Ah, prom time...

[Whidbey78]

I talked to my wife about this and she read the articles and this thread. She found it sad that some schools forbid the kilt and others allow the attendees to look like a piece of modern art(or straight off Mad Max in some cases). Being an educator she sees both sides of the equation more than most of us will.

Her explination, simplified, is that the person or people forbidding kilts at these events are most likely motivated by the very same ignorance and fear of the unknown they are supposed to combat every day as teachers. The ones allowing homespun garbage suits, duct tape apparel, etc. are motivated by a fear of having poor media coverage, bad PR, or even lawsuits filed by students who simply want to shake things up, make a statement, be different in an extreme way, or get a picture in the yearbook. Both are extreme situations, and both are unfortunate.

Then she shocked me with a newspaper article from Denver. Apparently several schools there have banned shirts with a variety of designs including celtic crosses because they think it is a white supremacy thing! The big fight inside the school is about the fact that minority students can wear Brown Pride, Black and Proud, etc, but a student whose ancestry is European isn't allowed to be openly proud of his heritage. The double standard is what really gets to me. Why can't this kid say "Irish and Proud" without being labeled a racist? I thought we had moved past that, but I was wrong.

Getting back to my point...she feels that that a lot of it stems from a very terrible thing--namely that a kilt, especially a traditional one, evokes a white heritage that SOME people feel we should be ashamed of.

My nephew was thinking about going to prom kilted but opted not to...he feared the possible backlash!

Sad.

[AFS1970]

Yes such school rules are shortsighted and ignorant. I read about a school that would not let an 11 year old wear his father's fire department T-Shirt to school on September 11 of last year because it was blue and blue was clearly a gang color. I took the time to e-mail the principal and the superintendant. I got a reply back from the superintendent that I just didn't understand about the dangers of gang violence. Like dangerous people are more or less dangerous in different color shirts.

OK rant over, back to Kilt's vs duct tape.....hey what if you made a duct tape kilt and entered it in the contest, then they would have to let you wear it, right?

[NorCalPiper]

Just a note about the Sikh thing (Being married to an India-american, we hear about these things). Most people don't realize that Sikhs are forbidden to cut their hair. Their whole life, they pull it up and ball it on the top of their head. The turban is actually part of their religious rite and can't separate it. I'm tempted to say thats how i feel about my kilt........But i think the turban thing wins out.

[Lachlan09]

The Sikh 5 “K”s:-



I remember back in the 1960’s/70’s for years there was a lot of bother in the UK after crash-helmets were made mandatory on motor-bikes/scooters etc and Sikhs didn’t want to wear them for religious reasons. Likewise, Sikhs working on the buses wanted to wear their turban/puggri instead of a bus-company cap. They won out on the buses – I can’t remember the outcome of the motor-bikes though.

So no imagery like below in Colorado then ? A pity:-


A 13th Century MacDonald Cross at Kilmory Chapel, Kintyre, Argyll.

[Ruanaidh]

Here’s my advice for Isaac. If you’re now going to shoot for your Senior Prom, you a have a year to prepare. Wear your kit to as many formal events as you can for the next year: the symphony, the opera, museum openings, weddings, Mrs. Bunbury’s New Years Eve open house. Get plenty of photos. Maybe a news photographer will be at some of the events and your picture will end up in the paper. Put an album together. When next you ask the principal, you will be better prepared to ask why the kilt is perfectly acceptable in proper society but not at the prom. Besides you’ll have a great deal of fun and meet some very interesting people in the process.

[Nighthawk]

So no imagery like below in Colorado then ? A pity:-


A 13th Century MacDonald Cross at Kilmory Chapel, Kintyre, Argyll.

I wore my Celtic cross t shirt to my kids jazz vocal concert last night, along with my Nightstalker kilt. After reading that, I thought "Let them try to stop me." It went over really well, actually. I was informed by 2 teachers that I have become a school staple. They know that if there is some function or other, I will be there. They watch for me, and it turned out that several students do as well!

