School Ethnography Report

If one young lady can wear shorts with a “four inch inseam” or a skirt “no more than three inches from the center of the kneecap” (Carroll High School Student Handbook 2010-2011 17) then why can’t the same girl wear a pair of jeans with a small hole in them below the kneecap? All eyes are turned towards the girl sporting the classy dress and no one even notices the small hole located in the shinbone area. The strict dress codes do teach the students to dress in a respectable manner that will be necessary in future job efforts, however high school students are not at work. A majority of students have jobs and comply to the job related dress code because they are being paid to do so however, they are not being paid at school and simply want to be able to express themselves while in the public eyes of their peers. The administration is exercising all of their power to prevent the wearing of what they believe to be as inappropriate clothes, when in reality it is not.

Dress codes in middle and high schools are a form of discrimination against teenage girls in today’s society. Parents and students all over the country argue that dress codes are directed mainly at girls and are a blatant example of gender inequality. The idea behind the strict enforcement of a dress code is that it will teach self-respect and raise moral standards for the students. However, when the reason for many dress code violations is questioned the rationale is often to prevent distracting the male students. Young women across the country are being shamed and punished for wearing what schools consider immodest and being a distraction to their male peers. This discrimination against female students results in their clothes being strictly regulated and dress coded more often than male students’ clothes are. The enforcement of these discriminatory dress codes has become a form of public humiliation for female students. Theoretically, a dress code makes sense and should be effective. In reality, it does not affect how students dress but causes a distraction and interruption of a girl’s education.

As the temperature rises, so do hemlines and the suspension rate. Students get suspended for violating school dress codes by wearing outfits that ‘show too much skin.’ One can argue that revealing clothing is distracting, but some families and students agree that school dress code implementations end up just shaming girls. Dress codes, the epitome of high school, teach girls to act ashamed, not modest. According to most school boards that come up with the dress code, the outfits young women wear come across as too distracting for their peers, especially men, and make it unable for women to be viewed by the public with dignity and respect. Everyday, school dress codes target females—especially females that are more developed.

“Getting dresscoded at my school looks SO different depending on your grade level. My friend Tavonne says that if you’re a freshman, you might get away with it. But if you’re a junior or a senior, the chances of you staying on campus are slim. Boys get away with tank tops, but not girls. And I notice that more “developed” girls are usually the ones getting in trouble, versus the girls who are naturally slim. Parris and I have matching jumpsuits that go all the way down to our ankles. Hers is pink and mine is black. She wore her jumpsuit to school the day after I wore mine, and she was pulled out of class because a teacher complained the way it hugged her body was “too revealing.” Now look at some other reasons why dress codes could be biased.

America, the “land of the free, and home of the brave.” Unfortunately, this doesn 't mean “land of the free to wear whatever one desires.” In fact, school dress codes are taking away American students’ self expression, infringing on their freedom of speech, and enforcing sexist discrimination all over the country. A recent case, that occurred at Tottenville High School in Staten Island, New York, blatantly displays the negative effects dress codes are having on students, especially females. In the first couple of days of the semester, this high school managed to give 200 detentions to students for violating the dress code. Ironically enough, 90 percent of these students were girls (Swafford). The discouraging part is that schools are easily able to get away with this kind of discrimination. This is made possible by state laws that give school boards the power to enforce whatever dress codes they think are necessary to promote a distraction free learning environment, maintain discipline, and to push students to dress similarly in order to create a uniformity in the schools (“School Dress Codes”). The purpose of dress codes may be to create a distraction free learning environment; in reality, however, they produce an environment where students feel discriminated against and aren 't free to express themselves.

I have had first hand experiences with dress code violations. At the school that I attend, there is a set dress code. When school first starts, everyone follows the dress code, but as the year progresses more and more people do as they please. If one person gets away with breaking the dress code, everyone will then try. Many girls have gotten away with wearing short skirts, so I decided to try it. It actually worked! Because they ignored the few girls that were breaking the dress code, a mass amount of girls began breaking dress code as

I have been pulled out of a class to discuss my wardrobe because of the tank top I had on. That made me feel like I had separate rules than everyone else just because my peers could see something as irrelevant as my shoulders. I did not think that it was fair that I had to be pulled out of my class to be told to cover up, or to go to the nurse’s office and change, because my attire for that day was “inappropriate.” Although the boy that was sitting right next to me had on a cutoff, which exposed not only his shoulders, but his stomach too. Another situation I had in high school that pertained to my high schools dress code was during swim class. All girls had to wear a bathing suit, and could not wear any other sort of clothing. So, I followed the rules as usual. After getting changed and getting into the pool, my teacher stated, in front of my whole class, that my swimsuit was “too small,” and I had to get out and go change before someone got the wrong idea. I was not only mortified, I was devastated and emotionally hurt. I was so embarrassed to have been objectified like I was that day. School dress codes are meant to make everyone equal, but if we are not going to treat everyone as an equal, then we should not have a dress code in the first

At my school, they changed the dress code policy so that girls and boys would be treated equally. For example, last year, girls could not show their shoulders without getting sent to the office; however, the boys were able to show their shoulders. Now, both the boys and girls cannot show their shoulders and must wear shirts that have sleeves. Even though some places are progressing, some are regressing.

