Posted: Wednesday, 04 June 2008 11:20AM
Pajama Day Flunks Out
Steve Corbett Reporting
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Sage called yesterday and said she felt uncomfortable when the other kids at her elementary school wore their pajamas to class. She said she believes that wearing pajamas to class is inappropriate.
Several other children called “Corbett” yesterday to express their opposition to “Pajama Day,” an odd practice that seems to have become common practice in public schools throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania.
One child said she wore her PJs although she, too, felt uncomfortable.
A 17-year-old boy called to say that he didn’t like teachers looking at him in his pajamas when he was 15.
Peer pressure now comes in shapes that I never even thought of, including flannel.
Another boy, Kyle, said that kids in his class at South Scranton Junior High School wore their pajamas to class and that he didn’t see any great harm in the practice. He said that school officials banned inappropriate pajamas.
The school principal echoed that thought earlier in the day when we spoke off the air. He declined to talk about “Pajama Day” on the air.
The principal stressed that South Scranton Junior High was not the Playboy Mansion.
But Kyle disclosed on the air what the principal failed to disclose even privately. Kyle said that some students – sixth, seventh and eighth graders - did show up wearing inappropriate bedtime attire and were sent home.
That means that some adult stood by the door watching for unacceptable nightwear and turning away offending students.
Did the kids offend with baby dolls or flimsy nighties? What qualifications did the responsible adult at the door possess to determine standards of what passed and what failed the test of acceptability?
Are we crazy?
Adults called to defend the practice as good, clean fun that lets kids be kids and enjoy themselves during an exercise of school spirit. A woman emailed me to say that kids brought a dollar on “Pajama Day” and that the cash later went to a good cause.
Kids in pajamas grew up to be solid college students and good citizens, they argued.
One 28-year-old woman called to say that she enjoyed wearing her pajamas to class in school and that she went on to obtain masters and doctorate degrees.
Now she works in a school district and wears her pajamas on days when she visits school on “Pajama Day.”
My becoming speechless on news talk radio is bad form. But I wasn’t sure what to say. I wanted to be nice and respectful. But I also needed to convey that wearing pajamas in school only contributes to the dumbing down of a large number of students whose attention span seems to diminish more and more each day.
School must not turn into another silly kids’ show.
More and more I see news accounts of principals and teachers who make fools of themselves in exchange for kids doing what they’re supposed to do in school in the first place.
Studying and learning is a non-negotiable part of the educational contract. Principals do not have to kiss pigs, eat bugs or engage in other demeaning and ridiculous behavior in exchange for scholarship.
Now kids expect to come to school in their pajamas.
Adults must behave like adults. We must set standards and help children achieve them. We must serve as responsible role models and not treat school like a cheesy reality show that depends on entertainment value in exchange for student approval.
Colleges are guilty as well.
In fact, colleges might have started this absurd pajama craze by allowing students to show up in class in their pajamas – fuzzy slippers and all. Roll out of bed and you’re in class studying Aristotle before you know it, assuming that colleges still teach philosophy other than courses drawn from cartoon characters like the Simpsons.
Discipline matters, particularly when it comes to learning focus and attention to detail.
No wonder our kids fail. No wonder countless college students graduate as dolts who don’t even know that Lincoln’s Gettysburg address was not the condo where he stayed when he hit town on spring break. Despite his stove pipe hat – de rigueur at the time – Abe was not wearing pajamas when he uttered that famous four score and seven years ago opening.
Nor should you.
School is school.
Keep it that way.
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