Category: Dress Code

Persuasive Essay on School Dress Code

School dress code management is not always the most professional, and the angry parents addressing this issue would agree. Dress codes are common regulations implemented nationwide in schools with something written usually along the lines of: no spaghetti straps, no ripped jeans, no halter tops, etc. These rules have been put in place to promote professional attire and uniformity amongst students in schools. The rules enforced are black and white; if the outfit does not follow proper regulations set in place, further action needs to be taken. But in certain occasions, the actions taken are not the most professional. I think that school administrations can maintain uniformity and professionalism while getting rid of the rape culture that is being promoted when confronting dress code violations.

No short skirts, halter tops, or prominent cleavage; these are all rules directed towards the female student body. Some may argue that these rules are mostly applied to girls because boys would not wear such things, but what boys do wear are tight jeans, sleeveless shirts, and basketball shorts, all items of clothing that could be equally as revealing or distracting yet they are not addressed in the handbook. If dress code management is only enforcing what is written in the handbook, why does the handbook mainly focus on female attire? In fact, the part that is actually addressed towards boys is very loosely enforced, such as muscle shirts and tucked shirts.

A common problem when enforcing the dress code is also that the rules are not enforced equally amongst the student body. This is an important tool that schools use to make sure students do not dress too radically. But the problem begins when there are inconsistencies in the way it is enforced. If it is enforced on one student strictly and not on another, the system begins to fail. The excuse that security guards are ‘just doing their jobs’ when they code someone is lost when they do not apply this rule to everyone out of will rather than ignorance.

There have been many people who believe that the manner that these regulations are enforced are extremely sexist. At Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, Montana, Gabriel Montie, a male student that was nearly coded but was ultimately disregarded: “Administration once tried to dress code me for wearing a small crop top and low skinny jeans because they thought I was a girl. It didn’t bother me personally, but it was idiotic that I was to be dress coded when they thought I was a girl, but left me alone when they discovered I wasn’t”. The fact that it happens makes this set of principles lose their actual purpose. The school’s dress code was implemented in school to protect students and give the school the right to tell students what is deemed to be distracting to the education of others, but that point is lost when insinuating that a young girl’s body is to blame.

The first dress code policy was implemented in 1969 when a group of students wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. After this case, known as Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent School District, the court decided that it would be best if schools wrote regulations regarding the handbook about appropriate attire to use in school. After that, any gang-related paraphernalia or lewd and otherwise sexually explicit clothing was banned from being used on school grounds. This has proven to be effective, and parents agree for the most part, yet the parameters of ‘appropriate’ attire put in place are obscured when it is mostly about the way a person looks, rather than the safety and professionalism of students and the school. “No, there is no valid reason [to manage the dress code the way it is managed] that I know of. If it was to prevent violence then sure, but my body is not a weapon and it should not be treated like it is”, said Maritza Rodriguez, a former lawyer and current AP English teacher at Nogales High School about regarding. At an age where young women are developing their bodies and finding who they are, it is extremely detrimental to hear a security guard say that the reason they are coding is because the student’s body does not look good with her outfit, rather than stating that those are the rules they have to follow.

Some students who have been dress coded have said they felt that administration or security staff take pleasure in shaming girls and the way they look, and felt a lack of professionalism on their behalf. Though this may not necessarily be true, there is definitely heavy bias when security guards dress code girls. In one instance, a young woman who would be considered tall and curvy was wearing a skirt that administration would deem inappropriate, but instead of stating that it was unacceptable attire, they told her the skirt did not look nice on her body, and if it were another girl, they would not say anything. This exact situation is a prime example of the growing epidemic that is rummaging its way through schools in the United States.

When security guards do happen to dress code someone, students do not always comply with security guards and, in turn, they lose professionalism and say demeaning things to the violator. They shame and embarrass them in public so they can get their way, or so it seems. During lunch- time, students are out in the open around campus and so it is easier for security guards to find the violators. A common approach to dress coding is standing behind them and looking them up and down in disapproval. If the girl is wearing a skirt, they even go as far as to duck their heads under their skirts or have them climb stairs to ‘prove a point’ that their skirts are too revealing. To say the least, these actions are invasive and unnecessary. What this in turn does is promote rape culture.

