For some people, August may just represent a month that symbolizes the end of a season: summer. For others, the month of August can be commonly paired with back-to-school shopping, an exciting time for many children to pick out new backpacks, notebooks, pens, pencils, and other accessories to ensure their school year starts off on the right foot. However, as these children grow older, especially those who are girls, back-to-school shopping can get more and more dreadful as their public education continues. For girls in middle and high school, though it may not be the first time they have seen a dress code, it may be the first time they feel victimized or threatened by this section in their code of conduct. Adolescence is a difficult enough time for many pre-teens and teenagers, especially female, and being worried that a dress code may inhibit their education can only make this anxiety worse. School dress codes in the public education system are typically put in place to ensure that the school maintains a neutral and normal environment. for students to learn and grow, thus meaning that it also provides an environment that caters to the increasing hormone levels in their male student populations. However, this backwards and often cryptic idea utilized by public school systems all around the country has recently been decoded and exposed more and more by angry students, parents, and even teachers. Most of these people claim that no school should inhibit a female’s education to let “boys be boys” without punishment or consequence. How does putting a school dress code in place that inhibits a demographic, most of which winds up being female, do any good?  Implementing a dress code in public schools does nothing but create an unhealthy mindset and environment for the students that can extend to their lives beyond school.. 

There has been an on-going debate about the burning topic of the public-school system and their right to require students to follow a strict dress code, a topic which remains ablaze. The first school dress code law was held up in 1969 by the United States Supreme Court. The case, better known as Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent School District, where several high school students wore black armbands to school to protest against the Vietnam War. The Court decided schools have the right to limit student expression, allowing them to freely enforce dress codes, if there is any legitimate concern that the expression may disrupt the learning environment of others or even violate the rights of other students or faculty who attend or work for the school. This law displays the amount of freedom, and in some cases, unnecessary actions, that have been exerted in present day schools (School Dress Code 3). The dispute has created immense problems for the students and staff of the schools, which leads to the belief that it would be easier to disregard the whole idea. “Today, more than half the country’s schools have some form of a dress code” (Swan). These rules are persisting and proliferating throughout the nation. Dress codes today have moved past armbands, entailing the restrictions of items such as yoga pants, leggings, sweatpants, hats, low cut garments, short shorts, and other unavoidable fashion trends. The dress codes are usually directed towards females and have been leading to worse and worse situations for the school boards, many of whom have been taken to court. Although there are plenty of people who approve of these degrading lists of rules, there are many justifications for those who do not agree. Not only do dress codes restrict self-expression and individuality during the prime developing years of a child, but they give schools the power to cross a thick line they should not be entitled to interfere with. “Placing such strong emphasis on a young woman’s body may play a large part in their self-definition, their perceptions of themselves as sexual objects” (D’Anastasio.) It is merely disturbing to see grown adults attacking the self –esteem of an adolescent child.

The goal of a school is to provide students with an education in a socially friendly environment; it is no more than the job of a parent to decide what their child may leave the house in. When it comes to the topic of a schools’ rights, most of us will agree that during school hours, the school oversees the kids. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of who gets to choose what the children can wear since they leave from home. Whereas some are convinced that the school can restrict their children’s attire, others maintain that the parents buy the clothes and bring their kids to school, and if the parent approves of the outfit, the school interfering is inflicting on parents’ rights to raise their child as they please.  The way faculties enforce the dress codes leads to the pure embarrassment and disrespect of young women. Rather than taking a student aside and asking them to head to the office, a teacher has no shame in calling a child out in in front of their peers. I have seen teachers scream across the hall for a girl to put her arms down to see if her shorts were violating the finger test. The standard way of thinking about dress codes has it that they will provide students with information regarding the way others perceive you, but teachers disregard that concept, and use the dress code as a shear way to administer their power. The administration has no regard for the extent of unnecessary humiliation the dress code is causing and the reputation it can lead a child to have. Schools have resulted to forcing kids to change, sending them home, and as far as suspending students who consistently disobey the dress code. The school systems claim wearing clothing that does not fit the dress code is interfering with other students learning, but sending them home to change and suspending them from school isn’t?  Johnson Howard reaffirmed “Parents and legal authorities claim that when students either are sent home or placed in isolation because of dress code violations, it has a negative effect on their educational opportunity and ultimate performance” (Howard.) One girl specifically a senior in high school, Lauren Wiggins, was sent home to change after wearing a conservative maxi dress exposing only her shoulders. She was told this dress was a sexual distraction to the men in her school and that she had to go home. After claiming the accusation to be unjust, she was suspended. Her story made CBC News and stories like hers are becoming more prevalent on the web. What students are wearing seems to be more important than education itself and it seems absurd the amount of controversy that prevails over a bare shoulder. 

