What Dress Codes Tell Boys
I didn’t have a dress code in school. I had a uniform. It sucked. The required garb didn’t look good on anyone, the shirt was in my worst color, we had to wear particularly dorky socks.
But that’s beside the point, except to give me a perhaps slightly different perspective on the school dress code from those who weren’t forced to wear a uniform.
And my perspective is: School dress codes need to be fixed. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a dress code. Kids do need to learn how to abide by the rules, in preparation for dealing with dress codes later in life. It’s perfectly reasonable to ask kids not to come to school with t-shirts with swear words on them, for example. Unfortunately, the majority of school dress codes as they are applied in the United States are sexist, racist, or both.
What Is Wrong With Our Dress Codes?
I’m thinking the best way to explain why dress codes are a problem is to give some, well examples. Here’s some things I’ve personally found in dress codes:
- Requiring shoulders be covered. Didn’t this come up earlier. Apparently, shoulders are just inappropriate…
