Heartless blowhard of the day? Senator Bruce Casswell

@boomerang,

I don't know how to easily explain why, but the private school uniform thing is very different from what I see in other countries where school uniforms are the norm in public schools. I think private schools have a lot of other subtexts that reduce the element of conformity that I think really helps.

But I still have a bit of mixed feelings about uniforms too, I don't like being told what to wear and am not much of a conformist (in school the rule was no clothes with any sports logos due to gang problems, but I made a big stink about it because one of my used t-shirts happened to have some logo and I thought they were being stupid). Hell I even kinda quit corporate life over it (they spent thousands of dollars trying to dress me and I quit shortly afterwards). When they required me to wear a tie when investors were around I had our graphic artist print a paper one that said "I hate ties!" on it and taped it to my shirt.

I am the type to make a big stink out of being told what to wear, but seeing it work so well elsewhere (but in less individualistic cultures) made me a believer, or maybe it's just the usual "now that I'm not a kid I'm not gonna fight for the independence of kids" thing adults have, who knows.

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@Robert Gentel,

I can see how the culture of the "individual" would make a difference.

I would not oppose a rule requiring kids to wear uniforms.

Mo would -- he feels sorry for those Holy Family kids in their uniforms because they always have to wear pants. Mo's a shorts guy -- even in the snow.

You seem to have done okay without the corporate nonsense. I hope Mo does the same!

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Quote:

When I was in school, I had two pairs of pants, two shirts, no undergarments and my shoes were wired together.

Luxury!
We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of 'ot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky!

(sorry someone had to do it)

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@dadpad,

That is the first thing I thought of too, it's hilarious!

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@Robert Gentel,

I think school uniforms aren't a bad thing. Even when I was younger, I thought my school, which was district-ed with very wealthy and very poor could have benefited greatly. While I did not receive the same degree of ridicule you describe, I can still relate to a degree. I certainly observed it happen to peers who were off much worse than I.

For me it was a pair of black Adidas wind pants. I wore the hell out of them. I did not become conscious of how much I wore them until girl in my class asked if I wore them everyday. I lied and said I had many pairs that were all the same color.

A
R
T

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@failures art,

I think that very same lie helped make me choose to uniformize. Now, I really DO have a bunch of pants and shirts of the same color.

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@dadpad,

Gravel? You got gravel? How come I didn't get any?

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@boomerang,

What do I think?

It's bloody outrageous!!!

For all the reasons people have already given.

Makes me sick to read crap like that

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

Quote:
Under a new budget proposal from State Sen. Bruce Casswell, children in the state’s foster care system would be allowed to purchase clothing only in used clothing stores.

Next up: have foster homes rent out their kids to farms as laborers. That's what Switzerland did until about 100 years ago, when they condemned the practice as a milder variant of slave labor. But the idea has just the turn-the-government-into-a-business ring to it that turns Republicans on these days.

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@boomerang,

Often foster kids feel, inside themselves, that they really stick out and aren't normal.

I think they feel more acutely anything that enhances that difference.

It's great you can get Mo to go with the recycling thing! They're nuts about the shoes, I know! (But then, I think most women are nuts about shoes, too....)

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@dadpad,

dadpad wrote:

Quote:
When I was in school, I had two pairs of pants, two shirts, no undergarments and my shoes were wired together.

Luxury!
We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of 'ot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky!

(sorry someone had to do it)

Indeed.

You've all reminded me that I had a really bad-clothes period! But I'd kind of forgotten about it.

After my mum died my dad's miserliness kind of went rampant....I went to a ritzy private school where we had uniforms, but I wore the exact same uniform (I mean the same actual skirt, shirts, shoes, jumper, tie and blazer) from year six through year 11 (I rebelled then and insisted on a new jumper and pair of shoes) and mostly through 12.

My non-uniform clothes were equally appalling!!!

The parents of one of my friends, who owned a small but well known department store, didn't want me seen with their daughter because they felt my raggy clothes reflected on her.

Now I buy clothes like crazy...hmmmm....

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@boomerang,

Gack.

The only thing I haven't seen addressed already is that if the total amount is the same, people CAN get very good deals on stuff that is new, especially now. I regularly get stuff at the Gap (for example) that is brand-new and stylish but crazy-cheap. Like, jeans for $4.97, sweaters for $2.97 cheap.

Removing that sort of decision-making from the parents is another level of ickiness.

I had bad clothes when I was a kid but went to a hippy-dippy school where nobody seemed to care, luckily. (Also the clothes weren't that bad, certainly not as bad as many others here.) In high school the labellessness of my clothes was a problem (no Guess for me) but I made a lot of hay out of vintage finds (circa late 80's, a good time for vintage). And as boomer says my mom (especially) would step up if I really needed something, especially shoes. Filling in blanks with thrift store finds is much different from thrift store and nothing but.

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@failures art,

You've made me remember 3rd grade. I sat across from this girl, Kim, who I thought was dazzelingly glamorous in her cute little outfits, the envy of all the girls. I would always ask where she bought such and such and she would always say "Target". (This would have been 1968 or so and Target was very new to our area.) I swore that someday I'd be rich enough to shop at Target.

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@dlowan,

I think most foster kids feel intense shame. That they are somehow responsible for their predicament. I think that colors how they think they are perceived.

