Dress Codes And Discrimination

Dress Codes: Promoting Education or Discrimination?

Canady v. Bossier Parish School Board states, “While maintenance or order and promotion of acceptable standards of classroom conduct are synonymous with ensuring an adequate education system, school officials are not given free reign to abridge students’ constitutional rights” (Johnson 2017). In modern society, many issues are brought to a new light using social media, one being dress codes in schools. However, this is not a new issue, nor is it unique to teenagers today. In fact, “Students have been bringing claims against public school dress and grooming codes since as early as 1923” (Johnson 2017). Jo Paoletti, a fashion historian at the University of Maryland stated, “As long as teenagers have been interested in fashion, there have been conflicts over school dress codes” (as cited in “Should Schools,” 2017). School dress codes, when not updated and enforced equally, are tools for discrimination, sexualization, and harassment.

However, students want the freedom to express their own personalities through the clothes they wear. Dress codes that are not updated can do more harm than good. As authorities get stricter about rules, and try to regulate events like prom, students push back by protesting and sharing their stories on the internet, getting attention from not only the media but the government as well. The issue of dress codes has even been addressed in the lower courts and the Supreme Court, yet schools continue to enforce outdated, discriminatory, and often ridiculous dress codes. Even so, schools still enforce dress codes that provide little benefit to