The Importance Of Dress Codes In Schools

Dress codes are not helping schools like they are meant to do; they are actually harming students in the school. Dress codes shame students and make them insecure about their bodies. They also disrupt precious class time that is vital to students. Buying clothes to fit the school dress code is costlier than some families can afford. Not only are dress codes stifling, but they are also unfair toward specific body types and different genders. Dress codes also decrease a student’s ability to be different from all of their peers in the way they dress. Schools should not have dress codes because they are sexist, unfair and disrupt class time.

“We believe that in this century the paramount moral challenge will be the struggle for gender equality around the world.”(Kristof) Feminism is a controversial topic because of oppressing dress code, narrow education standards, and sexism against both females and males.

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.

Is there anything more embarrassing than being dress coded at school? Enforcing a dress code among children is unfair because it not only discriminates against people but it destroys someone’s whole day. Dress codes and school uniforms are meant to increase student achievement and make everyone equal but instead it only hurts people. Most school dress codes are unnecessary and are sexist. Enforcing dress codes is suppose to boost student achievement but instead is racist, sexist and unnecessary. Schools should take into consideration their student 's feelings before they establish rules for dressing.

You're in English class. The teacher asks a question to the whole class, and you raise your hand. Then your shirt goes up. Instead of getting a smile from your teacher for getting the answer correct, you get a one-way trip to the main office. Well, this is what happens to so many girls at school every day. The dress code Brings girls self-esteem down, and you can miss So Many hours of class time.

In April 2015, a Texas honors student was sent home for wearing yoga pants and an oversized shirt that covered her entire backside. In August, a Kentucky student was sent home for showing her collarbone. After her mother brought a scarf to cover her neck, the administration still deemed it “inappropriate.” In Indiana, a 12-year-old student was suspended and missed two days of class. The offense: tight pants. Other dress-code violations include baring shoulders, wearing a tank top, or exposing a bra strap. Should girls have to miss out on some of their education because of a collarbone or tight pants? These are parts of our bodies that are “distracting”. Should girls feel shamed about their bodies? However should school be an appropriate environment?

“School officials have a responsibility to provide a safe, secure, and productive learning environment.” Therefore, schools have dress codes because the safety of students is very important. A teacher’s number one priority is their student’s safety and to have a good learning environment. All students should have the same right to their education. Is the clothing the students wear distracting others from learning? It is distracting to others, but that is not the only reason why schools have dress codes. Schools also have dress codes because it helps prevent students from being bullied based on their clothing, especially if they wear something offensive or inappropriate. It also helps them prepare for professional environments as adults in the workplace.

During the last few years, dress codes have been implemented and accepted more and more. Dress codes are commonplace and most schools consider them a necessity. Dress codes, however, need to be revised. Dress codes objectify students’ bodies and often interrupt the students’ learning environment more than the student violating the dress code. For example, if a student has dyed hair, then there is still focus inside the classroom, but if the teacher dress codes them, all the class attention is lost. Dress codes should be revised to not interrupt the learning environment and be less objective and shameful to students’ bodies.

At Hickory Ridge High, straight A-student,Summer Bond, was suspended for two weeks for wearing a shirt that revealed the tops of her shoulders. The dress code clearly states that the revealing of shoulders is not allowed, and the principal was the first to enforce the rule. Bond was confronted in the school cafeteria by her principal. She asked Summer if she had a jacket to cover up, but Summer didn’t have one. A friend of Summer’s loaned her a jacket; so, Summer put it on, and zipped it all the way up. However, that was not the end of it. The principal then proceeded to call her down to the office, and ordered her to change. Summer refused to go without speaking to her mother. Summer waited for her mom’s phone call, and the principal decided to notify the School Resource Officer (SRO) officer. The officer was within five feet of Summer, and had his hand on his gun. The principal then said “I’m going to give you an ultimatum. We have tried to call your mother, you either come with me to the control room to change your shirt, or we will arrest you.” Summer’s mom finally called back, but by that time it was too late. The senior with a 4.4 GPA was suspended for 10 day and was told that she wouldn’t be able to graduate.. Everything she had worked so hard for over the course of 4 years could potentially be gone, just because she exposed her shoulders. The main goal of this essay is to prove how public school dress codes discriminate against women. This essay describes sexualization in society, how dress codes distract from learning, and the feelings of young female students that are affected by public school dress codes.

Some people say that there should be limits to what students can wear at school. Others say there should not.

“Wow, I’ve never seen a belly button or shoulder before,” said no teenage boy ever. Dress codes have become a big issue in public schools. Teachers are becoming far too strict. School dress codes should not be as strict because, teachers are more attentive to the dress code rather than academics, the dress code is very sexist, and why should girls be punished because boys are too distracted?

School dress code, a rule everyone has been familiar with from as young as first grade. Some dress codes make complete sense: no clothing with vulgar words, no gang affiliated clothing, no showing underwear. Other dress codes just seem completely sexist: no leggings, no showing shoulders, no shorts above knees. The reasons for these dress codes are usually "Its a distraction to the boys,"; but in reality, these dress codes are harmful and sexist to each of the genders.

Approximately 64% of the United States public education system requires a strict dress code. How does the dress code affect the students and how does it benefit them? Do the students have a say in this dress code policy? Do they have a fair vote on how dress code violations should be addressed? There are so many questions on how the students defend their rights in the public-school system, yet they cannot have the opportunity to have their opinions heard. Dress code amongst the years have changed amongst the years and not for the better. High School dress code is demoralizing towards females and the consequences are exorbitant.

Maddie Allen, from Belleville East High School, reached out to Facebook to reiterate an encounter she had with a police officer before school over a dress code related issue. She stated that she was wearing a pair of black jeggings, similar in look to leggings which are banned in the school dress code policy. She explains that the officer stopped her and asked for her name because she would be reported for dress code violation. As Maddie tried to explain herself that she was, in fact, wearing a valid item of clothing, the officer told her to “lift up the back of her shirt” to check for pockets. Maddie described in her post that she felt violated and disrespected. It was because she was a female, she tells Facebook, that she was pointed out for wearing tight clothing. Ms. Allen goes on to explain why she felt the officer, as well as the school dress code, was wrong. Objectification is the physical or mental response toward a person, usually a woman, as an object. The core of objectification in the sexual class is known as sexual objectification. Women are suffering the most from objectification, as they are viewed either as an object or as an insult due to the way society associates female dress and then faulted for it.

It has come to my mind that life may be easier for everyone if we established a dress code for school uniforms. One out of five public schools today require school uniforms. “Educational psychologist and TODAY contributor Michele Borba thinks uniforms are a good idea because they create “emotional safety at a school, which is pivotal to learning.” (Flam) Many may question the idea and many may agree. Everyone in the school including teachers would wear a school uniform.