The Importance Of School Dress Codes

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.

Any girl that has ever attended public school knows about the struggle of a dress code. On those hot days as the school year approaches, girls pour over their closets trying to find an outfit they won’t get called out for or sweat to death in. All their dresses are too revealing, their shorts too short, and their shirts reveal way too much shoulder—or so the schools say. Girls have been attacked time and time again with dress codes. Policies are almost always directed strictly towards girls; some even specify for girls only. These dress codes are not only sexist towards women, but they limit female’s freedom of expression and their choice to feel comfortable, and they do not teach female’s to have self confidence.

Schools are slowly taking away people 's individuality, but only seems like they are focusing on girls not boys. “ The way boys and girls get in trouble for violating dress codes is different and girls are disproportionately targeted for disobeying it” (“Rosalind Classroom Conversation”). Rosalind agrees that girls are targeted for dress codes more than boys are. In a girls point of view it seems unfair that boys can wear anything they would like, for example muscle shirts, shirts with alcohol, shirts with naked women on them, but not even get dress coded or a warning (Bassett). Meanwhile, a student that was a girl gotten dress coded because her collarbone was showing and it was deemed that it was inappropriate, even after her mother brought her a scarf in that covered her collarbone (Alvarez). Another student which was also a girl got dress coded because her skirt was a few centimeters under her finger tip. They had to send her home, she had missed all her classes and what they were teaching that day because of what they thought it was inappropriate (Bassett). Analuiza states that “ The only reason I go to school is to get my education. When I get dressed in the morning, my intention is not to provoke or be sexualized. My intention is to feel comfortable in my own skin” (Bassett). As a girl I believe that Analuiza is correct with what she had stated, that girls should be able to feel comfortable, and not be sexualized or feel like they are

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.

First and foremost why schools should have a no-strict dress code is because it brings girls self-esteem down. When girls get dress coded they might feel: sad, angry, annoyed and upset. And especially body shamed. “As a women, I know almost no women who like their body, who feel good about there body, almost none, but you don’t know how it got there,” Perlman said in an interview. As a result, Dress codes are body shaming girls from when they were in their teens, to adulthood. The average number of girls getting dressed coded has increased by 20% in the past year! That’s crazy! About most of the dress code, girls feel body shamed! One 15-year-old girl said, “I feel bad because it's my body... and there's no reason for the school to be telling me to cover up,” she said. Lastly, if schools had a less strict dress code with the excuse of girls showing too much skin, we would all be more confident with our

The controversy about dress codes asks an important question: are dress codes targeting girls and transgender students? Several sites including:https://www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/table-talk/what's-fair-and-unfair-about-student-dress-codes, stated that when they spoke to girls they said they feel shamed and judged by dress codes. Are dress codes limiting students creativity. Should these girls really feel harassed men and boys at their school?

“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.

Schools dress codes are sexist because they promote body shaming, encourage victim blaming, and value male education over female.

School dress codes send a loud and clear message, “Your individuality is inconvenient.” (Rowland 22). The constitution guarantees the right to free speech,which can be interpreted as the right to freedom of self expression, and students use clothing to express themselves. Another message that dress codes send is that “the self identity that you want to express does not belong here.” Self expression is not an inconvenience or a distraction, it is the lifeblood of our nation. (Rowland 22). Schools tell students that they should be confident in themselves, but how can they if they cannot express themselves? School dress codes now are more about shielding the boys then protecting the girls which implies that boys are immature. Calling a girl’s clothes distracting is implying that she is at fault for any disruptions. “That 's like saying that because a store has a cash register, it 's the store 's fault if it gets robbed!” (Menza 1). Students are going to be distracted anyways. Sexist dress codes are like saying that an article of clothing, or a body part showing on a female will distract male students from learning. Dress codes should be simple for both genders, everyone should wear clothing that covers up the same area. With dress codes, students are forced to dress the same as other students, taking the individuality out of school, but schools try to send the message, you are individual. Figure 1 shows a strict dress codes for both students and

