Follow Your Passion: A Seamless Tumblr Journey
The line of "students feel like they aren't being respected" is extra striking when you remember that this article was not respected. Like, I get that they might not want it due to the name-dropping of a specific teacher which could lead to harassment of the teacher... But I feel it is much more likely that they had problems with the questioning the nature of authority and respect in this case.
My school newspaper didn't allow me to publish this hat investigation article so im posting it here instead
Most students are aware wearing a hat in school is just as much of a crime as vandalism of a classroom. I’m certain many students have stopped to ask themselves, “Why is this such a big deal?” and I’m even more certain the teachers would answer “it’s just tradition”. We all know, however, that this answer isn’t good enough. School is a space for education, so why shouldn’t we be educated on this rule?
Many teachers will simply tell you the hat rule is due to tradition or that it’s respectful, but what does that actually mean? Tradition goes back a long way. In the earlier 1900’s, removing your hat was a sign of respect and humbleness. You would remove your hat indoors, when it wasn’t necessary to cover your face from the sun. In fact, the tradition can stem all the way back to the earlier 1400’s, where knights were asked to remove their helmets to show their faces to nobility. But do hats truly obscure faces? Why do we ban every hat if only a few obscure faces?
Back to the respect aspect, people hinge heavily on the idea of being respectful. Have you ever felt your argument was valid, so a teacher or parent tells you that your words were “disrespectful”? Respect seems to be a way to give teachers more power, more authority. Some would say we should be respectful to all around us, and while this is true, should we remove our hats for everyone? What is respect, in its entirety?
There are two different versions of respect, I believe. There is the respect in that you treat someone like an authority, like they are above you, and the respect in that you would treat a fellow human with kindness. Students believe, generally, that they are being put into strict boxes, given mountains of different rules, or that they have to play mind games with their teachers just to comply with their different sets of rules, and none of that is mentioning the education itself. Students feel like they aren’t being respected.
On the other hand, some teachers believe they have no choice but to be authoritarian toward their students. Our school’s own Mr. Bake believes he had no choice during the single year he taught seventh graders but to be “dictator-like”. He had to be treated like an authority, and he did not give humane respect to the students in turn.
We are commonly mistaught about respect. We are taught from a young age to treat authority like they should be respected on a higher level than those on the same social level as us. We are taught not to question, to just believe in tradition. Some authority figures will say, “if you do not respect me, I will not respect you.” But they do not understand the two versions of respect. If you do not treat me like an authority, I will not treat you like a human.
The hats represent self expression. Freedom. Trust. These things are taken from students; they’re told how to dress and how to think, and the teachers feel they have no choice but to oppress the students. Balance and trust are difficult to obtain, but if we understand respect properly, we can learn to respect our teachers as fellow humans, and they can learn to respect us as much as we do them.
Sources Cited:
Eric Soloman, Why Are Hats Not Allowed In School?, Spectrum News
Mark, Hat Etiquette: Should You Still Take Off Your Hat Off At Dinner, During the National Anthem, Etc? Acme Hat
Jennifer Hurley, A Student’s View on Oppression in Education
Mr Bake, Personal Interview
Ok thanks for reading