[Swastika hijack] General Information can be found at Symbols.com: Swastika (The ‘section “The ideographic Struggle in Europe during the 1930s” in Part III’ appears to refer to the published Symbols '98 Encyclopedia that can be ordered from the site, but does not appear to be on-line.)
Additional information regarding the use of the symbol by the Nazis is at Symbols.com: NAZI Swastika and a brief mention of the counterclockwise sauvastika is at Symbols.comL sauvastika.
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**Reverse Catholic Flip Flop **
When I was a Senior in 1983-1984, one of my closests friends decided to shave his head. Without warning or " Hey, I think it would be kinda fun to shave my head". Just up and shaved it one day and he did not have a head for it. ( Not with the buck teeth and all.)
I use to give him rides to school alot, but on that particular day I didn’t and when I walked into our first class together, everyone waited to see what my reaction would be. I don’t recall my exact words, but it was like,
“Looks like you lost a fight with the razor…”
Next thing you know, *it became a psuedo trend * in our school. A couple other average, dull, non-burnout, non-jock white boys with no ties to anything Aryan shaved their heads. This was in the fall. Winter is coming, hello?
So there I am in the Principals’ office doing something. I dunno. Dropping off paper work from a teacher or the like. I wasn’t in trouble. The principal is also my neighbor. I use to babysit his kids. I know all the old ladies in the office. I grew up playing with their kids. I was more comfortable hanging there than with the kids my age. ( Still am.)
They are all a buzz over this rash of kids shaving their heads and *what kind of disciplinary action should we take, etc? *
The principal asks me what do I think. ( Possibly the first time I’ve been seriously asked my opinion before on such a critical matter) and I said something like " Why suspend them as punishment? Class pictures are coming up soon and so is Winter, I think that would be punishment enough."
I was later advised by one of the old ladies in the office that no disciplinary actions were taken because of my words.
And that is my contribution to this debate. I * Shirley Ujest, coulda been an early crusader for the EOFTTWTHIRF Coalition.
*Equal Opportunity For Teenagers To Wear Their Hair In Ridiculous Fashions. If I’d a stuck with it, Bill GAtes would be my Cabana boy…eweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. It’s a good thing I’m a slacker.
smilla - You know, it’s kinda sad that the only alternative to blood-drenched anarchy seems to be absolute tyranny by power-mad faculty (I’m sorry, but busting someone OUTSIDE of class for a dress code violation qualifies as such no matter what). I’ve been to several schools in my lifetime, and from 1st grade to 12th those were the only options.
I’m sad that you had to grow up in such a terrible climate (and I’m still astonished at how an entire country can turn a blind eye to this crisis), but that does NOT justify abuses of authority by the ones in charge. Garbage is garbage no matter which side of the fence it’s on.
I hear the protests about disclipline being administered “outside of school”, but being Catholic is not limited to being a Catholic school student. The Catholic students who find themselves being discliplined outside of school and out of uniform are parishioners who are members of the Catholic Church wherever they go. That’s part of the deal.
I’m not here to proclaim whether something is “good” or “bad” overall. I decided that’s it’s bad for me. However, I don’t decree that since it’s bad for me it is “wrong”. There are and were many people, mostly Catholics, who felt that a Catholic School education was the preferred education.
And, I am NOT saying that something is okay ‘because it’s always been that way’. My example of the Catholic Hit Squad was to illustrate what was 1. accepted as normal and 2. expected. Period. I m not saying it’s right, or wrong.
I can defend a private instituions right to make their members wear crap on their nose (I’ve seen this done), but that doesn’t mean I agree with the teacher who made a student put dog crap on their nose. C’mon folks…this is the SDMB, we don’t need to explain that basic idea!
Yes, I think alot of the things I went through in Catholic School were just plain nuts - everything from beatings to humiliation. BUT, it’s their institution, and the members elected to be part of it. “Nuts” is relative! It is not nuts to them. Hence my story about Catholic Hit Squads. The parents and students EXPECTED this discipline. IT DIDN"T EVEN GENERATE conversation amongst the students! No more than an Amish child taking every trip in a buggy would be a conversation amongst Amish children. Why would an Amish child take a ride in a buggy and then go tell everyone about it? It is NORMAL to take a ride in a buggy! As Catholic School students, it was NORMAL to be beaten or humiliated. It was part of what our parents paid for. We were thankful we didn’t have to learn Latin, let alone even worry about beatings. We EXPECTED THEM. There was a time was beatings weren’t so politically incorrect. Parents or teachers didn’t do “time out”. The Time Out generation is making us re-evaluate how effective this “shunning” is (I grew up with physical disclipline at the hand of my mother, father and Catholic School faculty, so I find the shunning techniques of “time out” to be barbaric. That’s psychological abuse! At least a sore butt heals.)
And, if you think they are “wrong” to make students cut their hair, then you are arguing for the students to leave the school or work with the faculty to modify the rules. You cannot be suggesting that it is a legal challenge with any merit.
I would suggest that before you decree something right or wrong, you specify whether you find it wrong personally or legally, because there is a huge difference.
Just so that everyone isn’t thinking bad things about catholic school. I went to St. Mary’s (the last single-sex school in Oregon!) Our harshest rule was that we couldn’t wear clothes with swear words–and I went to school at the height of the grunge phase–when all the cool girls wore black and had pierced everything and green hair. Some were catholics and some were not. We all loved the nuns and sometimes we got in trouble and got suspended. I think there’s a lot of crying over nothing here.
If students are complaining because they feel the pressure to conform in high, just wait until they get into the working world. They have no idea what’s coming!!!
Yes ma’am, I will wear this ridiculous monkey suit everyday and show up at 8 sharp, and attend all ridiculous meetings and fill out endless paperwork, and of course I don’t smoke or have any strong passions about anything that could take away from my ability to answer phone calls with the same script everyday. (I hate this crap; poor, but my own boss!)
Maybe school rules seem unfair because life is unfair (B-O-O H-O-O). Save your energy for the battles worth winning.
In the long run your hair style is immaterial and there are dress codes EVERYWHERE!!! (AmPm’s even!)
GO SUE!
I actually appreciate my Catholic Education/Discipline, for I am better prepared for the nonsense of the business world. Being raised Catholic, but quickly realizing I was more agnostic/ahteist, taught me to form good arguements in high school. I learned everything I needed to know in Catholic School, and almost nothing in college.
And, of course all Catholic institutions aren’t the same in the level of discipline being administered. However, it is generally accepted that boys’ high schools are the toughest, especially ones in large urban areas, like Philly, New York, Baltimore and Boston (Times have changed, and I hear they are all a bit more mild now).
My favorite Catholic moment, of course, was the drunken fight between the Jesuits and the Christian Brothers at a high school football game. This happened the same week that our school disbanded my ice hockey team because there were too many fights in on the ice. I learned all about irony right there.
In some respects, I got a good education, but I will send whatever offspring I may produce in the future to public schools.
Support for LD was horrible, and I didn’t learn much as far as more controversial subjects go. On the other hand, I did have a great many friends and the teachers there were really nice. But all in all, I liked public school better. Also, Catholic schools are becoming way too expensive.
I go to a Catholic affiliated college, but they NEVER push the Catholic stuff on you, even the nuns. Most of my professors are very liberal. In fact, one of my CATHOLIC professors (My advisor, Dr. Brett,) has frequently been called a commie for his leftist views. And we’ve got professors of all faiths, as well as students.
