Hey Kids! Camo!

Yesterday was "Camouflage Day" at Virginia's Marshall Middle School:

As the first bell rang, students bounded into hallways wearing twig- and branch-imprinted jackets or sporting fatigues stamped U.S. Army.

Principal Christine Moschetti said the school asked the students to don the martial clothing to show support for "the fight against drugs." She wore a leafy, oversized camouflage T-shirt that she had bought at Wal-Mart for $5…

Seventh-grader Tyler Hale described his outfit with pride. "The vest is from Desert Storm," he said, referring to the Persian Gulf War. It was a gift from a family friend. The pants were for hunting. "I go every year," he said.

Camouflage was more popular among boys, but girls got into the spirit, too.

What spirit would that be? Is tomorrow Trench Coat Day? Then again, it's hard to think of a better sartorial dictate with which to glorify the drug war. A clearly supportive Washington Post article surveys the other options:

In Prince George's County, students at Benjamin Stoddert Middle School wore red socks Monday to "sock it to drugs." In Prince William County, Woodbridge Middle School students dressed like twins yesterday "to pair up against drugs." In Loudoun County, Round Hill Elementary School students will have a Crazy Hair Day tomorrow to remind them to "use your head; don't do drugs."

I think they've really got something with the sock thing.

Comments

[gaijin]

"sock it to drugs."

Who comes up with this stuff?!

[Karen]

I am so happy my son's school has never heard of this.

[smacky]

In Prince George's County, students at Benjamin Stoddert Middle School wore red socks Monday to "sock it to drugs." In Prince William County, Woodbridge Middle School students dressed like twins yesterday "to pair up against drugs." In Loudoun County, Round Hill Elementary School students will have a Crazy Hair Day tomorrow to remind them to "use your head; don't do drugs."

Here are three more reasons why -- if I ever had kids -- I would send them to private school.

[ed]

Hip-waders for Global Warming Day.
Paste-on skin tumors for Ozone Hole Day.
French Maid outfits for Pedophile Day.

The potential here boggles the mind.

[madpad]

This is why I send my kids to private parochial schools.

[John]

Camouflage Day is the perfect day to skip school because you can always use the excuse that you were counted absent because the teacher couldn't see you in the brush and thicket.

[Les]

Even though I homeschool, I make sure to have at least one "Fuck Drugs in the Ass" day every semester.

[Bee]

...Because it's fun to smoke a bowl around the campfire when you're out hunting.

Good to see that they're establishing the connection early.

[Schwebs]

In the upper midwest a "camo day" would be seen as supporting hunting. Phasers on stun, here comes PETA

[J sub D]

Hey, watch the snide comments. Teachers and administrators in the public school system have all been to college. Many have masters degrees. Surely they have empirical evideence to support that this kind of IDIOCY reduces drug usage.

[shecky]

Yes, private schools would never do such ridiculous things. (This from someone who's parents spent thousands over thirteen years on Catholic schooling, so their son could grow up to be athiest.)

[Native NYer]

Is this all because yesterday was "United Nations Day".

Man, i'm glad I puffed drugs in high school instead of doing melvinish stuff like that.

[smacky]

shecky,

I went to private school and public school...and I daresay private school, although guilty of its own idiosynchrocies, is slightly less lame in certain regards...

[Buckshot]

It's disturbing that the narco-pigs have conscripted children to spread the Drug War propaganda.

[shecky]

I wonder what the smartass kids are doing to make fun of camo day? Wear a coat and tie?

[Paul]

You all do realize that the kids that get into this stuff the most are our future 'leaders', right?

[b-psycho]

Anyone else here suspect whoever came up with these stupid little gimmicks was high at the time?

[Dan T.]

While I understand that Reasonoids love nothing more than taking cheap shots at public schools, it makes you guys seem even more smarmy than usual to condemn a fun activity for children that helps remind them about the dangers of drug use.

All kid's activities are going to seem childish to adults, that's the whole point.

