Dresscode

Dresscode Discrimination

Kailey White (8)

Studies show that more than 85% of girls get dress-coded more than boys. I’ve read and studied the dress code and how it has changed over the years. It seems as if the more it changes and becomes less strict, the more kids get dress-coded. Girls go around saying, “On the last day we should all break the dress code so they will change the rules.” They think it’ll work, but it will only make it worse for them. They will be told to change or will get sent home since it’s the last day of school. 

For example, girls can’t wear short shorts (anything above the knee), no crop tops, no ripped jeans that are bigger than an index card, and no leggings. On the other hand, boys can’t have muscle shirts and are not allowed to sag their pants. Girls do not find this dress code fair, so they ignore it and break the rules. That in turn, causes teachers to pay more attention to the girls who violate the code, making it more common for them to be dress-coded. 

However, I believe that students express themselves through the clothes they wear. No, this does not mean they should be allowed to wear whatever they want. For example, students should not be allowed to wear bathing suits to school every day, shorts that go way too far up, or flare pants. However, they should be allowed to wear certain things like ripped jeans with holes bigger than an index card as long as they have the strings there. 

On the flip, I am concerned that if we make the dress code less strict, tops will get much shorter, and that will affect our school overall. We always need to consider these things before we decide what to do. We don’t want to make irrational decisions, we want to look at all the options before picking one. 

For example, the hair color rule is that your hair can not be dyed any color other than natural colors. Yes, that’s fair to both genders but does it matter what color our hair is? It’s not distracting to students. Yes, students may make comments on it but that doesn’t mean they are distracted. I believe the dress code should be fair to all genders, not just girls and not just boys. 

Everyone should follow the dress code no matter what. We’ve gone through years of changing dress-code and we always adjust. If it gets less strict, people believe that the dress code does not exist, and the moment they apply more rules they stop listening to it. Why does it work like this? Teachers and administrators say that kids feel as if the rules do not apply to them, which is not true.

I was able to have a sit down discussion with Mr. Draker and I asked him a few questions on what his opinion was on dress code. Honestly, I was surprised and enlightened with some of the answers he gave.  He does not believe that dress code is discriminatory towards a specific gender, in fact, Mr. Draker thinks it’s fair because, “Because any gender can wear what a girl would wear, or any gender could wear what a guy would wear.”

It’s important to remember that we are at school for an education and honestly, we all get a little lost when it comes to our focus.  Mr. Draker mentioned, “I think it’s fair and I think it keeps kids focused on their education.” There are reasons that clothing needs to be appropriate, and it’s because, “If you wear a shirt that has something inappropriate, then it will be like, oh cool shirt or make comments on it instead of paying attention to what their teacher is teaching.”

The biggest take away from my interview with Mr. Draker is that there are dress codes in life. There are dress codes at school, at home (even if they are way more relaxed than most), and there are dress codes in careers. Some jobs have uniforms and others have guidelines. Having a dress code at the middle school level is just another learning and training opportunity for us to have.