One major issue that High school students face is harsh dress code that can sometimes discriminate against certain types of students. The first amendment protects freedom of speech and expression this means students can wear whatever they feel, but that is not the case because the Supreme Court bent the rule for schools saying that schools have the right to implement a dress code. Even though dress code is a good thing because it keeps students from wearing inappropriate dress, it can often discriminate students and this discrimination needs to go away with and we can do this by doing away with such a strict dress code.
The Clovis Unified dress code has strict policies against what students wear because they say that it creates a safer school environment.One example that falls under the Clovis Unified is the rule on wearing college attire mainly Fresno State gear due to the fact that it is supposedly associated with the gang.This is not the case with probably 90% of students that wear this clothing most students do it because it is a local team or they are thinking about potentially going to this school after they graduate from high school.The Fresno State bulldog is associated with the bulldog gang but there is very little students who know about the gang or who are associated with it so wearing this type of college attire should not be out of the dress code. .Everyday we see students getting dress coded in schools for different reasons, and from major to minor dress code violations. When teachers dress code students for wearing something distracting this is technically a form of victim blaming. Victim blaming is where a victim of a crime or wrongful act is held entirely or partially at fault for the harm that had been done to them. “Its ironic and hypocritical that in the U.S., where freedom is a right we hold dearly some people try to control what an entire gender wears”(Domitrz) this quote is telling us how the schools are trying to teach a gender how to act differently. This should not be allowed to happen because a gender should not have to follow different rules and standards.
Dress code is also in play because some clothes could pose as distracting. People of both genders should not be made to feel like their bodies are distracting or a distraction to others learning. These “others” just need to focus on the learning that they need to be doing and not worrying about what people wear or how their bodies look. People do not put clothes on and say oh this one could pose a distraction to someone in class. The fact of the matter is people should not worry about what type of clothes that people wear because people should be able to express themselves through the type of clothing they wear and not have it be regulated.
School Dress Codes supposedly can contribute to rape culture as well. Parents, Administrators and Teachers often say “be careful what you wear you do not wanna give off the wrong message”(Domitrz). It is not the responsibility of the student to avoid being a temptation for sexual assault. A victim of sexual assault gets asked what he or she is wearing as if this is an indication of consent. In 2005 there was a study that a third of women who were assaulted these women were partially responsible for the assault due to what they had been wearing. At Clovis East a teacher was accused by three students of sexual misconduct and the Clovis Unified dress code is pretty firm so this could not have been associated with what these students were wearing it was the teacher himself as a person.”The students had claimed that the teacher had touched them on the thigh and one of them even claimed that he spanked her”(Hoggard). Here you have a teacher who teaches underage students talking about sexual preferences with his students and then supposedly inappropriately touching students and yet schools wanna blame this on dress codes and the ways that students dress and not the creep behind these allegations or the person who commits sexually assault.This is completely wrong in nature because it is not the victim’s fault that this has to happen it’s the perverted person who performs this act and who thinks it is ok to treat people like they are just objects. “There is no dress code for males because they do not having distracting features is what people are saying.”
“School dress codes often shame females and let male subjects get away with more things relating to the dress code.”Girls are constantly being told that they need to cover up or that they can not show cleavage. “They do this because the school fears that it could instigate an issue with a male student or it could potentially cause male staff to feel uncomfortable.” Most of the schools dress codes dictate everything about what girls can or cannot wear. One common rule is the knee length shorts and or skirts rule that most dress codes include in it. This means that on hot days girls can not wear short skirts or shorts even though it can help keep the student cooler during the hotter months. Girls also cannot show straps or wear off the shoulder tops because it could pose a distraction. “When schools try and police female dress and not the way that male students act it sets them up for failure making them believe that the person who is being assaulted is partially at fault. Black girls are often targeted for dress code as well due to having obnoxious hairstyles which is kinda a form of racial profiling if you ask me”(Bates). Girls outside of school get harassed so it is not the girls clothing being the issue the issue is the men who find it ok to harass these women. One video portrays these women talking about how when walking down the street men harass them by cat calling them or making other sexual remarks. “These women state how when they are walking down the street guys tell them to smile or say other things and these women do not like it since they feel like they are being targeted to sexual harassment”()
The counter to not having any form of dress code in schools is having a dress code or school uniform in order to keep students safe. There are multiple benefits to schools requiring students to follow a dress code, one of them being because it makes the students look more professional. Having a more professional setting helps promote academics and good behavior among students. This is because it allows students to focus more on learning and less on their wardrobe. Dress codes and not uniforms also still gives the students a freedom of expression and does not completely limit what the students wear.
All in all I feel that as yes not having a dress code could be a distraction to some students it could help other students by making them not feel targeted or sexually shamed due to their bodies. This could also be a good thing because a lot of times people do not get to dress how they want due to the dress code restrictions and it will give students more freedom to choose what they want to wear to school. So to conclude this yes there is benefits to having a dress code but there are more negatives to dress codes in schools than positives so why not just do away with it.