[downstater]

"I went to private school and public school...and I daresay private school, although guilty of its own idiosynchrocies, is slightly less lame in certain regards..."

i'd agree, but i don't think this is one of those areas.

unfortunately, private/parochial schools in my area are pioneering the way for mandatory drug testing of all students - to the tune of overwhelming parental support it seems.

i'd rather my kid be encouraged to wear red socks for some lame campaign than have their hair cut to be tested for drugs - which is far more lame in my opinion.

[J sub D]

Dan T, It would also seem childish and stupid to your average to above average middle school student. Never underestimate the sensitivity of adolescent BS detectors.

[Dan T.]

Dan T, It would also seem childish and stupid to your average to above average middle school student. Never underestimate the sensitivity of adolescent BS detectors.

At least according to the linked story, "Most students responded enthusiastically to the event"

[Paul]

All kid's activities are going to seem childish to adults, that's the whole point.

Dan T., it's not the kid's activities which seem childish, it's the adult activities which seem childish. That's the point.

[JW]

While I understand that Reasonoids love nothing more than taking cheap shots at public schools, it makes you guys seem even more smarmy than usual to condemn a fun activity for children that helps remind them about the dangers of drug use.

Yes, my daughter, when in 1st grade, came home with all sorts of "drug awareness" paraphernalia ("hehe, he said "paraphernalia") that the public school she goes to crammed into her backpack.

She had no idea what drugs were before that day, but she surely knows what they are now.

[Paul]

Anyone else here suspect whoever came up with these stupid little gimmicks was high at the time?

b-psycho:

Suspect? This confirms it. Given the quality of our public education establishment, should we be surprised?

[Stevo Darkly]

How are kids supposed to learn if they're just lying there inert?

Oh, camo day. Not coma day.

[Dan T.]

Yes, my daughter, when in 1st grade, came home with all sorts of "drug awareness" paraphernalia ("hehe, he said "paraphernalia") that the public school she goes to crammed into her backpack.

She had no idea what drugs were before that day, but she surely knows what they are now.

Learning about things is kind of the idea behind school.

[JW]

Maybe they can teach her about pimping and ho'ing too.

[Pro Libertate]

Stevo Darkly,

Oh, I thought they were talking about Ammo Day. But that's next month.

[Jennifer]

At least according to the linked story, "Most students responded enthusiastically to the event"

I work for the type of small-town paper that makes a huge deal out of every little piddling elementary-school event. Unless the kids are in actual comas, they always "respond enthusiastically" to whatever the school is doing. If the reporter quotes kids talking about how stupid and boring the event is, the editor will cut that out.

[Les]

Learning about things is kind of the idea behind school.

Why does a first grader need to know about drug paraphernalia?

[Paul]

Why does a first grader need to know about drug paraphernalia?

Plenty. You have to get those young, nimble fingers working on rolling a blunt as soon as possible. You think this stuff comes naturally?

[Pro Libertate]

Jennifer, you're such a cynic. Why, I remember fondly Burn Your Teacher in Effigy Day in third grade. Ah, memories. Too bad that they don't do that anymore. Turned out that most third graders didn't, in fact, know the word, "effigy". Tragic.

[J sub D]

Dan T, I referred to "average to above average middle school student". These youngsters know that "Vengeance is mine, sayeth the bureaucrat."

[Jennifer]

Pro Libertate, I stopped taking part in school-spirit special-dress days around fifth grade, except for my senior year of high school during homecoming week, when everybody was supposed to wear black because we were "in mourning" for the other school's football team (our team was supposedly going to kick their team's collective butt).

Anyway, I'd just entered my wear-black-every-day phase a few months before, but on Mourning Day I switched to all white. Which was prophetic, as our school's football team got totally trounced in that night's game, as it had in every other game it played in for the past decade or so.

[Jennifer]

Oh--I also did Toga Day, because I look really good in a toga.

[J sub D]

Jennifer, Wheres the toga picture sowe can agree/disagree on that?

[Tim]

Even though I homeschool, I make sure to have at least one "Fuck Drugs in the Ass" day every semester.

Best drug awareness day. Ever.

