Dear Reader,
I stumbled upon this article a few days ago. This article caught my interest because it appears that the general population does not know why we take school photos.
http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/little-girls-big-bow-banned-4-old-hairstyle-220000255.html
While this photo is adorable, it is not a school photo. It is in fact a family keepsake kind of photo that a family buys individually. Perhaps, schools could run photo fundraisers for just this sort of talent, dress up photos. Unfairly out-shinning others in a team spirit atmosphere without fore knowledge or warning is just that! Unfair. While she is adorable and so is her idea. A school photo has a different purpose.
School photos; portray growth by age regarding the nature of humans. Year by year accounts of personal growth and development are shown in our school photos. Group portraits show similarities and differences in a certain age group at a certain time in history. These photos are meant to be a prized record of how we are developing in a society. Be proud to be natural.
In recent years, these photos have been used by law enforcement in cases of missing or endangered persons. Teachers use them to mark the yearly cum folders that enable the next year teachers to understand the student better. Parents buy them to have a record of their student’s yearly progress. These photos are given out to loved ones as keepsakes.
Photos have many purposes. Recording a student’s yearly growth and development throughout the educational system as an important document is the main purpose of the school photo. So, next time you look back at your elementary photos and laugh at yourself, remember you were part of a larger group of students in the history of American education. The school photo is an important document for many historical reasons. The school photo should show a student on an average day looking their best. Dress up photos should be relegated to special events and fundraisers.
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