Essay Sample on Should Schools Dictate What Students Wear?

Many schools have a dress code based on past research showing improvements or little to no change in the student’s behavior. Dress codes are there to keep the students safe and on course with their studies. If the school is going to implement a strict or lenient dress code, it should be justified for everyone without being biased. I agree schools should be able to dictate what students wear such as the use of dress codes if the school creates a fair and just dress code having the school contemplate all the possible circumstances. The schools should be aware of all the occurrences that come along with a dress code such as weather, freedom of speech, bullying, sexism, race, class, and gender.

Private schools believe uniforms help with the reduction of bullying by taking away differences in the students and having them wear the same or similar outfits. Uniforms may help to lesson bullying but the boys usually wear pants and the girls wear skirts as their uniforms all year round. This means the school did not implement the weather change causing concern for the student’s health. With the weather change, the school should be lenient allowing the male students to wear shorts when it is hot and the female student should be able to wear pants when it is cold. At a U.K school, a group of male students protested their dress code by wearing skirts since their request to wear shorts due to the hot weather was denied. “At least 30 boys chose to wear a skirt instead of pants with one of the boys calling the experience "quite refreshing"’ (Lang, 2017) “Isca's headteacher, Aimee Mitchell, told The Guardian that the school is currently doing "the utmost to enable both students and staff to remain as comfortable as possible." She also mentioned that the school is open to considering changing the dress code, especially when it comes to hotter weather.” (Lang, 2017)

Even with a strict dress code the students still have a right to freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is a legal right to express your opinions freely without the worry of serious consequences. I feel the students should be able to use their right to freedom of speech either verbally or on a T-shirt. If the student is not wearing something exposing their body the school should allow it unless the student has signed an agreement on the dress code that states no impropriate writing on clothing. There was a 17-year-old student that attended Dearborn High School that chose to use his freedom of speech by wearing a “T-shirt that labeled President Bush an “International Terrorist.”’ (Bowman, 2003) With this incident the 17-year-old was given two choices either to remove the T-shirt or leave the school. He chose to leave the school even contemplating a lawsuit. The teacher argued the T-shirt interfered with the student’s education and was a violation of the dress code. While the 17-year-old felt the “administrators are violating his First Amendment right to freedom of expression.” (Bowman, 2003)

I do not tolerate or appreciate bullying so if the use of uniforms helps lesson bullying around the school campus, then I am all for uniforms. The use of school uniforms takes away the students’ differences and the sign of wealth and poverty. There was a survey given to 182 students at a charter school to get students' viewpoints on uniforms. “An examination of individual survey items revealed older students were more likely to report that school uniforms help to reduce bullying and teasing, and some students of high socioeconomic status reported that uniforms help reduce arguments with parents about clothing.” (Jones, 2020) Uniforms have been a great way to level the playing field among the student allowing them to not worry about how much someone’s clothes are or how much money they have. “Maybe as students get older, they begin to notice and value clothing more and see it as a symbol of wealth (Battistich et al., [2]) (Jones, 2020)

Sexism is a real issue in utilizing dress codes based on the fact female students have a stricter dress code than male students. As a female student all of the years I have been going to school I have never seen a male student being written up for breaking the dress code. Whenever a female student asked why they were being written up for breaking the dress code the teacher answered you are being a distraction. A distraction to who? “School administration is simply worried that revealing too much skin by girls attracts the male gaze and distracts them from academics.” (Aghasaleh, 2018) If the schools would take history and the student's feelings into account when making decisions the use of dress codes may show great improvement over time with the student’s behavior. “Girls are still encumbered with antiquated expectations of submissiveness and propriety as what it means to be female, as dress codes that heavily focus on girls' behavior indicate these ideas still exist among many school stakeholders.” (Edwards, 2018)

Race and culture should be one of the factors thought of before creating a dress code not going against one’s belief. What works for one person’s body doesn’t work for everyone so the dress code should be diverse and broad. “Race is not named, though is certainly indirectly referenced in dress codes, and these policies are on the surface neutral, but these regulations reinforce historically institutionalized tight control of the body of the female of color and the systematic, legal silencing of her voice.” (Edwards, 2018) The dress codes should be neutral without detail such as hair and culture. The way one’s hair is done is up to the student and cultural clothing is always acceptable not needing to be dictated by the school. “School policies that regulate hair also have a disproportionate impact on students of color. One school district emphasizes that hair cannot 'impede vision' (Rowan-Salisbury County Schools [60]) and that any form of appearance that brings 'undue attention' to the wearer is a violation of the dress code (Rowan-Salisbury County Schools [61]). (Edwards, 2018) I do not agree with the insensitivity of having specific items written in the dress code that is biased and based on one culture's ideal of what is normal or appropriate.