Should Halloween Costumes (in schools) Portray Only “Positive Images”?

[The Straight Story]

Should Halloween Costumes Portray Only “Positive Images”?
By Katherine Schulten

Deeming some Halloween traditions too scary or offensive, schools are putting limits on the costumes students wear. What do you think of these restrictions?

In “Drop the Mask! It’s Halloween, Kids, You Might Scare Somebody”, Jennifer Steinhauer reports:

Guns, daggers and other toy weapons have long been excised from costumes at many school celebrations on Halloween. But in some classrooms across the country, the interpretation of what is too scary — or offensive, gross or saddening — is now also leading to an abundance of caution and some prohibitions.

In a school district in Illinois, students are being encouraged to dress up as historical characters or delicious food items rather than vampires or zombies. In Texas, a school has issued suggestions for “positive costumes” for the annual Halloween dance. At Riverside Drive, a Los Angeles public school in the San Fernando Valley, the Halloween parade is being defanged right down to its jagged fingertips.

…A memo about costume appropriateness sent home recently by Riverside Drive’s principal made the following points:

¶They should not depict gangs or horror characters, or be scary.

¶Masks are allowed only during the parade.

¶Costumes may not demean any race, religion, nationality, handicapped condition or gender.

¶No fake fingernails.

¶No weapons, even fake ones.

¶Shoes must be worn.

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/should-halloween-costumes-portray-only-positive-images/

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Ewwww. I don't want hoards of ballerinas, cowboys, and fairy princesses.

Gimme kids with real imagination. Let'em carry scythes, sickles, swords, etc. Show me a pregnant Hester Pryne with a scarlet "A". You don't get away with that once you go mainstream as an adult.

[sui generis]

2. hell no

what the fuck?

Should do-gooders be allowed to raise your children to their particular standards? Isn't one family enough, why do these "enlightened" individuals think their benign governance is required or needed?

Just because you have an idea that is right for yourself doesn't make it right for everyone else. This is like social conservatism, bedazzlered.

[redqueen]

3. Is this just for an elementary school?

I can see restrictions on scary costumes in an elementary school as being reasonable.

[The Straight Story]

7. From the sidebar: Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older(nt)

[redqueen]

9. Thanks, I missed that...

and no, fuck that. Those kids are fine with scary. WTF.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. do you really think a 6 year old first grader is going to be scared by

another 6 year old's halloween costume?

The only people being scared here are the so-called adults.

[redqueen]

10. How many kids do you have?

Do you think all kids are exactly like yours?

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. Not only did I have two daughters, but I also was a kid myself,

once upon a time, with three siblings.

I have NEVER known a kid over the age of three to be scared by another kid's costume - and there aren't many 3 year olds in elementary school. Scared by adults' costumes? Sure. I've seen kids scared by clowns and the easter bunny and santa claus, too, but it is not surprising that a child might be scared of a LARGE person who they don't know and whose face is masked.

Even if there are 6th graders trying to scare the 1st graders, it is much more the difference is size than the scary costume, and a 6th grade bully could be dressed as Tinkerbelle and be scary to a 1st grader if they wanted to be.

The costumes and masks are immaterial.

[redqueen]

18. I have two daughters.

Raised the exact same way. The first one isn't hardly afraid of anything. My younger one though, she thinks some of what you call the adult masks are scary. The thing is that kids can buy the adult masks. They can and do. They want to be scary (of course, it's Halloween).

So IMO, based on my experience with my younger daughter (and with other kids as well) it very much is the masks.

[RaleighNCDUer]

26. As i said, it isn't the mask, it is the size and attitude of the person wearing the mask.

Again, no kid is going to be scared of one of their classmates wearing a mask. Ever. Unless, of course, that other classmate is a bully who would scare them without a mask, which again takes it off the mask and costume and puts it on the PERSON wearing the mask and costume.

Your younger one, who thinks some of the masks are scary, she KNOWS that they are masks, right? Assuming she is in elementary school, how could she not know that? Therefore, she knows that the kid wearing it is just another classmate. So what's to be scared of?

I'm reminded of a thread a couple weeks ago about kids and movies - how adults are afraid of fear. I think there is a lot of that in this, too.

[redqueen]

27. Yes, she knows they're just masks, of course...

but she thinks they're scary masks.

Maybe the school shouldn't be worried about kids being afraid of scarier masks... I dunno... but it doesn't seem entirely unreasonable to me, since it could be considered disruptive, considering they are at school and not a Halloween party.

[Neurotica]

4. Our kids had to dress as "book characters" in elementary school

Needless to say, we took some liberties with our interpretations but never did anything that would have been regarded as inappropriate.

The result -- sometimes 2 costumes, one for school and one for trick-or-treating.

