First Day of School

Sorry for the completely unoriginal title, but just a quick entry for today, seeing as I do have HOMEWORK on the first day as well as about 76 syllabi for me and my parents to sign. I just thought I'd share with you some of my personal favorite entries to the "Dakar Academy Student/Parent Handbook", some of which made me actually laugh out loud*.

Skin-tight clothing, transparent clothing, and clothing with rips or ragged edges are unacceptable.
-Pretty basic rule, not that I could see any of the stereotypical missionary kids that fill the white fortress walls to the brim wearing anything "transparent"

Undergarments must be worn and must be completely covered by outer clothing.
-No commandos in the army this year, sarge.

Pictures and logos on shirts must conform to the christian philosophy of the school.
-Must I even touch this one? Forget the ridiculousness of the actual rule, they even said the word "conform"

now I'm not done with the dress code yet, but let's check some other rules and regulations out, shall we?

Under "Public Display of Affection"
Out of common courtesy and in consideration of all residents, there will be no romantic expression of affection that would include hugging, kissing, embracing, holding hands, etc.
- Besides my general aversion to this rule, I would just like to point something out, just in case you haven't noticed. From the text,
"that would include HUGGING, kissing, EMBRACING, holding hands, etc."
I don't know if there's a special difference here, or if they've had problems with hugging (or embracing!!) in the past, but whatever the cause, I thought I'd point that out.

No dances will be sponsored by or allowed on Dakar Academy Property. Students are not to dance when they are in a group that represents Dakar Academy.
- At the West Africa track meet? NO DANCING. On campus, listenin' to tunes? NO DANCING. Just gotta boogie? find your way of of the big white prison because there is NO DANCING here.

Keep in mind this part is after the dress code. Theres a whole hierarchy of 4 step discipline plans, for both the school and individual classes. Yet:

Dress Code Violations: Incidents of serious misconduct may warrant more serious disciplinary measure; therefore progressive discipline steps may be by-passed.

And, on with the dress code:

Pajama pants are not appropriate school attire.
-I gotta hand it to em on this one, they're the only school I've been to where thats actually been in the dress code, not just "frowned upon." There goes Will's Pajama Day.

Now this one's gonna take a while to type, and, while reading (aloud), you're only allowed to breathe at the periods, and must speak as if it's just one long word.

Shorts are to be measured from the back of the knee to the crook of the thumb when the hand and thumb are held in an "L" position. This is approximately 4 inches above the knee. If one has a particularly long hand, then measure with a ruler, rather than one's hand. Shorts cannot be rolled or pulled up. Sophees brand or its equivalent are not acceptable.
- I miss the charter days when the "longer than arms laid down rule" was the norm. That up there is quite a mouthful, eh?

Spandex clothing is generally unacceptable
-Well, CRAP!

Well, turned out to be longer than expected. Just had to get those rules out there to mkae sure they're not some big prank on me. Hope you've enjoyed, I'll probably give my actual thoughts about school later. Happy interwebing!

-Will


"Going to learn, to get some knowledge!!"
-Marlin, Finding Nemo



* Please keep in mind that if you, the reader, laughs out loud during this blog post, do not give the credit to me. The parts in bold are all directly out of the handbook, so give all due credit to the Dakar Academy school administrative staff. I didn't make this stuff up.