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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

School’s Ban On Hats Uncovers A Host Of Issues

Joe Jensen Special To Opinion

A hat what a terrible thing. It seems harmless, except to the administration at my high school. Hats recently have been outlawed. We can wear them to school but not in class.

Wearing hats, they say, prevents us from getting an education. As far I can tell, not wearing hats prevents us from getting an education. When I take off my hat, I make sure it doesn’t hit the dirty floor. I always have it in my hands. I spin it around on my pencil. I’m distracted, and that affects my education much more than just wearing it on my head.

A hat is the common scene on the heads of most teenage boys in my high school. But now the administration says: no hats. Why? Disrespect. That would have been a good reason 40 years ago but not in today’s society. This is the 1990s, and hardly anyone respects his or her elders. If the older generation is worried about disrespect, then it needs to be a little stricter about the behavior of students, such as students talking back to teachers.

Another reason for the no-hats rule is that administrators are afraid hats are gang-related. That is unlikely in Troy, a town of barely 1,000 people. The closest thing to a gang that I’ve heard about is the militia in Noxon.

No one has any really good reason for wearing a hat. I wear mine because sometimes my hair sticks up in the back. Some people just wear a hat because they have worn one ever since they can remember. And others wear hats just because they don’t like to comb their hair.

Many of our teachers think that hats are a problem, but some of them don’t. It wouldn’t be so bad if they would just leave the policy up to the teachers like they used to. Some of the teachers understand that this is a community where wearing a hat is a common thing, not a disrespect thing.

A solution might be possible. It’s very unlikely, though, since next year, they are going to try to ban hats totally. If we can’t even wear hats in the hall, then there will be no solution.

Even though hats seem harmless, they are a very big issue. Many parents of students, as well as other people in the community, agree that it’s not that big of a deal and the administration shouldn’t make such a fuss. Maybe if we all shaved our heads and got pornographic tattoos, they would let us wear hats again, but I doubt it.

MEMO: “Your turn” is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion pages. To submit a “Your turn” column for consideration, contact Rebecca Nappi at 459-5496 or Doug Floyd at 459-5466 or write “Your turn,” The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane 99210-1615.

“Your turn” is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion pages. To submit a “Your turn” column for consideration, contact Rebecca Nappi at 459-5496 or Doug Floyd at 459-5466 or write “Your turn,” The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane 99210-1615.