Author: Amber Wall-Burns Essay topic: The negative effects of increasing dress code restrictions.
Most dress codes focus mainly on what female students wear. Girls across the United States are getting in trouble for wearing things that do not meet the dress code. Sometimes girls are even punished by being sent to detention, or they are forced to wear “shame suits.” People are reacting to the changes in the dress code policy by planning events where everyone wears things that violate the dress code. They do this in order to bring attention to how they feel about the rules. According to an article in Time magazine, a Texas student decided to protest, stating that “The rules about students' outfits are more distracting than the outfits themselves.” Students from this school organized a sit in after over 160 kids were suspended due to dress code violations. Dress codes are a very big problem in many schools, and some students even seek to change their school's dress code. Many students across the U.S. are being affected by the strict rules on clothing.
Students are not the only ones affected by the dress code rules. Students and parents everywhere are upsetted by the increasing restrictions on what they are allowed to wear to school. On the Today show it was stated that one Kentucky school sent a girl home because her collar bones were showing; her mother was called away from work to come pick her up. She later took to social media to show her disapproval. She wrote, "Parents are being called away from their important jobs and students are missing important class time because they are showing their collarbones! Something needs to change!" Dress codes have gotten so strict that teachers are finding it necessary to pull students from class based on the outfit they decided to wear. So instead of going to school to focus on classwork, they are pulled from the class and miss valuable time that could be spent learning. Is what you wear to school more important than the learning that is supposed to take place there? By putting so much focus on what students wear schools are wasting time that could be spent furthering its students’ education.
A damaging lesson is taught when teachers punish girls for wearing clothes deemed 'too distracting' for boys to handle. It teaches the boys that girls’ bodies are dangerous and that harassment is inevitable, and it teaches the girls that they should have to hide their bodies. Girls shouldn’t have to completely cover their bodies for the boys to learn, and if girls have to cover their bodies boys should too. Telling a girl to cover her body also implies that boys are unable to control themselves around a girl’s body. Instead of telling girls that they have to cover up, schools should encourage the boys to focus on their school work. Dress codes are found to be so unfair that MTV has published an article for students on how to tell if their school’s dress code is sexist. In the article it states that, “dress codes teach boys that it’s acceptable to disrespect girls and misbehave if they can see her skin. Instead of teaching boys that they are responsible for their own actions, it teaches them that girls are responsible for them.” Even though girls should have the decency to wear appropriate clothing, they should not have to hide their bodies so that the other students will focus on assignments at school.
Girls are being shamed for the clothes that they are wearing because they might be a distraction to the boys. What students wear to school should not be as important as what they are there to learn. Pulling girls out of classes because of violation to the dress code does not allow them a chance to learn the important material being taught. A school's focus should be on whether or not they are proficient at educating students.
Dress codes are affecting more than just student’s feelings. Learning is being disrupted by all of the attention that is given to dress codes. Students around the world are being pulled from class and sent home. By putting so much focus on the outfits worn to school you are not giving enough attention to what the students are supposed to learn. Learning should be more important than clothing choices when at school. The main purpose for going to school is to learn, and learning should not be disrupted by the way people chose to dress.
Works Cited
Dockterman, Eliana. "Texas Students Riot to Protest School's Dress Code." Time. Time, 19 May 2014. Web. 12 Oct. 2015. <http://time.com/104676/dress-code-riot-texas/>.
Kim, Eun Kyung. "Is This Outfit Too Revealing? Girl Sent Home after Violating School Dress Code." TODAY.com. N.p., 17 Aug. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.today.com/style/kentucky-student-violates-high-school-dress-code-exposed-collarbone-t39211>.
Mahlmeister, Chrissy. "5 Big Reasons Sexist School Dress Codes Need To Be Stopped." News. N.p., 27 Mar. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.mtv.com/news/2117940/sexist-dress-codes/>.
Tucker, Alexandria. "National Association of Elementary School Principals: Serving All Elementary and Middle-level Principals." NAESP. N.p., 30 July 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2015. <http://www.naesp.org/national-survey-school-leaders-reveals-2013-school-uniform-trends>.