Kids look for any weakness to get the upper hand. Foster kids are easy targets. Laws like this would make them even bigger targets.

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@Thomas,

America did that too. They called them the "orphan trains". (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/orphan/)

You're right about it smacking of government as business.

I remember back in the 80s when there was a rash of parenting books called things like "How to be the CEO of your family". Your family as a business was a huge trend. I wonder if the government as business people are the same ones who bought into the family as a business model.

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@sozobe,

I feel lucky that I hit high school at the height of hippy-dom and raggedy clothing was the rage. I fit right in! By then my parents had settled in and made a little money but I was all about hand me downs and thrifts.

We do the same sort of thing with Mo -- a mix of mostly new and some used clothing. The thrifts here have a terrible selection of kid's clothes, especially for boys. There's no way a person can outfit a kid completely from there.

And the impermanence of foster kids means you can't really buy off season since nobody knows how long a kid will be in a certain home. It's trickier.

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Mo needed some new clothes anyway so today I did a little experiment. I went to Target and bought some things I knew he'd like (4 pair of sports type shorts and 3 Tshirs) and spend $47.11, an average of $6.74 per garment.

Then I went to Goodwill. They had one pair of shorts in the style he likes, in his size. They were $3.99.

So yeah... I spent about 1/3 again as much at Target as I would have at Goodwill but he would have had only one pair of shorts.

He grows so fast that I know he doesn't require new things -- he'll outgrow anything before he has the chance to wear it out. (Thank dog that the sports teams set up a swap each year since they only wear that stuff for a few months!)

BUT

I should have gone up a size in shorts. I can take back the shorts I bought at Target and get my cash back and make the swap to the right size. Goodwill only issues store credit -- and there wouldn't be anything to get there since they didn't have anything in his size -- AND the store credit expires in 30 days. You lose that money if it isn't spent.

And anyway.... he loved coming home from school to a stack of new clothes. He felt like a million bucks -- just like Robert said.

One thing I learned: Goodwill needs to change their policy of store credit only.

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@boomerang,

Yeah, I had read some follow-up stuff about Caswell and that in the face of outrage about this he's talking about issuing gift cards to regular retail stores rather than just Goodwill etc. Which seems an improvement.

I was thinking of what stores they would be and Target seems to be an obvious one because of selection and price, but there is still the name brand issue. (No Nikes, etc.)

Here's what I'd read:

Quote:

A proposal by Hillsdale County Republican Sen. Bruce Caswell to allow foster children to purchase clothing only at secondhand stores has been amended.

Caswell says in a statement on his website that he will amend the proposal to direct the Department of Human Services to develop a special clothing purchase program for foster kids.

Quote:
Senator Caswell initially proposed issuing a gift card for the clothing allowance for resale shops in order to ensure the money would actually go toward purchasing clothing. After a suggestion from a constituent, he plans to draft an amendment to the proposal that would direct the state to work with major retailers to create a gift card program that would ensure the clothing allowance money only purchases clothing and shoes at their stores. Furthermore, the amendment will direct DHS to negotiate with the retailers for a discount on those clothing items purchased with the allowance in order to get the best deal for the recipients.

Caswell also issued the following statement about the proposals:

Quote:
“My sole goal in this proposal is to make sure that children receive the clothing allowance that the state has provided for them and not have it used for anything else,” said Caswell. “I believe this solution will go a long way to achieving that objective. If anyone else has a better idea on how we can ensure the money goes for clothing alone, I very much welcome those suggestions and urge you to share your ideas with me. I appreciate the input I have already received that has resulted in making the proposal better.”

Emphasis mine.

http://michiganmessenger.com/48576/casswell-modifies-second-hand-clothing-for-foster-kids-proposal

I was trying to think of whether the store program would work. Maybe. I think what would be best (if they go this direction at all, and I think I'd prefer not) is some sort of a voucher that would be widely accepted. As in, not a Target gift card for $40 and a Kohl's gift card for $40, but a voucher for $80* that could be used for anything at like 25 different stores. (Various department stores plus places like the Gap, Foot Locker, etc.)

The discount part is good.

*I can't remember now where I saw that the allowance is $80/ year.

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I'm with Tai Chi re shoes - if you have ordinary feet, regular shoes are ok.
Flat shoes are death to me, girl and then woman with high arches. After days of hiking in Yosemite and then walking in San Francisco, my feet in agony, I went to an orthopedist back home I knew about and he diagnosed me as needing arch support and recommended adidas - which were then the only only arched shoes easily available for me, and only in mens, as women were discounted re running back then. I bought the smallest men's pair.
My feet recovered - that pair of shoes had high arch built ins.

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@sozobe,

He's just trying to avoid the political fallout from his idiotic statement.

The alternate proposal won't work. Only high end stores sell ONLY clothes. If you issue a Target or Kohls gift card the likelihood of abuse is just as great since they sell all kinds of things. Most states can't afford to go check on foster kids, much less go line by line over receipts to see where money has been spent.

If they want to make sure that their state's money is only spent on clothing they need to maintain a clothes bank. Retailers should get a tax deduction for donating to the state's clothing bank. When a kid goes into foster care the foster family gets a voucher to "shop" at the clothes bank.

1 Reply

Heartless blowhard of the day? Senator Bruce Casswell

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