So, what is wrong with Hardy?
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Anonymous
It has nothing to do with snobbery. Public school uniforms became very popular in the 80s and 90s as part of a toolkit to instill discipline and to try to turn around inner-city schools that were viewed as out of control and failing. While this is not a fair characterization of Hardy today, the uniforms are an outmoded vestige of a more troubled time. They suggest that Hardy still needs uniforms to maintain school discipline. |
Anonymous
| Just go visit the school please. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
How is that different from what I said? The negative perception of uniforms results in families believing things about a school that are not true, on the sole basis of the presence of uniforms. |
Anonymous
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I think I think for a lot of us who think that uniforms are just flat-out silly and useless. They are dumb at St. Alban's, the British School, wherever you care to look. Yes, some of it is elitist branding at private schools -- but that's elitist branding. Some of it amounts to "coying" eltist branding, which doesn't say much for anyone who thinks that's cool. Some of it is authoritarian b.s. -- "look! at how the kids under my control are doing what I'm telling them to do!" (by wearing some kind of outfit). "I must be a great Principal leader person!"
I am least persuaded by parents who say "it's so easy, for me, they just put on the same stuff everyday." It's not about YOU, honey, it's about allowing the kids the freedom to wear what they want to wear. |
Anonymous
LOL 
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Anonymous
| Oh, please, let's not argue about the uniforms again. |
Anonymous
True. Hardy should just get rid of them to make a symbolic break with its past. |
Anonymous
You said this was "true" and then you went on to argue. Reading comprehension? |
Anonymous
Arguing! You argue! Uniforms are just too hot to leave alone, right? Who needs them, right? |
Anonymous
No need to say that the school is very "diverse". You see it from the inside and from the outside by looking at the available statistics. As an Hardy parent, my informed view is that uniforms help kids stay focused on the fact that, in front of the teacher and of their everyday academic challenges, they are all the same: kids who are there to learn. I did have negative perceptions about the school, mostly wrong. I am not sure whether uniforms contributed to those wrong perceptions, but they were gone as soon as I visited the school, talked to the principal, and, most important of all, talked to the 6th grade teachers. And of course it's not about us! If you ask Hardy kids, including girls, most of them will tell you that they do like uniforms. Some will go as far as to tell you that they are proud of their Hawk uniforms. The debate on uniforms is open, and Ms Pride has made clear that she's available to rethink the uniform policy on the basis of input from the parents and students community. Outsiders's views are welcomed and considered as they have always been (leading to many school changes, including the new Chinese classes, as well as honors English and Science which are new to the school and were requested by prospective parents). There's a well-established channel for reaching to the school. Please enquiry with your elementary feeder school "Hardy contact parent" , there's more than one in each of the feeder schools . Or get in contact with the Hardy PTO directly, contacts are on the school website. |
Anonymous
Hardy has made a substantive break with its past. |
Anonymous
| If it is true that "most" Hardy kids will tell you that they like the uniforms, my jaw would drop to the floor. No middle school kid I ever knew would believe something like that. |
Anonymous
| Uniforms work well at Latin, Brent and Maury. Why are IB Hardy families and kids different? My son has friends at Latin who are IB for Hardy. |
Anonymous
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For those who think that the IB parent population shuns Hardy because there are too many OOB (code for AA) kids---I think the reality is more complicated. Hardy appears to me--a high SES EOTP parent with kids at a charter---to have an OOB population of AA kids from middle class homes who clearly cared enough about their children's education to seek out the next best middle school in DC. It has also been my observation that the largest demographic group at the highly regarded charters such as Latin and Basis are also middle class AA kids. Yet white IB families who shun Hardy will happily send their kids to Basis or Latin-------so it would seem that IB families are not shunning Hardy solely because of racial discomfort. My guess is that those parents believe that the administration and faculty culture at Basis and Latin are more receptive to parental input and less DCPS bureaucratic than Hardy, which is a regular DCPS school.
But that is just my guess. |