Learning the lessons of a high school protest

We called it "Middle States Day."I went to high school on Long Island, and my senior year my friends were a group of punk rockers. As much as any group of kids who grew up in middle-class Long Island in the 1980s could be, anyway. Justin spiked his hair, wore a black leather jacket and had a Sid Vicious chain with lock around his neck. John wore Circle Jerks T-shirts. Julie spiked her hair and shaved one side of her head.The Middle States Association bestows accreditation on schools in the Mid-Atlantic States every certain  number of years. The association sends representatives to the schools who sit in on classes and conduct interviews with teachers, students and administration. My friends and I scored an invite to one of the student interviews when they made it clear they didn't want to just talk to the students hand-picked by the administration, but also those who were, shall we say, disaffected.The Middle States folks seemed OK, truth be told. So we hatched a plan the next day. There had been rumors swirling that the school was going to implement a dress code. To us, that was anathema. A dress code? It felt, to our middle-class, high school sensibilities, Draconian. (Oh, what a few decades' worth of life has taught us!)So we photocopied the current dress code, which only disallowed clothing that could be a danger to other students, such as an angora wool sweater in chemistry (stray threads igniting a fire) or cleats on the gym floor. We highlighted the pertinent sections and plastered the school with them. I was a library nerd and felt slightly guilty as a struck up a conversation with my favorite librarian for the sole purpose of taping one of the flyers on the front of the library desk.One of the Middle States representatives we'd met in the student interviews saw me hanging up flyers and asked what was going on. I told her and she smiled and said, "Good luck." I think they liked that the students showed passion over something.On Friday, the last day of the Middle States visit, we performed the coup de grâce.That morning, we all dressed in our preppiest, most straight-laced clothes. For me, it wasn't that weird. I usually wore jeans and a blouse. I didn't dress to stand out in any way. I wore a plaid skirt and button-down shirt. No one batted an eye.But Justin and John?Justin wore an argyle sweater-vest over a button-down shirt, slacks, and blue blazer. John wore a collared Polo shirt, jeans and docksiders. On the back of their heads, they'd had the school symbol (a cyclone) shaved into their hair, with a circle around it and a slash through it.We met in the outdoor smoking area before school started and when the bell rang, we went in to see what happened.As I said, people didn't really bat an eye at me. But people literally stopped and stared outside Justin's classes when they saw what he was wearing. John's wasn't quite as dramatic, but people commented. Justin was the star of the show. People couldn't believe it, and wondered what was going on.We said nothing.Midway through the day, we changed. Justin and John changed into their regular clothes. I borrowed a Circle Jerks T-shirt from John (Golden Shower of Hits) and wore my camouflage jeans with holes ripped in the knees and combat boots. Julie helped me out in the bathroom - hairspray to spike my hair straight up (I had very short hair at the time) and liquid eyeliner out to my temples.I had butterflies in my stomach as I walked out of the bathroom and walked into my next class, late.All eyes were on me. It was my drama class, so no one really said anything at the moment. But they stared.My next class was government, taught by the football coach. I made eye contact with no one as I walked to class, exceedingly aware of all the eyes on me as I walked down the hallway and into the class."What happened to our All-American Amy?" the teacher asked.I looked at him, seemingly puzzled. "What do you mean? I'm just wearing what I want to wear."He didn't really know what to say, and that was the end of the conversation.We made our point. No dress code was ever instituted. Was that due to our efforts? No clue. Were they ever serious about instituting a dress code? No clue.Did we stand up for ourselves and what we believed in? Hell yeah.It felt great.That day was forever known to us afterward as "Middle States Day" and I still regard that small act of civil disobedience (if you can even call it that) as an important part of my development.There is nothing more American than standing up for the things we believe in.Photo by rachaelvoorhees via Flickr Creative Commons.