# So a kid showed up at school today dressed as Hitler... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 31, 2009, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795 "2009-10-31T00:56:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/57b2e6/32.png) [@Quasimodal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodal)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/1 "2009-10-31T00:56:24Z")
The title pretty much sums it up. He was in full dress complete with moustache and swastika. Obviously dressed up for Halloween. He is about 14 years old. My question is how would you respond as a: 1. Teacher 2. Principal 3. Parent who had learned about this. I will let you know how my friend (the teacher) was affected by this and her reaction, but I’m curious about how other people would deal with the situation. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/2 "2009-10-31T01:00:36Z")
Were the kids allowed/encouraged to wear costumes today, or was he the only one? ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/3 "2009-10-31T01:09:48Z")
I’d probably warn him to be careful not to do anything that would get himself in hot water, but I wouldn’t have a problem with it. ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/4 "2009-10-31T01:13:09Z")
I assume this was in the U.S. somewhere, correct? That is only relevant because wouldn’t this be considered a crime in some countries? 1. Teacher - I would get him out of the class as soon as possible and sent off to the principle 2. Principle - I’d want to know why the kid thought that was an acceptable or "cool " outfit for halloween. I would then contact his parents and have them come get him. I’d want to know if they knew he left the house that way and if yes, find out why _ **they** _ thought it was an acceptable outfit. Was this unusual behavior for the kid? Was the teacher surprised or is this more of “here we go again?” I wouldn’t suspend the kid if this was just a wtf out of the blue moment but I would send him home for the day. If it is a pattern of racist behavior, then I’d probably suspend the kid and file a report with whoever the proper authorities would be. 3. Parent - is this an “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” scenario? If the parents are white supremecists I probably already have some inkling. I’d use it as an opportunity to discuss racism with my kid and get them to understand why this isn’t funny or cool behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/5 "2009-10-31T01:14:45Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > I’d probably warn him to be careful not to do anything that would get himself in hot water, but I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Are you saying you would not have a problem with your kid going to school dressed as Hitler including wearing a swastika? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/6 "2009-10-31T01:15:41Z")
You wouldn’t by any chance happen to live in a quiet mountain town in Colorado, would you? ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/7 "2009-10-31T01:33:23Z")
We have a couple of threads right now over in CS discussing why Hitler is often seen as funny. Did the kid just think it was hilarious to dress up as Hitler? I can totally see a 14-yo boy thinking it was funny. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/8 "2009-10-31T01:34:05Z")
Dressing up is just dressing up, isn’t it? Just because Hitler was an evil man still firmly remembered in living history doesn’t make him any less suitable for dress-up than Julius Caesar or Genghis Khan. It’s not like the kid’s going to invade Poland. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/9 "2009-10-31T01:34:29Z")
> [@Rack-a-Bones](#): > > Are you saying you would not have a problem with your kid going to school dressed as Hitler including wearing a swastika? Only if the kid actually believed in that stuff, or was doing it to harass other people. But then the problem is that the kid is a little shit - the Hitler costume is just a force multiplier. Assuming that wasn’t the case, I’d only forbid it if I thought it was necessary to avoid drama. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/10 "2009-10-31T01:36:59Z")
So the ones who are all upset are anti-ghost, anti-ghoul, and anti-monster? Isn’t Halloween supposed to be about scary costumes, i.e., not necessarily role models? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/11 "2009-10-31T01:39:36Z")
Since when is dressing as the devil not ok on Halloween? I guess Halloween’s purpose of exorcising demons has become completely inculturated and it’s just another excuse to get fat, fuck and act stupid. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/12 "2009-10-31T01:40:16Z")
If he did that at my HS, the minimum punishment he’d get would be he’d be sent home to change and get an absence, and then probably have to write an apology/do an essay on WWII and the Holocaust, and perhaps if they REALLY were strict they may add more detention. But nothing that’d go on a permanent record. Also, he may get his ass kicked if he wasn’t a senior or a junior doing this and those guys saw him. Or the very minimum, stuffed in a Trash Can. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/13 "2009-10-31T01:43:31Z")
I thought the whole point of Halloween was to dress up as something nasty. I see no problem with it. Or is it only okay to wear happy costumes like princesses and bunny rabbits now? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/14 "2009-10-31T01:46:39Z")
Sounds like someone hasn’t been listening to Puffy the Bear. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/15 "2009-10-31T01:49:49Z")
I see no problem with it either. It’s a scary costume. ---
**Author:** ![Livardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/43a26b/32.png) [@Livardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Livardo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/16 "2009-10-31T01:49:56Z")
[only way a Hitler costume can be amusing.](http://www.sumodawg.com/Hitler.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/17 "2009-10-31T01:55:51Z")
I would have bounced him out of my classroom in a picosecond. Off to the Vice-Principal with a class suspension of 3 days, with a call for a school suspension of at least a week. Then a call to his parents for an ass-chewing. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/18 "2009-10-31T01:59:32Z")
In Germany, he’d be out the door in a heart-beat! Where you _been_ **Q-Bro**???🙂 Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/19 "2009-10-31T01:59:41Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > So the ones who are all upset are anti-ghost, anti-ghoul, and anti-monster? Isn’t Halloween supposed to be about scary costumes, i.e., not necessarily role models? [QUOTE=Stealth Potato] I thought the whole point of Halloween was to dress up as something nasty. I see no problem with it. Or is it only okay to wear happy costumes like princesses and bunny rabbits now? [/QUOTE] None of those other things have any basis in reality. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795/20 "2009-10-31T02:02:34Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > None of those other things have any basis in reality. So what? Halloween is about dressing up as some kind demon. Hitler falls perfectly in that category. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-kid-showed-up-at-school-today-dressed-as-hitler/515795.md?page=2)