According to Southern Connecticut State University, “Rape culture is perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of women’s bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence, thereby creating a society that disregards women’s rights and safety”. This taboo topic is something that is being avoided and not talked about on school grounds, because schools do not want to promote it, but accidentally promote it anyways. There is no doubt that this is not the intention of the school board, yet the mere fact that it is being avoided removes the platform for the victim to speak up because they feel it is not allowed to be talked about.

Some may argue that school dress codes are meant to be socio-economic levelers, preventing students from spending on expensive items and to take away the pressure of kids having to conform with popular trends being promoted by students’ wardrobes. The University of Cambridge wrote an article titled ‘Economic and Social Stress and Material Culture Patterning’ that stated that they had done ethnographic research in Kenya and Zambia and anthropological studies in Sudan and Nigeria. Their studies demonstrate those cultures to communicate within-group corporateness in reference to outsiders. “The greater the competition between groups for resources, the greater the likelihood that material culture will play a part in the maintenance of internal cohesion”. While this is a valid argument, it is an unfit argument due too little to no way of preventing students from buying the most expensive outfits or a trend that follows school regulations yet, still otherwise pressure other students to follow suit to ‘fit in’.

By telling girls that what they wear is provocative, they are telling guys that it is okay to rape because the girl was provoking him. The way the school dress code instigates that is by saying that their body is too distracting to the students around her. They are indicating that it is her fault that they are distracted towards her, rather than giving a different reason or teaching the other students about respect towards their peers. This indirectly tells guys that the excuse, given that he was provoked by what the girl was wearing, is a valid excuse, and the school most likely does not want to be the catalyst for this action. “Administration doesn’t want to sexualize students, and students don’t want to break the rules, but the dress code allows both of them to do so. If there is no dress code, there is no abuse of it” (Personal Interview: Maritza Rodriguez). A female student at NHS was told that if a boy were to come up to her and pull down her shirt because she was wearing a shoulder top, she would be sent to the office and given a referral, rather than the person who did it.

Not only does the school dress code promote rape culture, but it also sexualizes girls in the process. The very reason that they have to tell a girl that she looks provocative insinuates the sexualization of young girls. Some may oppose saying that the school dress code is doing the exact opposite by attempting to relieve the stress that young girls may feel to look sexy, but that indicates that they dress for other people, not for themselves, and since this is not always the case, this reason is invalid. A teen may simply be trying to be fashionable, but an adult may perceive her outfit as sending a sexual message. Or a girl may indeed be trying to look sexy, but the adult is almost certainly not her intended audience. The fact that adults even have to go out of their way to tell an underage girl that she looks too sexy is implying that they were looking at her that way in the first place, and that is certainly a goal that the school board does not want to achieve. These are such antiquated ideas that should stop being perpetuated. It’s objectification and sexualization. These kind of social ideas have been around for a long time being the main reason why girls are sexualized at a young age, making to feel inferior, and allow ideas within the rape culture to fester. These dress codes, it is argued, are to keep girls’ sexuality in check and to curtail promiscuity. It is argued that a shoulder, a too-tight legging, will simply be too distracting for the student body of a school to get any academic work done. These old, slightly Victorian ideas simply have no foothold in modern society anymore.

Administration does not handle the dress code professionally due to lack of uniformity, promotion of rape culture, and inability to make things impersonal. The dress code, in the end can be a good thing, but is lost when too much bias comes into play. Dress codes are antiquated, in the modern world the sole focus should not be on what women wear. The school dress code, if it is to be effective at all, should continue to be solely about the protection and betterment of the educational environment, rather than the justification of good looks. In many situations, the dress code can go a long way, but when the focus is derailed, so is the argument that supports it.

Works Cited

1. Bates, Laura. ‘Everyday Sexism Project: Dress Codes and Rape Culture’. Time, 22 May, 2015.
2. Friedrichs, Ellen. ‘4 Lies About School Dress Codes That Cover Up Their Oppressive Effects’. Everyday Feminism. N.p., 10 Aug. 2016.
3. Hodder, I. (1979). ‘Economic and Social Stress and Material Culture Patterning’. American Antiquity, 44(3), 446-454 20, January 2017.
4. ‘School Dress Codes’. Findlaw. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 November 2018.
5. ‘Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist’. LII/ Legal Information Institute, n.d. Web. 2 November 2018.
6. Whaley, Katie. ‘Students Question Inconsistent Dress Code Policy’. Bearing News. N.p.,Web. 29 November 2018.

