Why is it the boys are the only ones wearing ties?

It is interesting how even kids react to wearing a tie, maybe it's just having something around your neck who knows..

Every Tuesday, Kelly Butler puts on a tie before going to his fifth grade class at Oliver Elementary School.

“At first it was hard,” said the student. “But now it takes about 30 seconds.”

Butler, like 50 other fourth and fifth graders at the school, wears a tie every week as the Tie One For Tuesday program.

Willie T. Green, fifth grade teacher at Oliver Elementary School, said, “At the very beginning of the school year, we started out with about four students wearing ties and it started growing. Then we had a couple girls that wore the little cross ties because they started saying ‘Why is it the boys are the only ones wearing ties?’”

Green said the purpose of the program is to promote leadership and character building.

On Tuesday, Dr. Ronald Boykins, president of Oliver Elementary School, told students, “When you wear a tie, you feel like you can do something. I see some of you when you don’t have on a tie, your sitting different. You’re falling all on the floor, but there is something about putting on a tie. And you look good too.”

Tyler Stargell, a fifth grader, said she looked forward to wearing her tie.

“I think it is really cool to wear a tie,” said Stargell. “When I am not wearing the tie, I am a whole different person. I am just a crazy little girl, but when I have on my tie I am like [a] grown up.”

Green said the program started slowly, with only a few students willing to wear a tie. But he convinced a few more to wear one and from there the popularity grew.

“We had some kids that didn’t have any ties,” said Green. “So, I would give them some of mine. They were kind of long, but we got by with a few adjustments.”

Tevin Tyler, a fifth grader, said he now has more than 10 ties.

“I can tie them fast now. I had to get help at first and kept tying it over and over, but it is no problem now.”

Green said the students wear the ties on a voluntary basis and that most of them actually tie the tie themselves.

“We have a few kids that wear the clip-ons, but it is still a tie,” said Green. More...