Kendall Powell Professor McKinnon WRA 140 8 October, 2015 Style has always been a huge part of life since day one. Every year it is constantly changing, and sometimes even brings back old trends. Fashion is a wonderful way for the world to see what style we are into. However, it seems today that as fashion changes so do the dress code rules in many public schools today. I can recall all four of my high school years being haunted by the ghost called the dress code. It was terribly frustrating for every single girl. I went to a high school in a very small town. My graduating class had one hundred and fifty students in it, and most of them being girls. Throughout all four years at my high school I remember boys coming to school with their pants …show more content…
So who uses the dress codes? Well many public schools today have dress codes enforced. Although many schools have codes, the severity of the code may differ. How does a dress code work then? As I mentioned before a dress code is simply a set of rules about what is “appropriate” attire for school. While I was in high school, every year we would get a new hand out booklet of the rules. The first page was always the dress code, and it broke down one by one of what wouldn’t be tolerated. The rules were usually the same every year. Tank tops had to have straps three fingers wide, shorts and skirts had to be mid-thigh, and no loose or tight fitting clothes. Whenever a girl walked down the hall it seemed that she would get pulled aside and talked to about her outfit. Only a few minutes later to have a boy walk past with a shirt with vulgar language on it. Although the rules were implicated to enforce a strict code it seemed it was only strict to young ladies. It felt like the dress code was written specifically every year to remind us girls that we would be …show more content…
Society cannot blame girls for distracting boys. If society continues to do this then when a girl gets sexually assaulted society will ask, “what was she wearing?”, rather than, “who was it?” I never recall my mother telling me as a young girl that I was responsible for the way a boy looked at me or treated me. Instead, I was taught that we are all responsible for ourselves and our actions. Claiming a girl distracts a boy isn’t go to change anything. Simply having a dress code isn’t going to stop thoughts or actions. A great example of this is in Stephanie Hepburn’s article. She discusses a time in her high school library when she was told by the librarian that she was being inappropriate. “Luckily, I had an understanding that it was perhaps the librarian's mind that was inappropriate, but from that point forward I was cognizant (whether I acted on it or not) that girls are often deemed to be in control of other people's behavior toward them” (Hepburn, How to
Varying Issues Corresponding to the School Dress Code Numerous cases have been presented and highlighted in the media based off of accounts from angered parents and students protesting the school dress code. Multiple reports are taken from females who experience the shorter end of the stick due to increased fashion interests and sexist mindsets of their school staff. Shame suits are humiliating outfits that those who break the rules must wear as a form of punishment, most of the time these consist of extremely unflattering clothes that have written phrases on them indicating that their appearance is due to their violation of the school rules. Punishments indicated a risk to the violators education caused by missed classes. Few in society do approve of the dress code as it controls female students’ modesty, banishes distraction, and preserves the professional atmosphere inside a school.
"Why Dress Codes and Why Now?" Clearinghouse on Educational Policy and Management. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.
Dress codes have become a typical affair for public schools. The weight of this matter only gets heavier with time, as fashion trends evolve with haste. Accordingly, the debate for and against dress codes still stands. This essay will summarize, make an argument, and analyze Krystal Miller 's article "School Dress Codes."
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.
"Dress Code!" MasterFILE Complete. Educational Leadership, Dec.-Jan. 2014-2015. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. This article comes from the point of view of a school principal Thomas R. Hoerr. Hoerr starts of with a comment that was made to him about a young girl and what she was wearing. The comment referred to her undergarments. The author continues to explain the two points he learned, and because of those points, he made his school a casual place. The dress code he established only proclaims to be “neat and clean.” The author saw no problem until the attire came so close as to be dressing at the beach, so he conducted a meeting with his staff and decided something should be said. When the author wrote the work dress guidelines, he got the input of the teachers and what should be expected by each guideline. However, the author only sent out the draft to people who had worked with him for fifteen or more years, so the question arose that the world is changing and he needed opinions from younger teachers. When he received feedback, he was questioned on if some codes really made a difference, and he made some changes. Next Hoerr tells his readers that when they give a restriction on something, they must have a rational reason why. Hoerr’s reason was that the school staff needed to have a professional experience, which make since because some students might not take their teacher seriously if he or she is dressed for bed. This article uses logos by appealing to logic on
Dress codes are essentials for all schools across America. Dress codes will set the tone for students to be safe because they will help reduce violence, increase student safety, and provide a positive learning environment.
