Our staff continues to marvel at the clothing, or lack thereof, that so many of our students are wearing--yet only a few of us enforce the rules rather than just complain about it. Yesterday a student asked to interview about the dress code for the school's newspaper, and as I was on my way to a meeting I asked her to send me her questions via email. She did, and I replied today. Here it is, with only the school name edited:
1. Why do you enforce the dress code?
I enforce all rules, whether or not I agree with them. Having rules that you don’t enforce breeds contempt for the rules that are enforced. Either get rid of the rules or enforce them, and since the rule exists, I enforce it. The dress code just happens to be a rule I support.
2. Do you feel the dress code is necessary for a safe learning environment? Why or why not?
The dress code isn’t for safety, it’s for decorum. There are times and places where it’s appropriate to display your body, and school is not the place. I was once told that if you’re a professional, if you don’t change into more comfortable clothes when you get home from work, you’re not dressed appropriately. I’m not saying that students should necessarily be that way, but that philosophy merits a little thought. If you’d raft down the river in the same clothes you are wearing to school, I’d suggest that you’re not appropriately dressed for school.
3. What does dress coding look like for girls vs for boys?
When I arrived at XXXX in 2003, the majority of dress code violations were by boys—pants sagging under their butts. Today, with the same dress code, now it’s the girls who are the majority of violators. It’s not the dress code that is the problem, it’s the students who don’t comply with it that are the problem.
4. Do you believe the dress code is fair or unfair? Why?
Fair or unfair? I don’t know what that means. It’s *reasonable*, and complying with it is not burdensome. Keep in mind that in work environments, showing off too much of your body can be considered sexual harassment. Additionally, I speak to many of our (younger) women teachers, and even they are often mortified by what some students, especially girls, wear to school. This isn’t a “men oppressing women” thing—the dress code is district-wide, and there are women on the school board—this is an “adults teaching the slightest bit of decorum” thing.
5. How do you go about dress coding students?
I give students a copy of the district-approved dress code and notify that student’s vice principal of the violation. If the violation is egregious, I have been known to ask the student to leave class and put on something more appropriate for school.
Now let me ask *you* a few questions!
1. Do you agree that there should be *some* dress code, that there should be *any* limits on clothing?
2. Why do some students seem so interested in showing as much of their bodies as possible?
3. Does being “body positive” imply that you should show off as much of your body as possible?
4. Is school for “expressing your individuality” or is it for “conforming so that the mission of education can be best achieved”?
5. Do you want to see your parents, or your teachers, wearing the types of clothes in public that students in violation of our dress code wear at school?
I don’t expect you to reply to my questions. I merely offer them for your consideration as you draft your article.
And if you feel I'm just some curmudgeon, I can't tell you how many butt cheeks--actual butt cheeks!--I see daily sticking out from the bottom of shorts, or how many midriffs/belly buttons I see each day. It's inappropriate at school.
4 comments:
I am a member of the local university's recreation center AKA really fancy gym. In previous years, the gym had -- and enforced -- a dress code that required "full back shirts" for both men and women. That meant no crop tops, no exposed sports bras, and I think no tank tops. Aside from providing some decorum, a shirt helps contain an exerciser's sweat. Recently they have stopped enforcing this rule, which has led to the gym being overrun by students in sports bras or tank tops. I'm about this close ][ to starting to report violators. One of the adults working there told me she made one girl cry just by telling her to put on a shirt. I think the reason they're no longer enforcing is that the student workers are conflict-avoidant and the adult employees don't want to make people cry.
I used to be opposed to uniforms in public school, but having fought this battle for far too long, it would simplify the lives of teachers and students. And I follow the same time scheme-it used to be sagging that was the biggest issue. Now it is young women dressing like streetwalkers and then getting offended if guys look at them. I had one girl show up with a see thru batiste white shirt and a visible black bra underneath with a very short jean skirt. This child was NOT inpoverished. She had a brand new Daddy bought Jeep. But when I tried to explain why I was writing her up,she would argue that "boys shouldn't look." What was worse is while our two female AP's would crack down on these young women, our male AP's were scared of accusations these same young women could make. Eventually, after having too many come back with self-righteous smirks and a warning, I just stopped. It wasn't worth the hassle of paperwork.
Yeah, if you imply that they're dressed like prostitutes, they either get offended and say you're slut-shaming them, or they come back with some inane slogan like "sex work is real work" like we're supposed to admire prostitutes.
But really, if you see a young woman walking down the sidewalk at night wearing 4" heels and a short, low cut, clingy dress that's several sizes too small, what are you supposed to think?
One girl thought she was gonna burrrrrn me today when she said, "Why are you looking at my body?" My reply was, calmly, "I can't help but notice, you're showing so much of it." Literally, she was wearing a teddy. Not a teddy bear, either, but lingerie.
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