Letter: Schools shouldn’t stymie creativity

Monday, Nov. 29, 2004 | 9:10 a.m.

I applaud the courage of Kim Jacobs and her family, who defied the dress code/uniform policy at Liberty High School. The students and some of the parents of Clark County's public schools have learned a valuable lesson -- that the U.S. Constitution stands firm even in the face of enormous pressure for it to step aside.

A uniform policy in public schools carries with it much more danger than just the further deterioration of the Bill of Rights. It creates an atmosphere of everyone walking in lockstep with each other. When people begin to dress the same, the next step is to think and act the same.

Let us not forget what happened in 1930s Germany. A youth movement, the Brown Shirts, became of one mind, suspicious of those who walked to a different drumbeat.

Also, conformity stymies creativity. Just how many of our great minds have been considered oddballs, individuals who walked to different drumbeat? Kim Jacobs and her family have done more than protect the integrity of the First Amendment. They have protected the next great creative mind from those who clamor for conformity because it makes things easier.

TERRY E PEELE