Man wants whole town to suffer because he won't control his kids

It's bad enough when parents won't parent - but it's worse when they expect everyone else to pay the price for it.

An ultraconservative wingnut in Alcoa, Tennessee, is on a mission. He's mad because his daughters - a 9-year-old and a set of 6-year-old twins - argue with him every morning about what to wear to school.

In most households, the solution would be simple. If you don't want your kids to wear something, don't let them wear it. If that doesn't work, stop buying them stuff you don't want them wearing. And if that doesn't work, there's always private schools, which are much more likely to have uniforms.

But that doesn't cut it for this guy. Instead he wants the local public school district that his daughters attend to make uniforms mandatory so he doesn't have to worry about such hardships as parenting. You read that right: He wants other people's kids to be forced to dress like nerds because he won't parent.

He's launched a big crusade to browbeat the school system into adopting uniforms - citing long-discredited data and vomiting stale emotional appeals. The hapless galoot is threatening to circulate a petition supporting uniforms.

The man expressed the typical cranky arrogance that defines uniform enthusiasts. He sniffed, "Of course kids don't like it. Who cares?" I care, smartmouth. Children are people, not property. What gives this man the grounds to complain about children having too many rights when he doesn't even exercise any control in his own home?

So far, however, the school district has been reluctant to go along with the uniform campaign. Who can blame them? Why should a school system let one busybody dictate policy for thousands of families?

I feel sorry for the man's daughters. If uniforms are implemented, they're going to be the least popular kids in town. It won't even be their fault. It'll be the fault of their father for demanding the entire community follow his wishes after he let his own kids run his household.

This story underscores what a lazy policy uniforms are. Uniforms please adults who won't spend the time or energy to provide guidance and order. So they make the whole community pay.

There's a saying that it takes a village to raise a child, but somehow I don't think this is what it means.

(Source: http://www.blounttoday.com/news/2008/oct/01/benton-makes-bid-alcoa-school-uniforms)