[Bee]

Jennifer - the kinda paper that tells you who won the pumpkin-pie baking contest? The kinda paper that has the same exact ad for the local hardware store every week for 20 years? The kinda paper that is used to start fires all winter?

I love small towns. Not like I've ever lived in one, or anything...I just crave the whiff of homeliness I get when we go on vacation and pick up the local papers.

They're lucky to have you on staff!

[Pro Libertate]

Jennifer,

Nothing like a toga. If it were up to me, that would be the next big style. Real togas, mind you, not sheets.

[rob]

"Hey, watch the snide comments. Teachers and administrators in the public school system have all been to college. Many have masters degrees. Surely they have empirical evideence to support that this kind of IDIOCY reduces drug usage."

Dude, they're like, EXPERTS. If you've read joe's posts, the fact that they are experts is all you need to know. They are OBVIOUSLY right.

Oh, crap. You told me to watch the snide comments. Sorry!

[Bee]

It occurs to me suddenly that to be a teacher today who disagrees with our current drug policy could be a very scary thing. For some reason, making kids dress up like this in support of government policies seems sort of fascist somehow. Maybe I'm overreacting, but this story has just creeped me out more and more over the last couple of hours.

[strat]

I'd simply like to object to the characterization of French Maid fanciers as pedophiles. There's a time honored body of work glorifying this mode of Francophilic domestic habiliment, and I don't ever remember that connection.

Zut alors!

I just hope that in the course of shopping for Mossy Oak duds, our youth in the Commonwealth have a chance to learn some real information about the Mossberg 500s probably sitting in a case not far from the vests.

[Jennifer]

That's pretty much it, Bee. Someimes on an extra-slow news day, me and the photographer go to some scenic locale and he takes pretty pictures while I wax poetic about how pretty the place is. Sometimes these articles generate great controversy, as when I mention the existence of litter.

[Stevo Darkly]

I would like to suggest a day where the teachers dress in togas or French maid uniforms. Stevo Darkly Day.

[Jim "Big Daddy" Walsh]

How about a Turn In Your Dope Smoking Friends Day; kid could dress up to look like this...

[SteveInClearwater]

BEE ponders: It occurs to me suddenly that to be a teacher today who disagrees with our current drug policy could be a very scary thing.

SH: Could be, but it's certainly less scary if you unite with like-minded educators.

Educators For Sensible Drug Policy http://www.efsdp.org

[mongeese]

Look, kids, at least most boys, love to play war. So ask them to dress up in camouflage to battle the ____ war and of course you are going to find enthusiastic little warriors (did they get to paint their faces, too?...maybe that has to wait for college football games). You could declare a war on garden slugs, on people who lack color coordination, on sugar free toothpaste and you'd get the same effect.

But don't worry, one of these kids is bound to have a 'near collision' with another one in this battle so the nonsense should soon end.

[peachy]

Ah, Stevo, my man, I like the cut of your jib... (are you goat-footed by any chance?) But I would like to suggest that every day be "toga or french maid day"...

[Ramblin' Man]

I spent a year subbing in the public schools. One elementary school had a buddy day where you were suppose to dress like your buddy. I thought that was kind of cute. A high school had a 'wear your pajamas to school day' which I also thought was kind of cute (I'm sensing a Jack Handy joke coming....) though if I were in high school I'm not sure how I would have reacted.

Personally, I always wanted to have an 'ugly shoe day' but after hearing Stevo's ideas I think I am turned.

On another note, a friend of mine, much more pro-state than I am, told me the other day I should be grateful for the all the good things, regulations, etc. the government has provided us. But when I read these things about the schools, I think that he should be grateful that not all of society in America is government controlled. I guess the retort would be, "well, the private sector produces just as much silliness." Possibly true, but the upside is that if you don't like something in the marketplace, at the local Mason's lodge, or in your church, you can always opt out or start a new business, wacky men's club, or church, i.e. "Ramblin' Man's Ugly Shoe Temple."

[Andrew Ian Dodge]

How about "France Day" where the students burn their teacher's cars?

[dagny]

How are kids supposed to learn if they're just lying there inert?

That sounds like the normal state of students in school, yes.