Purses banned at Middle School?

[DVC Jen]

I think they deserve respect and dignity, until they personally do something that proves they don't deserve respect and dignity.

I agree with you 150%. I hear so much about the lack of respect towards middle and high school teachers (and I do agree with that to a point), but it is hard to muster up that respect when teachers and administration doesn't do it in return - especially in middle and high schools.

Respect is a two way street - and everyone deserves a certain amount of it - even our teens....... until they have proven otherwise.

 

[declansdad]

Ummm, well most 11,12 & 13 year old girls aren't using the miniscule size products. Enough said, or would you like more details?

Nope that's fine.

 

[RitaZ.]

Why would you insist in making something that is relatively insignificant in to a big issue?

Just because it's an insignificant issue to you doesn't mean that others feel the same way.

 

[declansdad]

Just because it's an insignificant issue to you doesn't mean that others feel the same way.

My point was that there are bigger issues in schools than what the students can carry to class.

 

[hydster]

My point was that there are bigger issues in schools than what the students can carry to class.

Only if you are a guy! I wonder how a "dude" would feel if he had to carry around a jock strap or something that at this age is embarrassing and people knew what he was carrying and his peers and girls snickered at it.

Men will NEVER get it! For a girl *heck even for me before my hysterectomy* I hated people knowing I was on the rag! It was embarrassing.

Liken it to most guys who buy condoms for the first time. Most of them are so embarrassed and cannot wait to get out of the store. What if a guy had to carry around a condom and there was NO getting around it for a specific time period and he couldn't hide it from his peers. Most boys would die!

It's not a big deal if you are a boy! It's a HUGE deal to girls who are generally prone to drama anyway!

 

[meandtheguys2]

My point was that there are bigger issues in schools than what the students can carry to class.

Of course there are "bigger issues." That doesn't make this a non-issue, however.

How many guys are comfortable carrying a box of tampons or even condoms to the register at 7 Eleven... And they are adults.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Only if you are a guy!

It's not a big deal if you are a boy! It's a HUGE deal to girls who are generally prone to drama anyway!

ITA!

Maybe he would like to go purchase some tampons for us!

 

[Fitswimmer]

We all managed to get through both grammar and high school without purses and "products" were not as well designed in the late 70's as they are now.

We had lockers, pockets and pouches in our notebooks, we did just fine. The better thing was, nobody had designer purses that served no other purpose than to feed the ego of the girl carrying it.

 

[hydster]

ITA!

Maybe he would like to go purchase some tampons for us!

Yeah after all it's not a big deal right?

 

[hydster]

We all managed to get through both grammar and high school without purses and "products" were not as well designed in the late 70's as they are now.

Yeah we got through them but for me I got through them with a lot of embarrassing days! I would have LOVED to have something to carry them in discreetly rather than a bulge in my pocket or a run to my locker PRAYING I had enough time before the leakage happened.

It's a non issue at dd's school thankfully as the bathroom policy is a little more lenient these days but I can see where it would be something hard for girls who had been able to use now cannot.

 

[Briarmom]

I never carried a purse in middle school or high school (not to class anyway). I remember it was always a pain to figure out where to hide them on the mad dash from my locker to the bathroom.
Usually it was up my sleeve or under the bottom of my shirt.

 

[jodifla]

We all managed to get through both grammar and high school without purses and "products" were not as well designed in the late 70's as they are now.

We had lockers, pockets and pouches in our notebooks, we did just fine. The better thing was, nobody had designer purses that served no other purpose than to feed the ego of the girl carrying it.

Where the heck did you got to school! EVERYBODY (well, the girls) in my hs carried a purse in the late 70s in Tampa.

 

[nsyncraider17]

I didn't start carrying a purse until high school, and that was mostly because I stopped using a locker then, since my classes were scattered all over the school and my locker was out of the way. In middle school, my teachers were good about letting us go to our locker/the bathroom if we needed to, and I think at least one of my teachers kept some feminine supplies in the room in case we didn't have any. In junior high, I had double blocked classes, and we got a 5-10 minute break in the middle of each class when we could go to our locker, the bathroom, the water fountain, etc.

So I never really had problems being discreet, but if I hadn't been allowed to go to my locker if I needed to, I can imagine that that would have been humiliating as a middle schooler to have to explain what the situation was. Girls are more embarrassed about stuff like that when they're in middle school... by high school, I didn't really care if a guy saw a tampon in my purse or something, but in middle school, my friends and I were all so self conscious that we would have died of embarrassment if we had to explain to the teacher in front of the class that we were on our periods.

