Schools entitled to uniform approach

There is something a bit gangster, a bit hoodlum about puffer jackets.

WHAT prompts a school to ban something is usually, I would imagine, a matter of being fed up with a distraction, a noise or a bad look. Or at least it should be.

We should be long past the days of societal and prejudiced bans, when books such as Catcher in the Rye were pulled from school shelves for being unsuitable, or Harry Potter being banned because of the elements of sorcery.

I can't quite fathom Motueka High School's ban on puffer jackets, although I admit they aren't a great look. There is something a bit gangster, a bit hoodlum about puffer jackets. I concede I could be sailing foul of parents who have just forked out some serious money for one - and they are warm, I'm sure.

Right now, with the snow resting solidly on the Tararua Ranges, warmth is important, and it would seem, judging by the jackets I see in Wairarapa, puffer jackets are not an issue for schools. Still, it is the school's right to have a uniform code.

Back in the day distracting items at schools included towel-cracking, Chatter-rings (a steel hoop with brass ringlets which spun and vibrated) and the first generation of virtual pets, called Tamagochi. Those moderately inoffensive "pets", in little hand-held devices, needed feeding. The arrival of Tamagochi prompted my mother, a school principal at the time, to declare any Tamagochi found at school would be confiscated and placed in her drawer until they "died".

That's fair enough. Kids are supposed to be studying at school, not constantly pushing buttons on a game. And Chatter-rings, if you remember them, were hell in terms of noise.

When it comes to the dress code for students, schools have a strong desire that students represent their school with a "look" - a good look. It should be that if you did take your kids on a field trip to Te Papa, you should be able to recognise one of your own from across the street. We're all judged on first appearances, and that includes students, and puffer jackets completely defeat the concept of a uniform.

Of course, no student should be cold. It is impressive the students have made a stand at Motueka, in the interests of keeping warm. In the end, a sense of justice - in proportion to the crime - is just as worthy as appearance.