In the article “The Most Outrageous Ways School Are Trying To Enforce Gender Stereotypes” explains several cases where schools enforce boy and girls how to behave. The editor Tara Culp-Ressler explains that a senior girl went to prom dressed in jeans and got kicked out because she was not wearing a dress. Another case was a fourteen-year-old boy was forced to get rid of his makeup, which made his mother outraged and complained to the school. Tara also demonstrates that an eight-year-old girl was kicked out of a Christian school because she was not acting to feminine. She was dressing in sneakers and with short hair and the people in that school did not appreciate the girl being less feminine. Even more Tara writes of another incident where

For this paper, I collected and analyzed two sets of ethnographic data. Both sets of data were collected through observing the gender performances of students in places that teach traditionally masculine subjects such as the math and sciences – a science classroom and a drop-in tutoring for quantitative and symbolic reasoning courses. To observe students in a science classroom, I sat in through an introductory science class for fifty minutes, which is the duration of the class. Since the class was structured to be a lecture and had a moderately large size of 20 students, I was able to silently observe from a seat in the back corner without disrupting the normal interactions of the classroom. However, as a distinct observer who only observed

For example leggings, leggings are one of the most popular clothing items that are now a days used a lot by females, but not only girls, female teachers use them too. If teachers would real want to re enforce dress code, they should set an example for us. And the consequences they give students sometimes go overboard. For example, The wrong choice could get you kicked out of class or suspended; and if you want to fight for your right to a hoodie or a short skirt, you and your parents may have to file suit and head for court. Sates the article, “Strict School Dress Codes Have Gone Beyond Safety Concerns”.

One of the greatest controversies that is spreading throughout high schools in the United States is parents and their children against the enforcement of their school’s uniform policy. More schools have been adopting uniform policies within the past decade. Rules contained in the policy that are implemented range from wearing certain types of tops (shirts) in specified colors to students being required to tuck in their shirts. In the past, uniforms were exclusively for students who attended private schools because they were “well-off”, but now uniforms are being seen more frequently in public schools on students of all economic levels. Having gone through a school system that considered adopting a uniform policy, I would have to press

Author Aliya Hoyt explains a statement from an interview saying, "This is all done under the guise of helping students create a safe space for learning where they can focus on education," Emily says, adding, "But the outcome is that women's bodies are policed in ways that men's bodies are not (Hoyt).¨ What the dress code does to those of the female gender is forces them to confide to a standard of what the schools believe that a woman should look like. The school system defines what they believe is appropriate for a young woman, and female students are unable to stretch out beyond this standard of confirmation. Girls are being punished for something they cannot control, suffering daily due to the system. Even in states where the temperatures are blazing hot in states like Arizona and California, girls must abide but rules concerning their shorts and sleeves. Article Girls Fight Back Against Gender Bias In School Dress Code states that “She shared the story of one of her schoolmates who was “dress coded” for wearing a skirt that fell a couple of centimeters above her fingertips when holding her arms by her sides. The student was sent to the office where repeated calls to her home went unanswered. After a two-hour wait, the student went home, too embarrassed to return to her last period class” (Today). Students are not only missing out on opportunities to learn, but are embarrassed of being dress coded. Girl should not have to face the obvious bias that comes with being a female and having to deal with there being a restricting dress

The methodology used for the study is qualitative, capturing the insider’s view of the classroom activities and transactions. The theoretical framework in use is an ethnographic study in reference to this research of race and gender from middle school girls’ perspectives in an English literature class focusing on the multi-cultural literature for this study. This ethnographic methodology encompasses social, cultural, and historical structures that exist, by collecting data via the girls’ dialogues with each other, dialogues with the girls and the teacher, conducting interviews with a sampling of five girls of African American, Latino, and Native American ethnicities, and observing transactions in the classroom. Interviews were semi-structured

Although these dress codes prevent possible sexual harassment, most of these rules are outrageous which make girls feel discriminated and targeted. These outrageous dress codes make girls feel unfairness, like they cannot be a girl, because the administration targets most of female clothes because it defines a specific body part of a girl. Particularly, most schools have banned the female shirt, “off the shoulders,” because it is ‘distracting’ to male students when they are trying to learn. Instead of making girls change their way of dressing, schools should make the guys learn manners and respect, after all that is expected from a teenage male. Around my school, many females have express their complaints about how unfair this dress code is, and why girls are being targeted for their