School Districts Ban Youth Fads Amid The War of Haves and Have-nots

Every year, there seems to be the latest wave of youth fads that appeal to the masses of children and teens. Toys can be collected, played with, and even worn. Fashions of all types appeal to boys and girls alike. The latest crazes in society lures children into buying or learning them.

But fads of youth culture have a thorny side. Many school districts ban those fads every year out of their school campuses. That makes many of those who embrace it and expect to show them to their fellow classmates very unhappy because they can’t use them in class. So why are school administrators, teachers, and other school faculty purging the colorful wonders of culture from Algebra sessions and band rehearsals?

First of all, they are distracting. It’s so hard to concentrate on taking notes on your interactive notebook when someone is trading some toys or on fingering notes as the tuba section practices when someone wears something that catches your eyes. You can’t take notes when you are busying yourself with the latest gadget or your latest style. Thus, distraction is the obvious reason why teachers ban fads.

But there’s another reason why they ban them – not everyone can keep up with them. Long ago, families try to fit in with society by buying materials. They even race each other to see who gets the latest fads of their day, thus the term “keeping up with the Joneses” came about. The same principle holds true with teens and kids, and they compete with each other on who gets the most stuff.

But what about those who can’t really afford them? What about those whose parents are in really tight budgets despite having enough money for what they want to buy? Well, a lot of kids who have the latest, coolest materials look down on kids who don’t have them as “dweebs.” They think they are too mundane (or as they put it, “unpopular”) to sit at their tables at lunchtime, thus making them loners.

Well, imagine you are at school and you see a majority of your classmates with color-changing pens. You have borrowed them several times before. You ask your parents for a pack of them. Despite having enough money to buy them and pleading them to purchase that pack, they decline to give you money. The reason why: they are saving for your college fund.

It’s understandable that children whose parents are saving money for important things despite having a decent income that could have bought something to keep up with their other peers. It’s not just the group of people who live at or below poverty level who fall under the “have nots” category. Extremely frugal parents are also barring their children from what the majority of others have. Besides distractions, schools ban those fads because they see a widening gap between the haves and have nots.

But banning the latest trends is not enough to bridge that gap. Some parents homeschool their children to protect them from situations that would lead them to pester power. But there are a few fads that are evergreen – trends that never grow old. One of them is friendship – pure and simple friendship. To define it, it’s a fad that neither limits to popular children nor have those of parents on strict budgets beg for them and cry when they refuse to purchase them.

Maybe schools can help break down socio-economic barriers by enforcing fads that are free of charge for students of all walks of life. A good idea is to have them make up songs for the classroom to help them learn. Singing is another trendy thing that has been going on since the age of cavemen and will never go out of fashion. The only things they need to have are their own voices – their musical instruments they have since being born. If schools offer their students something free of cost for everyone, they can minimize pester power as well as bridge the socio-economic divide.

Examples of School Fad Bans:
Banning Cellphones from School
Tight-Fitting Trowsers Banned in A School
Schools: Let’s Ban Silly Bandz – No, All Jewelry