Dear Bingham,

Dear Bingham High School Students (present day),

     First, I'd like to say that I was a student at Bingham. Woah. True Story. Not that long ago either. I have some thoughts I'd like to share with you.
   Some of you decided to stage a "walk out" to protest your disdain for the dress code imposed on you for the Homecoming dance. Um, I'm sorry. What? Could you be any more childish and naive? You're going to argue that you stood up for something that you believed in.  So explain to me all the happy smiling pictures of kids walking away from class. This was a just an excuse to leave class early because you were MAD. You were upset, and whether or not you can justify a reason to be, you did the exact wrong thing.
     A "walk out". Really? When I was in high school we attempted to organize a walk-out. Why? Because the school district had cut funding to the point that Bingham could not afford to buy PAPER. We had it all planned out. If the school district wasn't going to provide the high school with supplies to help TEACH us, then we weren't going to go to school until something changed. We were going to get up and quietly walk out of 2nd period to protest that our school did not have funding to provide a basic necessity for school work.  Some of you reading this are shaking your heads. We protested not having paper? We were going to protest not having funding by walking away? Seemed like a good idea to us. Shortly before the walk-out was going to happen, our principal got on the intercom and pleaded with us not to. Walking away from our education wasn't winning. It was a stupid thing to do. And I think most of us realized that. We stayed in class. We loved our school. We just wanted to help them.
    But you? You sluffed class because you were upset. Mean ol' Bingham told you you weren't dressed appropriately. So you threw a FIT. Good heavens, children, is this what's important to you? Wearing dresses with no backs? It makes me sick to my stomach to see where your priorities lie. In your clothes. You can dress it up to be as significant as you want. "Freedom of Speech", the "right to express ourselves." Oh yeah? Come live in Ogden with me where you can't wear a shirt with a brand name or logo on it to school. No clever sayings on t-shirts anymore. The kids in Ogden might complain that they can't wear headbands to school, but they sure didn't walk out of class because they didn't like the rules. This is what's important to you. What you wear. I'm sorry, but last time I checked my clothes don't define who I am.
   On a daily basis I live by a dress code. I work a professional job where I represent a company. I'm required to wear dress pants or a skirt that can not be more than 2 inches above my knee. I can only wear specific shoes. Am I a "professional" person? I'm a "grown-up", if that's what you consider professional... But I'd rather be wearing a Vans shirt and skinny jeans with some really beat up old-man lookin' loafers. But am I mad because I can't wear my Vans shirt to work? Did I walk out because I wasn't allowed to wear skinny jeans? Um, no. Hello, welcome to real life. Is that your master plan? Just walk away from your problems? Every time someone puts a rule into place that you don't like you're going to ignore it and then "walk away"? Grow up. Really. You don't like it? Write letters, start a petition, form actual reasons other than "expressing yourself" and present them in a professional way to the school.  Walking out isn't being an adult, that's the exact opposite of being one. You sit here and whine that you want to be treated like adults. If you want to be respected and have people listen to you, then grow up. Your sense of entitlement is disturbing. There will always be rules. There will always be laws. There will always be things that you don't like. Fight for what you believe in. Stand up against what you feel is wrong. But don't be a child an walk away because you're mad. Walking-out is not "taking a stand". Find supporting reasons and facts as to why you should be treated in such a way. Don't let your frustration or anger control you or be the basis of your argument. If a dress code has upset you this much you've got some surprises waiting for you in the real world. Things aren't fair. Get over it. And then do something about it. But don't walk away. Don't think that walking out is ever the answer. It's not. Hopefully you figure that out on your own.

Sincerely,

Kirsten Berghout.
Bingham Miner - Class of 2010