Dress Code Vs Uniform Essay

What do you think, should public schools have school uniforms or a standard dress code? This has been a long debated question and I have to say that there are pros and cons to both sides. In my opinion, I believe that we should use a standard dress code so that we teach our children to take pride in what they wear and how they represent themselves.

Some advantages of having school uniforms would be; that students are unable to compare themselves to each other by what they wear due to a family’s income, this would require less monitoring for the staff daily and every child would look nice while representing their school. The negative side to school uniforms would be; students not being able to express who they are with how they dress, not being able to wear what they are in the mood for, and then wearing the same outfit as their peers.

When it comes to having a dress code, students would be able to express themselves with their different styles and taste but we could still hold them to a standard that is appropriate for a public setting. Our students can then take that knowledge out into the real-world setting when they become adults and pursue careers. A few of the disadvantages would be that our teachers would need to monitor students’ clothing daily and some families have more money than others, which can cause conflict as students compete with who has the better outfit.

I believe that having a dress code over a school uniform would be the most favorable choice. Regardless, the main goal should be on how students properly care for themselves, and what can they learn and take with them as adults.

Breaking Dress Code Norms Essay

I believe we should change the school’s dress code. Some things on it don’t make a lot of sense. There are quite a few things that should not be on there. You should be allowed to be comfortable at school and not have to worry about breaking a dress code rule.

You should be allowed to wear hats/hoods/bandanas. Lots of teachers would agree wearing a hood is quite disrespectful, but what exactly is disrespectful about it? Do teachers think they won’t pay attention in class? Do teachers think they’ll sleep in class? Hoods can be more comforting to students and make them feel cozier. Others say they use their hood as a security blanket, I think that is perfectly fine. Some days students feel different and don’t feel well so they put their hood on to feel better. I do that all the time at home and it does help me concentrate on something I am doing. Bandanas should not be banned. Bandanas could be a cultural thing for a person, you can’t take them away from that. They should be able to express their culture respectfully and not have to be shamed by it. Another thing is the hats. Hats can be very comforting in school, weather conditions are a thing. If it’s cold out, that person might want to wear a hat. Some get cold during school and might need to wear hats, too. Of course, when they do the morning pledge they must remove those hats or hoods.

Another thing we should change is backless/off-the-shoulder tops. There’s nothing wrong with shoulders or backs. I’ve heard people say it’s a rule because shoulders or backs are “distracting” but what’s distracting about them? People should be able to wear whatever they want without having to deal with people shaming them. If someone’s distracted from their shoulders they should be the ones to get in trouble, not the person wearing the clothes. Also, when it gets warmer out people will want to wear those types of tops. You should respect someone no matter what they wear. Fashion can also express someone in their unique way and that should not be shamed by the school.

Bra straps are another thing that is banned and I think they shouldn’t be. Some tops can show a girl’s bra strap or it could be a total accident sometimes and they would get in trouble, I don’t think that is right. Bra’s are something girls are supposed to wear if they want to and it shouldn’t be something the school should ban. Girls can’t help it sometimes. There is also nothing inappropriate about bra straps, I think it’s a little childish if someone thinks bra straps are inappropriate.

There are some things in my argument that have downsides, though. For example, a kid doesn’t remove their hat or hood during the pledge. I think kids should get in trouble if they continue not respecting the flag, they should lose their privilege of being able to wear hats or hoods.

These are just a few rules I think should be changed. Other than that, I think the list of things on the dress code is sensible. How they handle the dress code should be changed, too. I don’t think it’s okay for teachers to call you out in front of the class, they should do it in private.

Essay on Why Is There a Dress Code in School

Dress code has been a controversial statement for the last couple of years but where did it all start? In the 1966 State of the Union address, President Clinton called on American schools to require uniforms to ensure the safety of school children. Although some schools complied with this suggestion, many schools felt this was too extreme of a measure and began to implement school dress codes.

Nowadays dress codes have come so far that students are not able to express freely their way of thinking, feeling, or opinions. A school in Giles, Tennessee told a girl she could not wear a shirt with a pro-LGBT message on it as it might provoke other students and make her a target. This is an example of a lack of freedom of speech so it’s not even about if the skirt is too short or “you are showing too much skin” but about the student’s sexual identity and their way of feeling. As the ACLU points out, a landmark case dating back to 1969 upholds students ‘ right to freedom of speech through what a student chooses to wear.

