Hat-tastic: Wearing a hat in school

Have you ever woken up, picked out the perfect outfit, did not trip on things for once,  and arrived at school early, just to hear “Can you take off your hat please?” Personally, that is something that can start my day off badly. How often have you seen kids wearing hats on spirit days, and it being promoted? What is the difference between wearing a hat for a cause and wearing a hat for you? 

For some, a story about hats in schools may not be an important topic. For others, wearing a hat is part of their self-expression and identity. There are different styles out there that may indicate what kind of personality that people may have. According to Sidmartinbio, “Baseball hats were chosen as the most popular style; 51% of hat wearers said they wear baseball caps regularly. 42% said they regularly wear knit or winter type hats. 18% wear sun hats. 11% wear fedoras.” 

Sun hats are not  for me. I just do not like floppy hats. I am more of a beanie or baseball hat kind of gal. But if floppy hats are the preference, students should be able to wear them.

 Why are schools so against hats? Why shouldn’t students be able to wear hats? Mr. Taylor, a resource teacher at MVHS said that, “hats typically aren’t allowed in the school buildings because of safety issues.”

But what issues are those? Mr. Taylor later elaborated what he meant  by saying, “hats can present a risk because people can stash things in their hats.” He also pointed out that hats can cause visibility issues when trying to monitor the cameras. 

This week I conducted a little “project” by wearing a hat every day for the past week to see if I am told to take it off. All the hats I wore were beanies or baseball hats worn backwards, yet I was told to take it off by two people, proving the rule is not really that big of a deal. With that being said, the question now is, why should students not wear hats?