And to everyone who says that everything can fit in pockets... have you seen the pockets on girls and juniors sized jeans? Most of the pants are snug, and the pockets are tiny. I know all I can fit in my pocket without it being completely obvious is a panty liner.

 

[declansdad]

ITA!

Maybe he would like to go purchase some tampons for us!

done it before and I have no problem doing it again.

I'm not trying to trivialize (sp?) this hygiene product issue but as a man, there is no bigger tip-off as when a women gets up from class or her desk and takes her purse to the washroom. I would think there must be a better solution than this.

 

[Fitswimmer]

Where the heck did you got to school! EVERYBODY (well, the girls) in my hs carried a purse in the late 70s in Tampa.

Northern NJ. Purses were not allowed for the same reason the OP's school outlawed them. We were also very liberal and expressions of wealth such as designer purses and clothing were frowned upon by our teachers because they made those less fortunate amoung us feel bad.

By the time I got to HS, they had been banned for so long nobody even cared anymore. From what I understand, they are allowed now, but the parents and teachers don't like them for the same reason they didn't like them when I was there.

 

[hydster]

done it before and I have no problem doing it again.

I'm not trying to trivialize (sp?) this hygiene product issue but as a man, there is no bigger tip-off as when a women gets up from class or her desk and takes her purse to the washroom. I would think there must be a better solution than this.

I'm not trying to be argumentative here but so by your theory the ONLY reason a woman/girl gets up from her desk or leaves class with her purse is to change her pad or tampon? Um I don't know many girls/women who would just leave their purse when they left the room. A lot of us take our purses with us when we just have to pee and as anyone else you'd have no idea if I took it with me to pee, change my tampon or put on lipstick. I'm just confused that the purse is the "tip off" that women/girls are on the rag.

It is humiliating to try to figure out how to disguise the products so that the boys won't tease you!

Until you have to do it the issue isn't big but when you have to deal with it monthly for most of your life...it's a big deal!

 

[Miss Inga Depointe]

We all managed to get through both grammar and high school without purses and "products" were not as well designed in the late 70's as they are now.

We had lockers, pockets and pouches in our notebooks, we did just fine. The better thing was, nobody had designer purses that served no other purpose than to feed the ego of the girl carrying it.

I am not doubting your word just never heard of that! We all had purses in the 70s and I don't know, maybe there was some snobbery over purses but you know we all survived. That's just life, isn't it?

I say the schools should keep out of the kid's personal lives unless they have done something wrong or they are in danger. Period (no pun intended.)

 

[sweetspicy]

I say the schools should keep out of the kid's personal lives unless they have done something wrong or they are in danger. Period (no pun intended.)

Very true. Even when I was in middle school, I had to use a purse. It had my house keys, schedules and all my other stuff in it. I wouldn't have wanted to not use one. If backpacks start getting stolen at this school, are they going to outlaw those too?

 

[suzannen]

I went to school in the 70s and we always had purses. I would definitely complain if my DD's school instituted this. Sometimes lockers are on the opposite side of the school and the boys often come by to talk to the girls while they have their lockers open, which makes it very difficult to be discreet. I'm sorry, middle school is one of the most embarrassing times for a young girl new to this body change, and this is just insensitive and insulting in my opinion. It's bad enough that if the girls have cramps, they must go to the school nurse to request Advil or Motrin because they are not allowed to carry "drugs" to school. It really does help enforce the mindset to our young girls that this part of normal health is indeed a "curse."

 

[declansdad]

I'm not trying to be argumentative here but so by your theory the ONLY reason a woman/girl gets up from her desk or leaves class with her purse is to change her pad or tampon? Um I don't know many girls/women who would just leave their purse when they left the room. A lot of us take our purses with us when we just have to pee and as anyone else you'd have no idea if I took it with me to pee, change my tampon or put on lipstick. I'm just confused that the purse is the "tip off" that women/girls are on the rag.

It is humiliating to try to figure out how to disguise the products so that the boys won't tease you!

Until you have to do it the issue isn't big but when you have to deal with it monthly for most of your life...it's a big deal!

Sorry, I didn't give enough background I guess. I have worked in office and I currently teach college. In both cases it was/is a rare occurence to see a women leave the room/office to go to the washroom with a purse. When it does happens, there would seem to be a reason for it. Now this is just an assumption on my part, I have not actually completed a study on it. Maybe I should ask for a government grant.

In my school years, I do not remember women carrying purses or bags to classs except in university. They all seemed to get by then so one would think it could be done know. To have a group of parents make an issue out of this at a school board meeting just doesn't seem right to me. I think time could be better spent trying to deal with other problems in the school system.