Oh, so you like to get your swagg on by wearing your “Pants on the Ground,” huh? Fine. Administrators at a Memphis, Tenn., middle school has a rock-solid solution to that problem. They make students look like the infamous TV nerd Steve Urkel.
Here’s the joke that Westside Middle School Principal Bobby White and his staff members have for young urban students who wear their pants below their pants below their waist and show their underwear: They apply a plastic zip tie — the kind used to wrap garbage bags — to the pants, to pull the pants up so high the pants become high-waters like Steve Urkel used to rock on TV.
Has it worked? It has been an emphatic victory. Sagging pants have been reduced in the school by over 80 percent.
When the innovative initiative got cranked up, somewhere between 75-80 students per day were getting “Urkelized.” Today, that number has been reduced to four or five per day.
The initiative has become so popular, that staff members have developed a contest to where the teacher who has “Urkelized” the most students gets a trophy.
“What we wanted to do with our changing of the culture was to think of something that would stick with them, but not make it seem like they were being punished, and add a little humor all at the same time,” White told the grio.com.
“You’re not going to go to a job interview where I can see your underwear. You’re not going to be hired. So we’re just going to teach you right now,” White added.
One student can testify to the effectiveness of the program. Thirteen-year-old Keldrion Vann has been “Urkelized” so many times that he dropped the trend that‘s hated by many adults.
“It was kind of funny, but embarrassing too because they did it at lunchtime with everyone looking,” Vann said. “You had to wear it like that for the rest of the day, or until you found a pair of scissors,” he added.
Westside staff says the saggy pants rule is just the beginning. Boys have to wear ties on Tuesdays and may soon be ordered to wear vests and blazers. Girls are told to dress up on Thursdays.
“In order for us to really be successful, we have to look successful. All of the men in our building dress for success on a daily basis,” White said.