Today in the world only 7% of people are Atheist which means that they do not believe in any kind of religion 93% of the world’s population is either born into a religion or grows into one but when it comes to showing what you’re proud of in a school nowadays it has become harder and harder. According to the website “Love to Know” By Amy Guertin, she says; “several students have had to fight for their right to wear a pentagram, the symbol for the Wiccan religion, to school.” a great example of this is Nashala Hearn who was suspended from school twice for wearing her hijab, with school officials claiming the hijab did not conform with dress code policy.

These are only two reasons out of many about how strict and even degrading some rules of dress code can be. Schools are starting to become so strict that they have to apply some rules to even not give the students the freedom to think and believe whatever they want which are basic human rights. Some have even come to light some cases that have to do with sexism towards girls blaming them for a boy’s way of thinking and if they cannot keep it in their pants “It was the girl’s fault, she knew what she was doing” but not only that but they even want to ban t-shirts that show how proud you’re for loving freely any gender you want or ban your believes or better say the things that make you, you.

Fashion and Identity: Essay on Dress Code

We all agree that the way people dress has a complex relationship with their identities. People’s social status, gender, class, and religion can be expressed through the pieces they wear or the things they put on their bodies. Regarding what we try to present to people, others might not be able to read the message we reflect on ourselves through the clothing we wear because those fabrics do not directly ‘speak’ for us. Identities can be judged by appearances and yet, can also be misread into something else. Especially, when living in a modern city, without “tradition or established patterns for recognizing others” (Entwistle, J. 2000, pp.112), it is even harder for us to ‘read’ a person from his or her dressing in just a few seconds of glancing. Anonymity makes people mostly place their judgment or analysis upon how others look. As a result, in the 19th century, there were two contradicting ideas of fashion and identity developing: one is that someone’s character can be seen from their appearance provoked by the curiosity of people wanting to know the authenticity of others; and in opposed to discovering the truth behind people, an alternative desire formed along which is to hide or disguise oneself through fashion, to create identity anonymization. (Entwistle, J. 2000, pp.113) The two opposing ideas can be seen in Dandyism and The Romantic style. The dandy style was an older aristocratic way of dressing and it was about looking stylish and distinguished, the ladder was closer to our contemporary culture, which emphasizes individuality, expressing and representing the true self.

In the world of nature, animals can change their appearances under different circumstances, such as to attract and avoid other animals, or to camouflage themselves to fit in the environment. It is inevitable that as human beings, we attempt to control the way we look to make good impressions, to enhance our appearances or even status, or to make ourselves belong to a certain group. We have all sorts of fitness programs, diets, cosmetics, plastic surgeries, and fashion objects. These are all possible accesses for people to change their appearances and create identities. According to Entwistle (2000), our idea to create an identity is being affected by locations, classes, and cultural communities. The way we dress is a representation of our backgrounds and individual desires. Joanne Entwistle (2000) in her book Fashioned Body quotes: “Fashions are bonds that link individuals in a mutual act of conformity to social conventions” (Finkelstein, 1991, pp. 112). Starts here today

Why imitate as well as differ??

People want to be accepted by a group of people who share similar ideas, values, and lifestyles. They want to be a member of a certain community. In the meantime, they also have the desire to look different from others. That is why people tend to wear something different to build their individuality.

The expansion of industrialization in the 19th century is where an unmeasurably massive number of populations arrived in the capitals of Europe. Countless peasants moved to London to look for work. The cities got more and more crowded and busy. At this point, fashion flourished hence impressions and judgments followed up. People are concerned about how they read others and being read by others. The pressure of being accepted and fitting in a certain group and the opportunity to stand out from a certain group were formed during the high growth of consumption. “Problems arise when the world of objects outstrips individuals’ attempts to come to terms with it; when subjects do not appropriate objects in ways that relate to their projections but confront the world as alien.” (Entwistle, J. 2000, pp.116)

How does fashion articulate identities? how are they deployed to mark out distinctions? How does the body become the carrier of social status?

Entwistle argues in “Modernity: Imitation and Differentiation” (Entwistle, J. The Fashioned Body, 2000, pp.117), that if one item or look is fashionable or described as ‘trendy or hip’, it differs from mainstream fashion and once it becomes commonly adopted, it is no longer a trend.

When talking about ‘differentiation’, Fashion can be used as a tool to identify or differentiate a particular group. Contemporary dressing code relies on the cultural norm.