A Fight Aganist Public Schools Strict Dress Codes

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The belief that public schools should enforce strict dress codes has been the topic of many controversial and heated debates throughout history. Although it is uncommon for public schools to require uniforms, every school has some type of dress code. Elizabeth Forward High School in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, is no different than the rest of the nation. When caught violating the dress code, some teachers will choose to ignore it, whereas others will send the student to the high school office. If sent to the office, students are penalized with a day of in-school suspension instead of being allowed to call for a change of clothes. At first glance, the prohibition of tank tops, jeans with holes above the knee, and shorts and skirts shorter than fingertip length, among many other guidelines, seems reasonable, but after further reconsideration, it is clear that the dress code at Elizabeth Forward High School is ridiculous and hypocritical. I think that Elizabeth Forward High School should lift the harsh policies because of the temperature fluctuation in the building throughout the school year, recent trends among teens, and the hypocrisy associated with the dress code.
Elizabeth Forward High School is situated on top of hill with very little shade, leaving it vulnerable to the heat in the summer months and freezing temperatures in the winter months. The school’s brick construction traps the heat in the summer, and the poor air circulation and air conditioning units limited to computer rooms and administrative offices makes it hard for the building to cool down. Unfortunately, one of Elizabeth Forward’s more strict policies prohibits students from wearing tank tops; students must wear some type of sweater that covers their shoulders if ...

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...ies, the level of hypocrisy within the dress code would begin to diminish.
Many think that a stronger dress code will help students focus in school, but the way a student dresses does not determine a student’s willingness to learn or the teacher’s ability to capture the student’s attention. Also, adults argue that high school is a teenager’s job; therefore, they should dress professionally. However, Elizabeth Forward does not have a policy against sweatpants, sweatshirts, or athletic attire, which are much more unprofessional than tank tops or destroyed denim. I think that the dress code policies should be relaxed to a more lenient state given the temperature of the building throughout the school year, the change in long-term trends among teenagers, and the level of hypocrisy illustrated between the relationship of school’s administration and the dress code policy.

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