Dress codes treat students unfairly, mainly targeting females. Many students across the nation-particularly girls- are agreeing with school dress codes being too strict and giving unfair treatment to females. A student from Kentucky was sent home for showing her collarbone, a student from Texas was sent home for wearing yoga pants and an oversized t-shirt that completely covered her backside. A teacher explained that when girls don’t meet the school dress code regulations, they are told they

“Then, for two days in a row, her daughter, who is 5 feet 7 inches tall, was told she violated the school's dress code for wearing shorts that were too short: They are supposed to be longer than students' fingertips when they have their arms at their sides. She had to put on boys' gym shorts instead and return to class.” As stated by Amy Guertin in the article “Arguments Against School Dress Codes”. Body shaming women because of what they are wearing is horrible, and will cause girls to be self conscious and not want to wear what they usually do and what they feel comfortable in. Sometimes, people do not usually think of this, but maybe what some of these girls wear to school is the only thing they have to wear. Even though all people do about it is call them out and say they can not wear it, but it’s all they can afford to buy. “Girls are sometimes told that their clothing is too distracting and boys 'can't' pay attention. However, this kind of language is sexist and many anti-dress code advocates point out that it sends a message to the male student body that they are not solely responsible for their actions.” was said by Charles Haynes in the article “T-Shirt Rebellion in the Land of the Free”

From a young age girls are taught our bodies are always sexualized and we must cover them. Schools enforce dress codes for more than one reason, the most common is to represent “professionalism” and the blatant excuse of it’s too much of a distraction to the boys. Schools sexualize our bodies in a similar way that the modern-day society

No matter what a female wears, it will never be good enough for the school’s administration. It seems that the school cares more about presentation than education. One student got a detention because a long dress showed her “very distracting” shoulders (TIME). What in the world is so distracting about a part that all humans have on their body? Also, boys get away with sagging pants and provocative shirts that are degrading toward females. Why are women’s bodies so sexualized? Just because we have a few extra body parts does not mean we are unequal to men. Girls have been taught that “if a boy teases you, he likes you” so why do girls feel uncomfortable when boys tease them about what they are wearing? If a girl is just showing a little skin, suddenly the teachers go into a frenzy, freaking out because a female has skin! There is no reason to tell a girl to cover up her body because some people cannot handle skin. Teachers, male teachers especially, over sexualize a female’s body, because females have to cover up everything. Apparently, teachers are uncomfortable with certain articles of clothing that women have to wear

I still can't wrap my head around the fact that girls are being dress coded because their shoulders are showing or their stomachs or showing because it's going to distract the boys from their education. God forbid you are wearing a tank top and a pair of jeans and a boy gets turned on and can't keep his hands to him self and if anyone finds out their fist question will be 'well what were you wearing?' You reply and they are just like well your outfit may have been too revealing. Like how is that out problem? You are going to teach us in school how to cover up but not teach boys to keep their hands to themselves.

First and foremost, the dress code has unfair regulations targeted primarily towards female students regarding modesty blaming the wearer for “distracting” other students. As a high school sophomore, I personally along with many other female students have dealt with the prejudice against female students constantly as it affected our lives daily. For example, on Tuesday, March 18, 2015, a male administrator advised me to change my gym shorts because I could be giving the wrong impression to male students. However, the gym shorts I was wearing would be deemed as appropriate in gym class but inappropriate outside of physical education. The dress code sexualizes body parts, such as shoulders, knees, and ankles, that would be deemed distracting towards the administration and male students. Not only did it deem women as objects, it also deems men as inhumane saying that they could not control themselves over females’ body parts. Furthermore, I see myself as an advocate for the abolishment of dress code policies because it not only affects me, it affects the people around me negatively. I am a basketball cheerleader at Chattahoochee High School, and it is mandatory for cheerleaders to follow the