Many girls around the country have taken action on social media to try to raise awareness for the degrading and sexist offenses that can indirectly affect the emotional and educational well-being of a student. One group of sixth grade girls who are embarrassed of the way their school publicly administered the dress code have been recognized for their formation of a group called #Iammorethanadistraction. Their principles reasoning behind enforcing the dress code was that without it was interfering with establishing and maintaining a learning environment.  An article published by The Nation states, “The girls realized they did not appreciate being told, repeatedly, that their bodies were distractions to the school environment and required stringent regulation” (D’Anastasio.) In making this comment, D’Anastasio encourages us to take into consideration the emotional displacement of fledgling girls as some of us push to keep the rules in place. These young women assure themselves and others they are much more than a distraction. I see a more prominent problem that girls, barely though the first decade of their lives, feel the need to act on a situation that should not affect them for many years down the road.  The most degrading part of dress codes is the reasoning the schools seem to think they need one. Before reading “Girls Speak Out About Sexist School Dress Codes,” I used to think such young girls would be incapable of defending themselves, but now it has become clearer that as young as they may be, they know how to stand up against a higher power. A New York Times article by Peggy Orenstein discusses other movements by girls attacking the dress code that have invaded the internet such as “Don’t tell us what to wear, teach the boys not to stare.” Orenstein believes “Addressing Leering or harassment will challenge men’s assumptions, but imposing purdah on middle school girls does the opposite” (Orenstein.) In other words, Orenstein believes the better way to tackle the ongoing issue would be to discourse harassment to the boys rather than discourage young women for their chosen attire. There is clear reasoning behind advising a child to be cautious about what they put on, but there is no clear reasoning behind making a young girl feel she should be ashamed of her self- image.  It is alarming that middle school girls are being pressured to change their appearance because of others potentially lecherous thoughts about them.

Style is constantly changing and perhaps the simplicity of the age gap is the sole purpose for all this debate. Middle and High School girls today are obsessed with the latest trends and may phase from crop tops to baggy sweatshirts in less than a week.  The idea that girls dress provocatively is automatically directed towards impressing boys, when they most likely just saw one of the Kardashians wearing the same thing. D’Anastasio discovered “All girls emphasized that when they choose to wear revealing clothing, they do not do it primarily- or often at all- for the attention of their male peers. They want to feel good about themselves” (D’Anastasio). I agree with D’Anastasio because it is evident that people shop for clothing they like, and rarely does anyone shop for clothing they think others would like, furthering the idea that it is not always about boys. It is understandable for schools to be concerned with teaching young women what their attire may be judged as by someone else, but if they are wearing those clothes for themselves, there is no harm being done. When I was in middle school I remember wearing leggings was only socially acceptable to be worn with a long shirt, not as a school rule, but as a fashion statement. Now I wear leggings almost every day with anything I want, they are comfortable and in no right mind should appear in a dress code. In Illinois, a thirteen-year-old girls school banned leggings; she started a protest where a group of girls showed up wearing leggings and holding signs that read, “Are my pants lowering your test scores?” It needs to be taken into consideration that attire predominantly provocative in the past, is generally not considered provocative anymore. The parents of the protesters in their children’s defense said, “If the sight of a girl’s leg is too much for boys to handle, then your school has a much bigger problem to deal with.” 

Dress codes are often seen as unfair because “there is no gold standard for what is acceptable attire in school” (Swan.) Each district creates their own code and some enforce theirs more than others. A School Dress Code Policy Report says, “The Administrators must ensure that any restrictive dress code is applied consistently and fairly” (Anderson.) If only some students violating the rules are getting in trouble, the code is practically meaningless. “Many schools employ the fingertip rule for skirts and shorts, and yet they permit cheerleaders to wear extremely short skirts to games, and to class on game day” (Swan.) I have personally experienced the unfair treatment when I received a lower grade on a partner project in high school because my shorts violated dress code during my informal presentation. I found it to be immensely unfair especially because I am tall so shorts look shorter on me than they would on someone else. This is also a flaw with dress codes; two people could wear the same thing and due to their body types one could be violating the dress code while the other may not. The Policy Report states, “Dress codes that are ambiguous, inconsistent, or made up on the spot, are most likely to fail” (Howard.) The inconsistency only creates more problems with favoritism and unfair treatment furthering my belief to discontinue the whole idea. 

A dress code is said to reduce the separation of social classes, prevent a distracting learning environment, improve discipline, and teach kids to express themselves through personality, not what they wear. Although these would be beneficial outcomes, there is no evidence of dress codes having any of the intended effects. Overall it has only acquired more topics for debates that seem to be getting nowhere. The only true evidence established from these dress codes are the feelings of young women who are stripped of any pride they have in their appearance when they are told they are dressing inappropriately. In the society we live in today, teens are hard on themselves; they compare themselves to everyone, one offensive remark about their attire can be seriously detrimental to their self- esteem.  As a teen myself, I think it would be most effective for schools get rid of these rules, chances are no one will break them anyway. Too much time is spent in school for it to be a place where our freedoms are restricted; and too much power is given to the faculty for them to control what we wear too. It is easy to see the safety side of things like banning sunglasses to tell the difference between an outsider and a student, or banning attire promoting illegal or offensive acts such as drugs/ alcohol or racist jokes. It is not so easy, however, to see any benefits to slut shaming girls before they even know what it means. 

There are over 98,000 public schools in the United States, each compiled of students who have been victimized and abused by what is supposed to be a safe place. Schools need to start prioritizing education and quit stressing over a spaghetti strap. A lot of the dress codes in public schools are unreasonably strict and need to be relaxed. Students and their parents should continue to fight for their rights and feel free to petition for change. It should solely be the choice of a parent for what is acceptable attire, but if a school is going to maintain a dress code, they should at least learn how to appropriately enforce it. It is inhumane for an adult to administer such pressure and shame to children whose bodies have yet to even develop. “In essence, focusing so much attention on a young woman’s sexuality-the visibility of her legs, her bra straps or midriff-teaches her that these things are of major importance to others; therefore, they should be of major importance to her” (D’Anastasio.) 