[tammywammy]

11. Same here

We were only allowed to dress as book characters.

[Mz Pip]

19. Dracula and Frankenstein

were book characters and Dracula was pretty damn scary.

[Neurotica]

22. Agreed - likewise Voldemort probably would not have been ok

We knew what the intent was so we played by the rules.

[snagglepuss]

24. That is a great idea. Kudos to your school.

:applause:

[Romulox]

5. Lends some credence to the charge of overly feminized schools, no?

:evilgrin:

[AnneD]

6. What would girls do without...

slut vampire, slut cheerleader, slut princess, slut fairy, slut Minnie Mouse, slut cowgirl, slut nurse, slut harem girl, slut pirate wench, slut teacher, slut secretary, slut waitress, and slut ho. :eyes:

[RobinA]

16. I Wore

"negative image" costumes for most of 20 years and never once was a slut anything. Compared to witches, vampires and "Rocky Horror" Timewarpers, slut was just zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[AnneD]

37. Being sarcastic here...

I do my own costumes but most of the things that you can buy for women is slut something or other.

[AngryAmish]

12. Only saints

That was the way we did it. Uphill, both ways...

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

13. I'm really glad I didn't grow up in this era

When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, Halloween was fun, real scary fun.

[Codeine]

15. If your child is frightened by another kid's Halloween costume

something is desperately wrong with your child.

I hate that we've been reduced to this as a society.

[RobinA]

17. Couldn't Agree More nm

[redqueen]

21. Thanks for telling me something is wrong with my kid.

That's really nice of you. I appreciate your help.

I guess you're a psychologist, right? To think you have the authority/knowledge to say such a thing, you must be.

[Codeine]

28. Your kid?

What? It was a general post aimed at the subject of the OP.

And besides, I really doubt your child would be frightened by another little kid's costume.

[redqueen]

29. Sorry... I took your post as more of an 'in general' thing.

One of my kids is afraid of the scarier masks that are out there.

[Codeine]

31. It was, on reflection, a very insensitive post. Apologies. nt

[NeedleCast]

32. +1

[davsand]

20. They still are allowed to observe a pagan holiday in public schools?

No shit? I figured the metro fundies had screwed that up by now.

Out here in the boondocks, we still observe Halloween, rather than a "Fall Festival," but I figured the city folks had let that go by now. In addition to the school stuff, all the kids will be out hitting the streets in a variety of violent and negative image costumes, along with the Princesses and other positive images. The local church is even going "Trick or Souping" which is an annual collection for the local food bank.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, the school DID decide a few years ago that no knives, swords, or guns would be allowed in costumes--so there IS some censorship happening. They sent home one kid a couple of years back for taking in a box of Captain Crunch with a fake knife sticking out of it--she was wearing a shirt that said "Cereal Killer" on it...

:evilgrin:



Laura

[The Straight Story]

25. I am surprised there are not more folks calling for banning of religious costumes

:)

[davsand]

33. LOL. I always wanted to go as a nun and my Mom would never let me.

She was adamant that I not dress up as a nun because she worried it might offend somebody. Bless her heart, she always would come up with some other costume idea--usually something involving long underwear or sweat pants (for warmth.)


:rofl:


Laura

[SoCalDem]

36. In 1967, my class put on "The Sound of Music, and we needed 50 Nun costumes

Barbara ( a Baptist), was in charge of costume crew.. She had a "Eureka" moment..went to Marymount College (the girls college in our town), and asked to see "the head nun"... Mother Superior was laughing as she saw Barbara into her office..

What Barbara asked M.S... She asked to BORROW 50 "nun-outfits" and the belt bead-things.:rofl:

M.S. was a cool old nun.. she got craft paper and helped Barbara make a pattern, and let her look at her long rosary ( so she could copy it), but asked her to not put a cross on it..

Our 50 nuns (ushers, then the chorus in the play) were the talk of the town..and even got a write up in the newspaper.. (The boys in the chorus, even liked their habit..mush more comfortable than wearing normal clothes they said)

[Mz Pip]

23. I made my kid a ghost costume

when he was about 4. Took me quite a while since I wasn't much of a seamstress. So on Halloween night off we go. Some idiot tells me my kid looks like a KKK member. This was nearly 30 years ago and I still remember how much I wanted to punch this oh-so-politically-correct Berkeley parent. Give me a break, He was a ghost.

This strikes me more as being about the dumb assed parents than about the kids.

[NeedleCast]

30. Teaching Children About Fear is Good

Sheltering them from anything that anyone might think scary is bad.

[gratuitous]

34. Maybe

But I still think anyone taking their kid to the Republican National Convention should be arrested for child abuse.

[depakid]

35. "They should not.... be scary."

:rofl: