Goths in school...

[Underwater Ophelia]

Originally Posted by raggedyanne

What really bothers me about my school is the kids who say they "don't think I'm goth" because I don't wear a whole bunch of make-up. I suffered through my 8th grade graduation in a full length black skirt and a corset top; do not tell me that I am not goth. grr. MSAT, the school I would have gone to closed down so know i get to see those close minded fuckups for the next four years.

Yeah, um...why the fuck do you care if highschoolers think you're goth or not?

[DeathChii]

lol. Who cares? Some people at my highschool think I'm a poser because I make jokes and smile. =P

[Aaroneet]

If you know who you are, then others' opinions are insignificant.

[badteccy]

Originally Posted by Underwater Ophelia

Yeah, um...why the fuck do you care if highschoolers think you're goth or not?

BECAUSE IT'S SO SUPER IMPORTANT!

[Zerachiel]

I think it's hilarious when people at my school go "Jacob...Smile, it'll be funny." Which I find hilarious 'cause suprisingly I'm laughing almost all the time...I guess I look that depressed a lot of the time. *shrug*

[something_wicked]

At my school we have a fairly loose dress code(but I did get in trouble for pink hair)
but at dances they look you in the eyes before going in to see if youre wearing to much make up
and at other schools, they ask the guys what school they go to, how old they are and who their headmaster/principle is
but not the girls hehe

[raggedyanne]

Originally Posted by Underwater Ophelia

Yeah, um...why the fuck do you care if highschoolers think you're goth or not?

These are my classmates! I'm not sure if you have already graduated or not, but please be understanding to the fact that I have not yet perfected the "I don't give a fuck" mentality. I'm trying not to care what they say, but, as a freshman, I know the limitations of my own maturity.

[Sobeh]

high school is all about forming a public identity, and when your peers refuse to accept your self-definitions, it's going to cause some upset, so 'giving a fuck' is perfectly expected. the problem you're experiencing is that the people judging your own appearance are doing it in the ways that best serve their own efforts at forming their public identities, not your own.

the realization that the mental picture others have of you is a tool for your use, and not a thing to bemoan, is a subtle step, and one no one should expect of you at this early stage.

hold on to what you want to look like, and as a freshman it will suck. as a sophomore you'll be accepted without a second glance but, and here's the fun: if you stick with it, as a junior and then senior you'll be one of the cool kids, different than the popular kids. it's the long-term view you should be taking.

in the meantime, generate horrible teen poetry and art. it's likely to all suck, but again if you keep at it, you increase your cool factor as a junior and senior tenfold.

hell, think ahead to college and learn an instrument now. you'll be as powerful as a divinity.

you'll get to my age and wonder what life would be like if you could go back and do it all, knowing what you know. the only way to accomplish that is to listen to good advice, and make decisions you mightn't have automatically thought of.

finally, don't forget to follow temptation when the opportunity presents itself. it might not pass your way again.

[Tha Duckman]

Man, I wish my school had. There were the most retarded Goths at my High School...

[raggedyanne]

Sobeh, thank you! I shall take your words to heart. High school is a lot like government. Everybody is so caught up in themselves and how they are perceived by others that they forget the impact they have on the world around them.

[Crimsonide]

That sucks that some of you can't wear makeup to school, I've never even heard of that before. My school only forbids facial piercings and unnatural looking dyed hair. I guess I'm lucky!

[Edward Strange]

I was such a wannabe in secondary school, I really don't want to think about it! ><

My school was always really rather generous with pretty much everything! Make up and piercings (as long as you didn't have too many) were. As were funky boots and crazy overcoats.

Also when you got into 6th form there wasn't any uniform so you could go even more crrrrazy. Although, kids being evil and all, it probably wasn't the best idea to go too mad. <_<

[sistereis]

It's hard to feel like your freedom of expression is being limited at a time in your life when you need it the most.

I went to a weird, preppy private school. As long as you showed up wearing all of the pieces of the uniform, they didn't really care what else you wore. One of my friends wore a spiked belt and bracelet daily throughout senior year, and nobody blinked. She even died her hair purple for awhile just to see what would happen...nothing. It was kind of a disappointment. And nail polish was funny...red was strictly verboten, but nobody cared at all about black.

[Angelic.Scars]

My junior year of high school, my former high school adopted a new dress code. Not all of it was against the goth type of appearance (such as guys had to tuck in their shirts and were required to wear a belt - though those weren't enforced for the jocks, what a shocker) but some of them were. We were not allowed to have any visible piercings or tattoos. Transparent clothing was not to be worn, which is understandable since we didn't want to see the chests of all the dancers and cheerleaders at our school, but it was ridiculous because we weren't allowed to wear fishnet shirts underneath other shirts because you should still "see through them". Things like that are why I graduated early and am so glad that the college I went to and the one I'm transfering to don't have any sort of dresscode.

[Angelic.Scars]

Also distracting hair colors were not allowed. One student, at the beginning of the year, was told that mohawks were considered too distracting so, even though it wasn't a real mohawk, my mom helped me stand up the middle of my hair and gel down the sides so it kind of looked like one. It was only between eight inches and a foot tall, but I think me and mom made a point because the school didn't know what to do with a girl who had her hair like that who was in advancement placement classes and they needed her to be there.

Which reminds me, the same kid who was told he couldn't have a mohawk at the beginning of the year, got his septum pierced sometime during the year and the school told him that he had to take it out or cover it up if he didn't want to get into trouble for it. Of course we weren't sure how he should cover it and he then came into first period and the people in charge of maintain dress code had covered the entire lower portion of his nose in masking tape. Now which was more distracting?

[kitten]

My school had a "gothier -than-thou" attitude. I was once told by a Emo chick that I wasn't allowed to wear my new shoes because "so and so" doesn't like "non-goths" to wear them. (This is the same chick who we call "pearl" because her hair is the ugliest shade of (dyed) red and she looks like a used tampon (Pearl brand tampons)

They acted like you had to listen to exactly the same thing as them and other pointless things.

[psyches_reflection]

Heh, Kitten, I used to have the same problem with the mini-moshers when I was in school (prior to the emo-scene explosion). There was this one severely arsey girl who told me I wasn't Goth because I didn't wear baggy jeans hanging off my arse or listen to MCR... about two weeks earlier she'd been wearing Lacoste tracksuits, and was still trying to scrub off her fake tan.

Last I saw her, she had the same haircut as I had at the time of the confrontation, and was experimenting with backcombing her hair to look just like mine did. Oh, and she was wearing skin-tight jeans falling off her arse and whining about the misery of life...

On topic time. I went to one of the largest schools in the North West of England, and the rules were pretty fair. Makeup was allowed, so long as it wasn't too heavy (I was once told off for wearing black eyeshadow, though when I pointed out that every single girl in the class was wearing more makeup than me and that mine was at least school colours it was dropped). Piercings, hair colour, not a problem. We had a small kerfuffle in the sixth form: 'vulgar' t-shirt slogans were not allowed, which somehow covered such relative innocence as "Take me drunk I'm home" (as worn by the moshers) but not "FCUK'in Horny" or similar as worn by... oh... the head of sixth form's daughter...

[Fear me not]

last year the school was expecting me buttnaked everyday.
But now it's somewhat fair

[KontanKarite]

My friend had to go and spend 300 dollars for school uniforms for her two kids.

I found this to be rediculous. 300 dollars had to come out of her pocket because apparently it's easier to force kids look all alike instead of teaching them values that name brands and looks are not a reflection of one's character.

SHE had to spend 300 dollars. SHE had to pay for the shortcomings of others. Uniforms... so the slutty rich kids wouldn't tell the poor kids that they were poor or worthless because they weren't wearing what ever the hell it is those rich preppy kids wear.

This never made any sense to me. Uniforms. And it makes LESS sense to make the parents have to buy those uniforms. Why isn't the school issuing out the uniforms? Why does the parents have to pay one red cent for their kids to look just like everyone else?

Oh and they're not allowed to have any sort of "unnaturally" colored hair or haircuts that would be distracting. I just sort of figured it's best to let kids be kids and let them get harmless shit out their system like pink hair while they're young.

[magickaykay]

My school rally hasn't done anything about it,I think my new school supports self-expression and stuff.Only thing I dont like is that we can't wear any mesh clothing,not even mesh/see through arm warmers I dont think..

[lonelygirl17]

As much as I hated my high school, they weren't strict on the goth scene. Then again, it barely existed at my school. I was one of the only two goths in the the whole school. I could dye my hair purple or blue and I never got in trouble. I could even wear my fishnets and they never said anything. Now, when it came to the ganster thing and the whole girls dressing like sluts, that's when they were strict. Everything else was okay despite that we were almost put into uniforms in my junior year.

[Breathless Horror]

My school's pretty much "go along to get along". They only have issues with my spikes, and that's because of the ever-present "weapon" thing. I don't see the point in stopping me from wearing spikes when I could kill someone with a pen or my bare hands... *tisk tisk*

[Edward]

Originally Posted by KontanKarite

This never made any sense to me. Uniforms.

A uniform is a form of brainwash, which is what a lot of public schools do, whether they know it or not, to brainwash someone is rather simple, you just take them from the place they are in, and put them in a place where everything is already the way you want them to be, and only have things you want them to like, eventually they will only be wearing clothing similar to the uniforms, reading the books the school suggests, doing the activities the school suggests, and only having friends from the school.

My school on the other hand is incredible, they have not one dress code rule against me, and I wear INCREDIBLY pointy spikes at times.

[Lapin]

But uniforms look so cute on some people....

Like military boys!
And the ones who wear the ties and blazers.

[Edward]

I prefer to choose myself what I look like, not have someone else say I have to wear this or that.