Pros And Cons Of School Dress Codes

At Hickory Ridge High, a straight A student was suspended for two weeks for wearing a shirt that revealed the tops of her shoulders. The dress code clearly states that the revealing of shoulders is not allowed, and the principle was the first to enforce the rules. Summer Bond was confronted in the school cafeteria by her principal. She asked Summer if she had a jacket to cover up, but Summer didn’t have one. A friend of hers loaned her one, and she put it on, and zipped it all the way up. However, that was not the end of it. The principal then proceeded to call her down to the office, and order her to change. Summer refused to go if her mother was not on the phone. Summer waited for her mom’s phone call, and the principal decided to call the

In many articles, there has been a repetition of calling female students a “distraction.” Schools claim that the revealing of shoulders, collarbones, thighs, and etcetera are too distracting for male students. This is sending a message that girls are posing as an inconvenience to males’ education. If a boy can’t concentrate in class because a girl is exposing too much skin, it’s the girl’s fault. That is the message everyone is receiving. There was a news reporter that proctored two tests with two teenage boys. The first test was just the two boys taking the test by themselves. During the next test, a woman was in the same room as them wearing a shirt that revealed her collarbone. There was no difference in the boy's’ tests. The women had asked them if they noticed anything different, and their answer was, “no.” This proves that boys are not affected by these types of things. Girls are the ones who get distracted from the dress code. They have to worry about whether or not their clothes meet the dress code requirements instead of thinking about what they’re going to learn that day.. Some of the punishments for female students who get dress coded are getting removed from class, given detention, or forced to change. Sometimes, they are even forced to wear what is called a “shame suit;” red sweatpants and an oversized neon yellow shirt that reads “Dress Code Violator.” Not only does this

Shame: A Documentary on School Dress Code was directed by Maggie Sunseri. The adjectives “shameful, unhealthy, unfair, objectifying, overrated, inconsistent, and discriminatory,” are just a few adjectives used in the film. Teenage girls that attend the same high school as Maggie participated in the short film, and these were the words they used to describe the dress code. One girl who wore leggings mentioned that she felt embarrassed and ashamed for wearing pants that she felt comfortable in. The majority of students in the documentary said they felt “embarrassed,” when they got dress coded. There is also the problem of inconsistency. A girl could wear a shirt many times throughout the school year, and not get caught. But then one day there’s a teacher that will call her out for it. Another example is when someone gets dress coded for wearing a dress that another student is also wearing, but only one of them gets caught. Females believe that the dress code is sexist, not only towards girls, but also guys too. The reason for it being sexist for boys as well is, because it tells them that they can’t control themselves. Women feel like they aren’t able to express themselves the way they want to. Girls sometimes want to look nice, but can’t because of the clothing requirements. This knocks down a girl’s self-esteem, because no matter how hard they try, they can’t dress nice