Dress Code in Schools Essay Example

“Your shoulders are distracting the people around you.” Have you ever wondered how shoulders, a basic body part, could be distracting? Why should you get dress-coded for such a minor thing?

In the 2017-18 school year, 42.6% of elementary schools, 61.6% of middle schools and 55.9% of American high schools reported they enforced a strict dress code for their students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Should this really be the case? Over the years, the dress code has been brought up multiple times. Students have even done petitions addressing the problems of dress code. So why hasn’t it been changed? Clothing is a form of self expression after all.

Dress code gives the authorities at school the power to regulate a student’s identity. It blocks off self expression. Whenever it’s a hot sunny day, why can’t students wear tank tops and shorts? It’s warm and students are trying to find a way to cool off. Those simple clothing pieces are not seen as a way to distract their peers nor should they. Most of the time, students don’t pay attention to what other students are wearing in the first place. So to say,  instead of publicly calling out students for trying to keep cool, support them for taking care of themselves.

Have you ever noticed how the dress code aims towards clothes that girls typically wear such as tank tops and skirts? A study found that in a Massachusetts high school, six out of nine dress code regulations targeted female students, according to an article in NEA today. In these situations, the dress code seems to focus on women. It makes girls feel uncomfortable in their own bodies. Whenever we go into clothing stores, it’s difficult to find clothing marketed towards girls that isn’t revealing, cropped, or short. Those pieces of clothing are so standardized nowadays but schools don’t allow them. 

Not only does the dresscode target females but it also teaches them a double standard at a young age. Dress code sends a message to students that girls have to change their clothing because males are getting distracted. Instead, Boys need to be taught to stop sexualizing normal body parts such as shoulders and legs. It’s affecting female students’ abilities to go to school everyday to learn. Now they have to worry about getting dress coded as well.

While dress code can limit classroom distractions, isn’t calling students out for not following dress code a distraction as well? When a peer gets dress coded during class, I've noticed that everyone is more focused on the student getting dress coded rather than on their work. Not only that but it publicly shames the person for wearing what they want to wear. Instead of teachers wasting time dress coding students, they could be teaching valuable lessons. It takes time out of everyone’s day for something so unnecessary.

The positives do not outweigh the negatives for dress code. Clothing deemed “distracting” should not and does not distract classmates in general. Female students’ education are being undervalued compared to males. Students will still get distracted whether or not the dress code is in place. At the very least, the dress code should be less strict. Ask yourself, is this regulation really worth it?