Dress Code Violations More Disruptive than the Violations Themselves
It seems that at least once a month we hear that a student has been punished for violating the dress code and because of an outfit that the school deemed inappropriate.
Here are some of the more ridiculous examples of dress code violations that have taken place:
- Recently 16-year-old Gabi Finlayson who attends High School in Utah, was forced to wear her winter coat at a school dance when because her dress was found to be too revealing. Finlayson’s dress has even been altered accordingly to the dress code standards for the dance. The straps on Finlayson’s dress were 2 inches wide, just as they should be but for some reason the fact that her shoulders were visible was unacceptable. Finlayson told KUTV, “Somehow my shoulders are sexualized,” Finlayson said. “Like it’s my responsibility to make sure the boys’ thoughts are not unclean.
- At Canton High School in Mississippi about 100 students were given in-school suspension on their first day of school According to the Principal, Shirley Sanders, the parents of the students had been notified that students would only be allowed to wear black, brown or white shoes, specifically they would not be allowed to wear black/red shoes or black/blue shoes because those colors identified with local gang colors. Willie Ross a parent of one of the students told WJTV, “The world be complaining about colors of shoes of kids in school. They ought to be glad that kids are coming to school.”
- In South Carolina, Hannah Adams was given a week of in-school suspension at her Middle School for showing up with random locks of her hair colored red. The school’s policy states, “Clothing and/or hair should not disrupt the educational process… Non-human hair color is not permitted.” Adams’ mother feels that the policy is a bit vague since red technically is a natural hair color, so the question becomes, “what kind of red is natural, and what kind of red is unnatural? Huffington Post.
Everyone can agree that our kids already face so many distractions and we want them to be in an environment which does not distract them from their learning. However, it seems that while these rules are put in place not to disrupt the educational process, the measures that are taken are more of a distraction than the violations themselves.