There has been overwhelming support for the stand principal Matthew Farley took when he sent home 50 students from the Garrison Secondary School this week for breaches of the dress code.
Response was swift on the Nation’s Facebook page and the website www.nationnews.com to the stand Farley took.
In a letter which was sent to parents and guardians, it indicated: “The school was forced to take this action since warnings given since the full inspection on September 6, 2010, and at year and form prayers have been ignored.”
The majority of readers agreed with Farley, but some questioned his action, asking what was the correlation between the dress code and the school’s academic achievement.
The following are some of the comments expressed by readers:
• As a principal he has the right to enforce the rules under which he is mandated by the Ministry of Education to enforce. People need to stop condemning him and condemn the parents of these students and the students themselves.
Why is it as a society, we don’t like the rules that are set up to be followed? We are ready to rebel, call them archaic, draconian.
If these young people choose to break simple school rules, how can they then follow rules much more stringent in the real world, or on a job.
• Mr Farley, I backing you 150 per cent. If we in this country don’t stand for something, we would settle for anything. When they go into the world of work they have to comply with the company’s dress code (if there is one). We have to bend the tree while it’s young.
• We need more principals like Mr Farley. That is why the moral fabric of Barbados is decaying. Check them, Mr Farley. It is a place for education not the club young girls and boys.
• All of these students were given letters to have the uniform corrected but no, now Mr Farley dealt with them it is a problem. We need to have more principals like him. Rules are made to be followed. Simple as that.
• I believe punishment for a school uniform infringment should be more work or detention with more work. Sending home a student is not a punishment.
• Surely their education is far more important than whether their knees are showing. Sorry, but dress code should never trump education. If kids are coming in with the wrong attire, then by all means give them detentions or some other punishment, but don’t deprive them of a week of learning!
• Log on to the Nation’s website www.nationnews.com and the Nation’s Facebook page for more comments.
