It's About Time We Identified The Root Of The Problem In Our School Districts; Hoodies.

Boston- Senior Manasseh Konadu wasn’t real keen on the move at first and he had a lot of company.

“Well, initial reaction was one of shock,” he says, standing in the hallway at South High Community School. “We’re used to wearing hoodies all the time.”

Indeed, for students at both Burncoat and South High — the new school year brought hoodie banishment.

After considering the ban for a couple of years, Binienda got a strong nudge over the summer from Worcester Police, concerned about gang violence creeping into the schools by way of hidden faces and big front pouches.

“And I have to be able to see who is in my building,” she says. “And I have to be able to identify them.”

The primary concern with hoodies is that some kids conceal much of their face by pulling the drawstrings tight, making it hard to determine who’s who at a glance, or even if they’re a student.

Some students also use the hood to hide earbuds and headphones in class.

Jeanine Greenwich’s granddaughter doesn’t like it one bit.

Some 500 students have signed an online protest petition, but principal Binienda doesn’t sense a revolt in the works.

“I’m just convinced if you don’t wear that hooded sweatshirts during school,” says principal Binienda, “It will make our community safer.”



Oh, duh. How come we didn't think of this earlier? That's how we solve school violence. That's how we make kids pay attention in class. Just get rid of the hoodies. Couldn't be simpler. Uncomfortable kids are far more prone to obeying the rules and doing what they are told. Plus, it's a pretty well known fact that it's the wardrobe that makes the person, and not the person that makes the wardrobe. If we had just identified this problem sooner we would have been one trench coat ban away from Columbine being a lovely, endearing place to get an education. You take away hoods and front pockets and it takes away all opportunities for children to be reprehensible human beings. What are they going to do? Be in a hoodless gang? Ha! Good luck with that. That's like supporting the Ku Klux Klan without dressing in a bed sheet. Who on Earth would take you seriously?

Sure, some will say that they could just require kids to keep the hood down indoors, but why open themselves up to so much uncertainty? That takes way too much disciplining. What do they look like, an institution whose job is to teach? A place that's supposed to shape the minds of our youth? How could they possibly be expected to do so when everyone is dressed like gun toting heathens? You give a kid a hood and he has no choice but to throw some headphones in and become a distraction in the classroom. You give a kid a front pocket, and he has no choice but to carry a weapon in it. I don't even know why we are stopping at hoodies. Let's ban hats, pockets, and maybe even shoes as well. If we really want to create a safe environment for our children then we need to have them strip down upon entering like they are prepping for a physical. We need homerooms everywhere to look like TSA style security checkpoints. Stripping kids down to their least comfortable clothing options is really the only way to make sure they don't kill each other, and in turn it creates an environment that is almost certainly conducive to learning. 

I don't know about you, but I can barely tell the difference....