop told the boy that the outfit could be misconstrued as cross-dressing.

Taggart says the district recognizes the kilt as an expression of the boy's Scottish heritage and that the kilt was not inappropriate.

Kilts are traditional Scottish apparel generally worn by men for formal or special occasions.

[ghostlight]

Good on the school district for correcting the mistake.

[Roderick]

Silly.

Kilts are a very male piece of attire. I realise I'm preaching to the choir here, but I mean that they have always struck me as necessarily masculine. Yes, there are similarities to skirts worn by women, but any time I have seen a lady in a kilt my instinctive reaction is to think that she's in drag. It reminds me of when Eric Idle and Michael Palin would dress up as women for Monty Python sketches.

[Phogfan86]

When I was in high school, overalls were expressly prohibited in our school dress code because, administrators said, it could be misconstrued that we were making fun of farmers. I am not making that up.

Ever since I was 14, anytime educators do something that really seems uneducated, I'm no longer surprised.

[Flag Folder]

I have a problem getting my mind around prohibiting something because someone else might misunderstand why you are doing it. Not misunderstands but might... So before you do something you should make sure everyone totally understands why you are doing what ever it is you are doing?
Bahh! Thanks I feel better now.
It sort of reminds me of Article 2 of the Bill of no Rights that says 'You do not have the right to never be offended.'
Bruce

[Zardoz]

Here's a link to the original article;
http://www.standard.net/live/news/173494/

[sathor]

I have a problem getting my mind around prohibiting something because someone else might misunderstand why you are doing it. Not misunderstands but might... So before you do something you should make sure everyone totally understands why you are doing what ever it is you are doing?
Bahh! Thanks I feel better now.
It sort of reminds me of Article 2 of the Bill of no Rights that says 'You do not have the right to never be offended.'
Bruce

A very few of the people on here have met me and know that I will often talk with various accents, the quality of which vary, but are second nature to me. I once got in trouble from the manager where I worked for talking with a 'Hindu' accent. It wasn't the few Indians that I knew and enjoyed it, no, it was an African descended (in that area, I wouldn't vouch for them to be Americans at all) who was angry because

I am Islamic, and there are Islamic people in India, and if you are disrespectful to India, you are insulting Islamic people everywhere.

I kid you not. I am still irritated about it years later. Not enough that it rules my life, its actually on the list of reasons I will never work for Walgreens again.

[Dan R Porter]

My sincerest apologies for all the wonderful people of Utah. Every state has their stereotype, and I in no way intended to tag the LDS Church. It just popped in my head.

I hope my ignorance will be excused. And an even more heartfelt apology to Todd. Thanks for the heads up.

[Nighthawk]

When I was in high school, overalls were expressly prohibited in our school dress code because, administrators said, it could be misconstrued that we were making fun of farmers. I am not making that up.

Ever since I was 14, anytime educators do something that really seems uneducated, I'm no longer surprised.

My brain hurts... Both of my parents are teachers, so I too am seldom surprised any more when educators do uneducated things. It drives my dad crazy trying to explain things to other teachers. He's been known to complain about how dumb and closed minded teacher can be and t question how it's possible to have stupid educators. (My dads words- not mine. He's said a whole host of other wildly inappropriate things, too... Gods bless his refusal to be politically correct!)

[sathor]

When I was in high school, overalls were expressly prohibited in our school dress code because, administrators said, it could be misconstrued that we were making fun of farmers. I am not making that up.

Ever since I was 14, anytime educators do something that really seems uneducated, I'm no longer surprised.

Odd. In highschool, I remember a guy that had to leave early one day because the fence holding his family's cows broke and he had to go help recapture his cows.