School Dress Codes

I think dress codes that keep girls or guys from wearing revealing clothing are appropriate in a school setting. Call me old school but there are already plenty of distractions going on in school, the kids don't need more. Now, if you're asking what is the line between appropriate and not appropriate then I'll have to refer to Justice Scalia of the Supreme Court who said, I don't know how to define pornography but I know it when I see it. That about sums it up.

I guess I don't understand the backlash. Those sound like the same rules I had in school in the late 90s. It's not like everyone always followed them and I think there was one time that a teacher made me put on a different shirt, but I knew I was breaking the rules. I didn't expect them to change them for me or not to enforce them. As far as the dress code being sexist, I suppose if more guys were wearing short shorts and cropped tops there would be more guys in detention for violating the dress code. These kids need parents that are willing to put their foot down. I don't care if mommy says it's okay outside of school. Inside of school you follow the schools rules.

+1

I think if they want to enforce a dress code they should just move to uniforms altogether.

I think it sounds like they are putting WAY too much focus on the clothes. Why not switch it to focusing on behavior...if someone's causing disruption or creating problems at school then of course that should be dealt with.

I think the school should look at choosing their battles a bit more -- the type of student who is all upset about not being able to wear their cropped top and skinny jeans is probably not a student who is going to cause more serious problems in any REAL way. So why create an issue where there is truly little to none? And why waste time policing it?

I live in a smallish Midwestern city and even here, administrators have way bigger issues to deal with like falling test scores, drugs, gang activity, teen pregnancy, hunger, etc... A teenager who shows up to school every morning and does their work is a good teenager for the most part. Why freak out about their clothing, hairstyle, piercings, etc? I think it's a big focus on a relatively small problem that should be a secondary concern if that...just my opinion, though.

It is the rules we had in school and what my kids have now, except for the skinny jeans and tights. We have a problem here and it isn't the dress code. It is kids who don't respect authority, girls who don't know modesty, and boys who don't know how to respect and value young women. I have sons. My oldest is to dating age. If he wants to talk to a girl outside of school I check her social media sites. If she is dress poorly I tell him to move on. I tell my son don't seek or encourage behavior from a girl you like that you wouldn't want your sister doing as well.

I bet that goes over well. So you approve/dictate who your son can *talk* to, not just date?

Do you need a pilot's license to be a helicopter parent?

It is the rules we had in school and what my kids have now, except for the skinny jeans and tights. We have a problem here and it isn't the dress code. It is kids who don't respect authority, girls who don't know modesty, and boys who don't know how to respect and value young women. I have sons. My oldest is to dating age. If he wants to talk to a girl outside of school I check her social media sites. If she is dress poorly I tell him to move on. I tell my son don't seek or encourage behavior from a girl you like that you wouldn't want your sister doing as well.

Don't the boys have a problem with "knowing modesty"? What does that mean, anyway?

Do the boys hold such low value of women that it is effected by their clothing that day? Are women who dress modestly more deserving of respect than those who don't?

You police the girls your sons ^talk^ to? Are they allowed to thank a female who holds the door for them but you judge to be dressed immodestly?

Women are only to be respected if they remind you of your sister?

FROM THE LINKED ARTICLE

Some students have shared their frustrations with the fashion police on social media. “I didn’t go to public school to be told how ‘I’m allowed’ to express myself … I can respect myself 150% and still wear shorts and a tank top,” Katelyn wrote on Twitter. “Maybe instead of worrying about what I’m wearing, you should worry about the fact that I’m going to graduate high school with next to no life skills whatsoever.” Others have shared photos of their rule-breaking outfits that have led to detention.

Maybe Katelyn should be protesting her lack of adequate high school education instead of her frustrations with the "fashion police".

I think the issue people have with dress codes today are more about the sexism behind them rather than the actual code. The idea that it is the girl's responsibility to dress "modestly" and not wear yoga pants so as not to distract the boys. By punishing a girl for wearing something that is so called inappropriate, you are putting all the fault on her and taking all blame off the boy (or whoever is being distracted in this case).

I think the issue people have with dress codes today are more about the sexism behind them rather than the actual code. The idea that it is the girl's responsibility to dress "modestly" and not wear yoga pants so as not to distract the boys. By punishing a girl for wearing something that is so called inappropriate, you are putting all the fault on her and taking all blame off the boy (or whoever is being distracted in this case).

Quite. If men can't control themselves around women because of what the women are wearing the solution would appear to be some kind of burqa. These would slow the men down as they tend to be pretty heavy garments, keep their hands under control and prevent them seeing the women so clearly as vision is pretty limited through that little window.

Having no children of my own and being past school age, my opinions are not very well formed on this subject.

However, I think certain clothes are inappropriate for children. And let's face it, high schoolers are children. Short shorts and take tops, in my opinion, can sometimes be..questionable. However, once you start saying that, then where should the line be? How short is too short, etc. Which I think is exactly the issue.

Overall I think there's too much focus on it. They're just clothes, chill out. How about we focus on the academics more?

shadowofender, it sounds like you and I feel pretty much the same about this overall! But you mentioned "high schoolers are children" and for me that struck a chord somehow. Not that I disagree (unless we're talking about 18 year olds who are in their senior year home stretch), but I think that schools should be focusing more on getting high school students to that point where they are NOT children, and letting them effectively dress themselves is one way to do that, in my opinion.

I dunno. I might regret this post because it's not THAT well thought-out. I'm not saying there's one way that everyone "should dress" in life beyond high school...there's room for all kinds in the world. But I think sometimes, teens who have been held back a lot in expressing themselves tend to be less independent in other ways and for a longer period of time. Every student and family is different, and at the end of the day I'd say it's more for parents to decide if their teenage children are going to wear this or that, than the school administrators and teachers. But for me personally, being allowed to wear some things that were considered "bad" or punk/weird/etc was a part of creating my self-identity and by the time I was in college I felt like I was over that and ready for whatever came next. Not that someone with dreads and spiked clothes isn't an adult...some certainly are, and responsible at that...but I think there's just a lot of complicated stuff going on for most teens and being told they have to wear a polo and khakis could send some over the edge (I don't mean suicide/murder, I just mean like, extra angst and crazy).