High school bans Canada Goose and Moncler jackets to protect poorer children
High school can be tough for anyone, and students from poor backgrounds have the added anxiety of struggling to keep up with their wealthier peers when it comes to clothes and accessories.
A high school in northwestern England is attempting to level the playing field for disadvantaged students by banning expensive Canada Goose and Moncler coats.
In a letter to parents at the beginning of November, the headteacher of Woodchurch High School in Birkenhead explained that the ban was coming in after Christmas as the school was "mindful that some young people put pressure on their parents to purchase expensive items of clothing."
"These coats cause a lot of inequality between our pupils," headteacher Rebekah Phillips told CNN. "They stigmatize students and parents who are less well off and struggle financially."
The blacklisted coats sell for as much as $1,200 -- a cost many parents will struggle to afford. "There has been feedback from children, who say 'Gosh, that is our rent for the month,'" Phillips said.
She said her attempt to "poverty-proof" the school, which has students between the ages of 11 and 16, has been well-received by parents.
Phillips added that a former student wrote to her praising the move and saying that school should not be a place where students' "economic background is rubbed in their faces and distracts them from learning."
Parent Andy Treanor, who is a civil servant, said the ban "did not matter" to him as "he would not spend that much on a coat" for his daughter anyway.
Around 46% of the 1,427-strong student body comes from a disadvantaged background and the school has introduced other measures to prevent social inequality from affecting children's performance.
Two years ago, it introduced a compulsory school bag to reduce costs, after parents complained that their children were demanding branded rucksacks. The school has also cut down non-uniform days -- days when students can wear their own choice of clothes to school -- to once a year, after complaints of children "being put down" for the clothes they wore, the headteacher added.
In line with a growing movement
The school also provides free sanitary products to students, a measure put in place after the headteacher noticed a drop in girls' attendance at certain times of the month.
The ban on expensive coats is in line with a growing movement in British schools to protect poorer students. Initiatives have included banning expensive pencil cases and discouraging primary school teachers from asking students what they did on the weekend, so children whose families couldn't afford to do anything wouldn't feel embarrassed.
Campaigners say these initiatives have led to better school attendance by poorer children and improved the behavior of all students by tackling the forms of bullying associated with inequality.
"Poverty-proofing enables schools to identify and overcome the barriers to learning that children and young people from families with less financial resources face," Jeremy Cripps, Chief Executive of Children North East, a nonprofit organization that provides poverty-proofing audits for schools, said in a statement to CNN.
Comments
last commentSorry - forgot to include the complimentary "OT:" in the title
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My parents could not have bought me expensive jackets. I probably could have bought my children expensive designer clothes but I did not.
The school, in my opinion, should not ban expensive clothes. Children have to learn that there will always be other people who are richer and have nicer things. If a rich kid acts too obnoxious, the other kids can just beat him up.
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I am a proponent of school uniforms.
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^ Yes school uniforms eliminate a lot of problems, and have also been proven effective to decrease bullying.
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I am a proponent of beating up flagooner
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That's it.
I'm sick of these unprovoked attacks. You should respect your elders.
I'm going to cry to founder about it and then drown my sorrows in the 3 Ps (Peaches, Pears, and Pineapple).
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Are Peaches, Pears, and Pineapple triplet sisters with red hair and just over legal age ?
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If I was a rich parent at that school I'd have a custom coat made out of 100 Bill's for my kid, and a sealed note he can give the principal if they gave them shit about it. The note would say fuck your policies.
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^ bullshit
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After this, they are not gonna allow any kids to get A's so the dumb kids don't feel bad/left-out
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^ no they’re gonna grade on a curve, inverted of course. ;)
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My Canada goose jacket cost less than $300 and I also wear it duck hunting and ice fishing.
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According to Alex Trebek the 3 Ps are:
Price, Price and Price
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Funny how I destroyed an airplane shitter yesterday
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You boys are sexy... lolol i love fruit
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Empathy is what this country is missing of late. Obviously I’ll get trashed for saying so but that kinda proves the point
To address Papi’s question, bullying or shaming a 12 year old doesn’t make him stronger, it makes him want to be a terrorist or a school shooter. You don’t elevate the weak ones by stepping on their fingers, you elevate them (and therefore the whole country) by offering a hand up.
Making yourself feel good by crushing the dreams of others just proves you to be uncouth.
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If you poor you shouldn't have children anyway.
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Growing up poor gave all of my siblings and I a desire to achieve on our own. Coddling failures in life keeps them as failures. How pathetic and yet utterly progressive this inane idea ... ah never mind fuck Europe.
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^ While I agree with you, I don't think that applies here.
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^ what a homo
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This is the equivalent of a participation-trophy so "no one is left out"
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It's socialism at its best "na na na no one can be better than any one else"
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This just sounds like an unworkable extension to a dress code. I do think dress codes are good things.
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How would y'all like being forced to buy dances from the fuglies at the club bc "it isn't fair they don't sale as many dances"
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I can see the advantages of a dress-code, I just don't agree with the premise of this one that it's so the poorer kids don't feel bad
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I think that's one benefit of a dress code. Though I do think this is going a too far.
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Tough issue. Some advocate school uniforms for this reason. But still tough.
How about independent study schools, and letting juveniles have employment?
SJG
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My father grew up in a rural immigrant area at the turn of the century. Kids weren't allowed to use paper in school because it would make the poorer kids feel left out. Everyone used slates.
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Okay. Why don’t they also make it a rule that all parents can only drive to the school in cars with a book value of 4k or less?
I think trying to curb stuff like that is futile.
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Ok, if you think abjecting 12 year olds to humiliation is OK you probably grew up with a silver spoon so you didn’t do fuck all but rode on you parents coat tails. Good (and lucky) for you.
BTW, just because something MIGHT be futile doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing (unless you re a coward)
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No, designer labels, even on athletic wear, are a very big deal in the schools today.
Don't know what one does about it though.
Rather than making rules or having uniforms, how about moving away from a consumer society to one where employment and education are used to complement each other?
SJG
Saturday I reported on a man who had vanished from a 49er's stadium game the previous Monday. Saturday they found a body in the water near the old unused Alviso Marina and some old concrete boat ramps. The stuff is unused because silt comes in from the bay and fills it up.
I have years ago explored all around there. It is interesting, but even in the day time potentially dangerous. I once got stuck hip deep in mud and a shoe came off. Getting my foot back into the shoe I was able to recover it. But I was taking more risks in doing so.
This man was in the military, maybe Special Forces. So likely he handles himself quite well in the outdoors, even at night.
Not sure if any conclusions have been reached, but to me it sounds more and more like a suicide. Left his cell phone, battery run down to zero, in his car at the stadium. Also left his girl friend and her two kids there. But talking on the phone and using video up until the point he vanished.
590kqnt.iheart.com
khq.com
Here SJPD say that the body was found floating face down about 1 mile out from the Marina and the Ramps.
yahoo.com
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