In the 2015 article on The Atlantic on The Sexism of School Dress Codes, stating that "Many of these protests have criticized the dress codes as sexist in that they unfairly target girls by body-shaming and blaming them for promoting sexual harassment. Documented cases show female students being chastised by school officials, sent home, or barred from attending events like prom." (Zhou, l.) There are more dress code policies for the females compared to the males. For example, girls should not use backless shirts, no spaghetti tops, no crop-tops that exposes the stomach, no short shorts, no miniskirts, etc. Boys on the other hand have no specific dress code policies. Dress codes may come off as sexist for women and they get insulted by it. An article on the problem with dress code from The Daily Princetonian stating "- women are policed so that they are no longer distracting to men, while men, if policed at all, are never told to change for the benefit of the opposite sex. The most prominent example that comes to mind when thinking of male-specific supplements to dress codes relates to sagging pants, an urban trend where pants are worn low to expose many inches worth of boxers. Efforts to ban these practices have never once mentioned how visible boxers would tortuously distract nearby females. Rather, they focus on visible underwear being inappropriate for a learning or work environment.", based on that article, dress codes seem to be a little too specific on what girls should or should not be allowed to wear, while boys only have a few dress code policies to worry
When reading student handbooks there is always a page (or more) dedicated to the dress code rules. At first glance they seem like common sense. Until you notice that most of the regulations seem to target what girls wear. While many of the regulations are used in gender neutral terms they are applied to articles of clothing that is usually considered for girls and is all about limiting the things that even remotely show off the female form. These regulations tell girls that they need to be ashamed of their bodies and they are a distraction.
The Dress Code is also to help from distractions like weird, strange clothes, it often distracts the students from learning. Not only that, but in High School there is large groups of gangs, and they can’t wear clothing that represents them and wear anything offensive, because then less violence will occur.
According to greatschools.org, “Enforcing a strict dress code can place the focus of school on clothing and rules, rather than on education.” Most schools have specific uniforms that a child must wear in order to attend. Many children that go to school, have single parents and / or more than one ...
Dress code is a set of rules what one can or cannot wear. Most everyone has encountered some sort of dress code whether it was in school, the office or even a restaurant. Dress code in schools was established in 1969 by U.S Supreme Court. This case was Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent School District and involved several high school students that planned protest against the Vietnam War. The court made the decision that schools can enforce dress and can limit student expression. Now most school boards and office administration creates the dress code for their students or workers. There is a big issue with dress code lately because people think that they target women, are sexist, body shames women and is unconstitutional. The growing issue
Parents and their children are constantly arguing about the way students dress in school. This debate has become a national conversation which has been going on for more than a decade. However, there still hasn’t been a final resolution. The questions “Why do I have to wear the uniform today?” or “Can I wear this t-shirt because the color matches with my school t-shirt?” have become part of our everyday lives. Before we go any further, we have to understand the difference between uniforms and dress codes. A uniform is simply a garment worn that is the same in all cases and at all times. Whereas, a dress code is a set of rules regarding the required manner of clothing in a certain context. For instance, a school might not allow students to wear
Dress code is put into place to keep students from being bullied for how they dress and how some people may treat them different depending on what they wear. There is a lot of evidence that show students losing time in the class room because they are too worried about there personal apparel. David Brunsma, a sociologist who wrote Uniforms in Public Schools: A Decade of Research and Debate in 2005, says,
"Why Dress Codes and Why Now?" Clearinghouse on Educational Policy and Management. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.
While dress codes are a necessity in schools to regulate what is and is not appropriate for the learning environment, the fact that they place blame on females for how they are treated because of their clothing is completely sexist and unfair. Hardly ever is a boy busted for wearing athletic shorts or bro-tanks when he should not be, but as soon as a girl wears leggings or shows her shoulders, she is persecuted and given punishment. This is about as unfair as school systems can be, and it also sends the message to girls that what they perceive as being cute and fashionable is perceived by others as “offensive” and that it is their fault for anything bad that happens to them. These ideas should be changed so girls do not have to feel guilty and boys can stop thinking that their behavior in these situations is acceptable.