Kilt wearer or cross-dresser: you decide.

Most of us have experienced a time in middle or high school where school officials have decided a certain type of clothing inappropriate. For me, popular, inexpensive shoes (the ones with blinky lights in the heel), BK's were forbidden because they were potentially "gang" related.

Even Halloween costumes were monitered closely for offensiveness.

Utah however, has decided that a student wearing a kilt could be misconstrued as a cross-dresser.

In an article posted today on Standard.net reports that student Gavin McFarland, of Scottish heritage, was told to change from his kilt after many complaints by students and teachers. The principle Craig Jessop said that wearing the kilt could be misconstrued as cross-dressing.

District spokesman Nate Taggart disagreed "We certainly do not consider wearing a kilt, especially for a school project, as cross-dressing."

A public apology will be issued to McFarland and hopefully the state can take this as an educational directive.



McFarland's mother said it best in the article, "A kilt is a distinctive garment. Nobody mistakes it for a skirt."

The description provided by Wikipedia: the kilt is a knee-length garment with pleats at the rear, originating in the traditional dress of men and boys in the Scottish Highlands of the 16th century

These are my thoughts exactly. Hopefully the school will take it upon themselves to educate one another about different cultural backgrounds.

Principals should be trained on when its right to make comments, because its these statements that could land the school in the middle of a lawsuit.

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Weekly there is a gentleman at LBCC who wears a pink plaid mini skirt with stockings, and you can definitely tell that it is no kilt.

At first, I was quite surprised, and now it is just one of those things that makes LBCC unique. I feel fortunate we live in a pretty diverse state, and I hope that my future children will grow up with respect and knowledge of cultural diversity.


Commenters came across very passionately on the site:

Ryan wrote:

...and on the other hand, it's sad to see a school administrator, who was just trying to do his best, trashed so publicly in this manner. I'm sure Gavin's parents did a fine job yelling at Mr. Jessop, teaching him a lesson before this article was published. Thank you for humiliating and bullying our underpaid educators who occasionally make a mistake.

Kevin wrote:

I just found this article in the Seattle PI. All I have to say is the principal's ignorance regarding Gavin's kilt is symptomatic of the false multiculturalism that has pervaded modern education. By that, I mean we have lost practically ALL knowledge of eastern and western European customs and their influence in America. Pretty stupid that a school principal, who likely has a Masters' Degree or higher, would make an assertion as dumb as that. Then again, graduating from college does not guarantee smarts.




Flickr photo by alan(ator).