Rules are Rules, Even if they are not Enforced Consistently

The students at Duncanville, Texas high school made the news this week.  Administrators suspended over a hundred students for violation of the school dress code.  Some students protested and one student was so angry he threw a trash can across the school cafeteria.  The police were called in to restore order.  Police were back at the school the next morning.  They turned away students who were in violation of the same code.  The students complained that the school administration were not playing fair since they had not enforced the dress code all year.  One student commented that the teachers were more concerned about what they were wearing than what they learned.  And yes, once again some parents seemed to side with their students, feeling that the enforcement of the rules this late in the year was not fair.

I was a counselor at a high school that had a dress code.  Some students still tried to push the envelope.  Skirt length for girls and length of hair for boys were common infractions.  While most teachers were diligent at enforcing the code, the principal still felt a need to a couple times a year do a school-wide sweep.  I don't recall a student being suspended over a dress code violation, but I do remember the complaints from students.  Usually the grousing  was rooted in the fact that the dress code was not enforced consistently.  A student could have worn the same outfit numerous times and not been called on it.  Suddenly they were told it was a violation.  Still, like for the students in Duncanville, the code had been published.  In the case of Lutheran High School of Dallas, it was also printed in the agenda books that every student was required to have with them at all time.  In other words; they lived with it. 

Rules are a part of life, but they are not always consistently enforced.  Suppose the speed limit on a road you normally drive is 35 MPH but traffic always seems to be moving faster, so you typically go with the flow.  One day you get pulled over by a police officer.  He informs you have you were going 45 MPH.  You know you haven't done anything different than you normally do, but you also know the speed limit.  Telling the officer, "It isn't fair because you have done it that way before," will not fly.  The reality is rules are rules, whether they are dress codes or speed limits.

That is a value we need to pass on to the next generation and the best way is to model it.