[auld argonian]

Here’s my advice for Isaac. If you’re now going to shoot for your Senior Prom, you a have a year to prepare. Wear your kit to as many formal events as you can for the next year: the symphony, the opera, museum openings, weddings, Mrs. Bunbury’s New Years Eve open house. Get plenty of photos. Maybe a news photographer will be at some of the events and your picture will end up in the paper. Put an album together. When next you ask the principal, you will be better prepared to ask why the kilt is perfectly acceptable in proper society but not at the prom. Besides you’ll have a great deal of fun and meet some very interesting people in the process.

Excellent advice. Sadly, we often see desperate guys coming to the forum at the eleventh hour looking for advice and by then it's too late.

Maybe we should consider a sticky, "So You Want To Wear The Kilt...To Your Prom!", that will digest some of the advice that has been given in the past with an emphasis on getting ahead of the thing and making it clear to your school and peers that the kilt is part of your life and not some costume that you're wearing on a whim just to stick out.

Best

AA

[Lallans]

I'm thinking of my own high school, 60's era, where the dress code for the upper grades was strictly enforced as coat and tie for the males. That got contentious for a friend of mine and he was sent home for being underdressed, some technicality as I recall. So the next day he showed up for class in a full tuxedo with cummerbund and pumps and the whole works- and got thrown out again. Really there's no pleasing some people.

[wildrover]

...didn’t want to wear them for religious reasons.

Checking my watch, I see it's 2010. Isn't it about time religion started showing a little common sense and maturity?

I can’t remember the outcome of the motor-bikes though.

I have a pretty good idea how that turns out.

So no imagery like below in Colorado then ? A pity:-


A 13th Century MacDonald Cross at Kilmory Chapel, Kintyre, Argyll.

Fortunately, I am no longer subject to the ignorant, fearful, and convoluted whims of secondary school administrators. I live in reality, now.

I imagine there are a great many educators at the Irish and Scottish events here in Colorado. I don't, however, imagine that there are many members of the education administration at any extracurricular event, seeing as how so many things offend them. If you've taken offense to my remarks, cheers, you're probably one of the good ones...the ones that actually encourage children to become adults, versus simply bigger children with drivers' licenses and voter registration.

Then she shocked me with a newspaper article from Denver. Apparently several schools there have banned shirts with a variety of designs including celtic crosses because they think it is a white supremacy thing! The big fight inside the school is about the fact that minority students can wear Brown Pride, Black and Proud, etc, but a student whose ancestry is European isn't allowed to be openly proud of his heritage. The double standard is what really gets to me. Why can't this kid say "Irish and Proud" without being labeled a racist? I thought we had moved past that, but I was wrong.

Getting back to my point...she feels that that a lot of it stems from a very terrible thing--namely that a kilt, especially a traditional one, evokes a white heritage that SOME people feel we should be ashamed of.

School administrations do all sorts of stupid things, all the time. Got a link to the article? Maybe some of the historical and cultural societies would like to hear about this, if they haven't already.

I'm not ashamed of my heritage, and if somebody tried to tie the worst parts of history to me personally, I'd have to introduce them to a history teacher, and let them know that the majority of people in the world have left those horrors in the past, so they should, too. Then I'll tell them about what goes on in the world of Today, outside of the comfortable rose garden of The West.

"White" is not a race. Neither is "Black". They are only cultural labels in America. Don't fall victim to the ignorance and idiocy of people whose only cultural inheritance is sitcoms and khakis from The Gap.

I'm thinking of my own high school, 60's era, where the dress code for the upper grades was strictly enforced as coat and tie for the males. That got contentious for a friend of mine and he was sent home for being underdressed, some technicality as I recall. So the next day he showed up for class in a full tuxedo with cummerbund and pumps and the whole works- and got thrown out again. Really there's no pleasing some people.

There's never a way to please small-minded authority, except utter capitulation. Better to replace them...or have a strong PTA and a pack of rabid lawyers, I suppose.

[MacBean]

At our premiere Ivy League school, in a land far away ('72), I attended graduation and the handing out of diplomas dressed in my finest period-correct costume. If that school allows such freedom, surely others could follow suit. Dress rules provoke disobedience.