VEGANGELICA |
10-23-2009 10:17 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr dave
(Post 756816)
there's a time and place for everything. the school is not trying to enforce a lifestyle change or anything of the sorts.
a dress code is not a cause for major distress. consider it from a business perspective - where it generally applies the most. if an employee can't be personally inconvenienced enough to not show up to the job in their PJs do you really think they're going to be focusing their full attention on what anyone else wants? would any of you go into a business deal with someone who can't be bothered to wear pants?
while there would obviously be a few who would, the vast majority of people would not. if i'm making a business deal with someone i expect them to be taking my interests seriously while they're working, if they can't be serious enough to dress the part then i'm not going to stick around to watch their attempt at acting the part.
plus it's an all male school... i'm sure some of the older faculty really liked seeing dudes in drag. they lived through riots and discrimination and beat down at every turn so that some guy could wear a dress on their campus? pretty sure i'd object to that, like i said at the start, time and place. part of post secondary education is to prepare the student for the realities of working for a living, if a dress code is causing you major issues you'd better hope mummy and daddy didn't renovate your room.
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Hello Mr. Dave,
While I agree that in business, people will likely wish to deal only with employees who put them at ease by wearing "professional clothing," I feel that a dress code at a college *is* a cause for distress because a code is built on, and perpetuated by, a power structure in which the majority dominate the minority.
The liberal arts tradition...and education as a whole...should be about much more than simply getting and keeping a job. A dress code represents a mental limitation, an unquestioning deference to "authority," an acceptance of one's subservience to others, that are the moral opposites of the freedom of thought and inquiry I feel institutions of higher learning should support.
Morehouse claims to be more than just a trade school teaching people to get jobs. Indeed, their website states:
Quote:
from: Morehouse College
A Proud Tradition of Producing Outstanding Leaders:
Although times change, Morehouse’s mission remains steadfast: to produce academically superior, morally conscious leaders for the conditions and issues of today, whether “today” is post-Civil War or turn of the new millennium. The College's mission is to develop men with disciplined minds who will lead lives of leadership, service and self-realization, emphasizing the continued search for truth in the liberal arts tradition. Martin Luther King Jr. led the country through one of its most transforming civic movements; David Satcher resuscitated the issues of health care disparity and access; Maynard Jackson taught the world the value of diversity and equal access as the first African American mayor of Atlanta. All helped change the world. All are Morehouse men.
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A dress code, which is based on unquestioned, traditional views, is a form of oppression that stands in direct opposition to self-realization, diversity and equal access, which Morehouse professes to value. I feel that college is the perfect time and place in which to allow young adults to learn about, question, and challenge social structures. College should, I feel, be a time of discovery during which people get to flex their minds rather than feel constrained by the realities of the working world that they may soon face.
People who "lived through riots and discrimination and beat down at every turn" should understand that they did so *exactly* so that "some guy could wear a dress on their campus." Interestingly, studies show that African Americans tend to be more homophobic than Caucasian Americans, but are more likely to support equal legal rights for people who are homosexual or transgendered ( http://alligatorreport.wordpress.com...ty-homophobic/).
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