“Dress Like a Geek Day” Canceled at University Park Elementary School

A few HPISD parents have totally jumped the politically correct shark. As part of the U.P. Elementary spirit week, tomorrow was planned as “Dress Like a Geek Day.” But an e-mail with an updated schedule of themes went out today with a short explanation.

It has been brought to our attention that some people are complaining about Wednesday’s “Geek Day”, so Wednesday will now be Panther Spirit Day.

Well, panthers can kill people. What if there’s someone who knows a person who was mauled by a panther, how would they feel?

By Merritt Patterson Mar. 8, 2011 | 8:50 am | 22 Comments | Comments RSS
22 comments to "“Dress Like a Geek Day” Canceled at University Park Elementary School"
  1. XT @ March 8, 2011 at 9:19 am
    I don’t view this as politically correct. Geek is a common deragatory label put on many elementary school kids, why in the world would you have a “dress like a geek day”? It seems like a harmless idea, except to the kid who gets called a geek every day, then, not so harmless.

    I personally have never been called a geek, and to my knowledge neither have any of my kids. But it’s not too hard for me to understand why this idea would be a problem at an elementary school.

  2. A. B. @ March 8, 2011 at 9:26 am
    This is awesome! I bet if they called it ‘Dress Like A Tech Billionaire Day’ (think Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Wozniack, etc. circa 1980) it would have been a big hit.

  3. University Park Elementary Cancels ‘Dress Like a Geek Day’ | FrontBurner @ March 8, 2011 at 10:13 am
    [...] So, as someone who has attended (in my younger days) more than one science fiction convention, and once stood in line for Yeoman Rand’s autograph (no, I can’t rationally explain that one to myself either), I understand the point of view of the parents who wished to protect their geeky children from ridicule by having Dress Like a Geek Day canceled at University Park Elementary. [...]

  4. Dan Koller @ March 8, 2011 at 11:05 am
    If any University Park Elementary kids want to dress like me, I won’t be offended. Here’s the uniform:

    — T-shirt with symbol of obscure superhero, such as Deadman or Booster Gold. (See graphittidesigns.com.)
    — Gaudy belt buckle
    — Black-framed glasses
    — Cargo shorts
    — New Balance sneakers

    Go, geeks!

  5. Chia @ March 8, 2011 at 12:39 pm
    XT, totally agree. We’ve got too much negative stuff going around right now; why make fun of any one group when we can focus on something fun and positive. Elem kids don’t need to learn that it’s okay to make fun of people that may be different. They can wait until high school for that.

  6. Amy @ March 8, 2011 at 12:44 pm
    I agree with the decision to cancel it. “Geek” has a negative connotation, despite the fact that being a geek usually means “intelligent.” Encouraging kids to mock those who are different, especially at such as early age, is unacceptable. They might as well add “Poor Day” or “Gay Day” to the list.

  7. Avid Reader @ March 8, 2011 at 1:09 pm
    Totally disagree. Think this is utterly ridiculous.

  8. Wow... @ March 8, 2011 at 1:14 pm
    Good to see the anti bullying program is working. Whatever. Let’s have an entire day around making fun of people. Good grief.

  9. DMBurrows @ March 8, 2011 at 1:19 pm
    Enjoy Friday’s “Dress like a kid in a school uniform” day!

  10. Merritt Patterson @ March 8, 2011 at 2:31 pm
    I’m told that it could have been canceled because school administration realized that Geek Pride Day is really May 25th. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geek_Pride_Day. It’ll probably be rescheduled. No?

  11. geekfromjersey @ March 8, 2011 at 3:25 pm
    Speaking of the success of our bully program, imagine my surprise at the 5th grade band presentation yesterday when the director told a story about his Yankee roommate and proceeded to have the kids count off in heavy Jersey dialect, so he could make good on his promise to “make fun of him every chance I get.” This was followed by the comment that band builds character. Unless you’re from New Jersey.
    Re Geek day I am glad it’s cancelled – who thought of it in the first place? geez.

  12. V @ March 8, 2011 at 4:03 pm
    Give me a break – in my venacular geek has become synonomous to being a “techie” – so I am a Geek – and last names such as Jobs/Eisenberg/Gates self-admit to being geeks too -

  13. Rico @ March 8, 2011 at 4:18 pm
    Be as PC as you want, but it will never be improper to make fun of yankees and Jerseyites (although it is, more often than not, way too easy).

    Our yutes are doing just fine, thank you very much.

  14. matt @ March 8, 2011 at 4:59 pm
    This is absurd. Dorks know who they are. I think it would be nice to show some solidarity in attire.

    But an even better idea would be Dress like a douche/40 year old man at a mavs game/your dad…bring your favorite robert graham shirt.

  15. DemBones @ March 8, 2011 at 8:18 pm
    @Rico. Teachers shouldn’t be teaching their students to make fun of Jerseyites, or anyone else for that matter. You can teach your own yutes how easy it is to laugh at people.

  16. DemBones @ March 8, 2011 at 8:22 pm
    Merritt could hand out plastic pocket liners on the playground tomorrow if she wants to be subversive.

  17. jb @ March 9, 2011 at 12:24 am
    seems that the same folks who would dress their little kids up for “geek” day would send their bigger kids to the high school with a leaf blower for Hispanic heritage day and think that it was all somehow harmless…

  18. Avid Reader @ March 9, 2011 at 7:52 am
    @jb, What leads you to make that assumption? I don’t see any comments on here that would lead me to believe the commenters that think “Dress Like a Geek” day is acceptable/fun/funny also think that it would be harmless to bring a leaf blower to school on Hispanic heritage day. That’s a mighty big leap you made. How very un-pc.

  19. 1635 @ March 9, 2011 at 8:05 am
    I have to disagree with you on this one, Merritt.  That there are things out there like “Geek Pride Day”, etc. is beside the point.  It is common for a group to sometimes “re-claim” perjorative terms that are used against them in a humorous or self-effacing manner.  For example, try googling “redneck pride” or “proud white trash.”  But that doesn’t make those terms less offensive or hurtful when used by someone against another, or to mock someone.  Particularly in the context of, say, a bunch of elementary school kids.

  20. 1635 @ March 9, 2011 at 8:10 am
    My sentence in the post above should have read: “It is common for a group to sometimes take a perjorative term that has been used against them and “re-claim” it for themselves in a humorous or self-effacing manner.”

  21. Triplet Dad @ March 9, 2011 at 8:31 am
    This is a horrible decision! Spirit Day is 100x worse as it clearly celebrates the evil spirits that make mean-spirited kids tease geeks and other inferior beings. Or perhaps it’s just the usual HPISD violation of church and state separation, demanding that our kids accept the Holy Spirit as their God?

  22. 1635 @ March 9, 2011 at 9:48 am
    I am not so much defending the cancellation as I am questioning the original decision to have a “dress like a geek” day in the first place. Indeed, once they had scheduled it, it might have been better just to go through with it.  Clearly, there are worse things than being called a “geek.” But by scheduling the event and then loudly cancelling it, with the explicit excuse that some folks “complained,” it’s just blood in the
    water.  Those kids who are truly unpopular in a “geeky” way – and their parents – are now even more likely to be defensively self-conscious.
    I am definitely geeky, and probably dress that way.  I have told people that I am “proud to be a geek” (or nerd or dork or whatever), and in a way I am.  But it was no fun being called a “geek” when I was a kid.

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