Dress Code

With school starting soon and many parents beginning their yearly school clothing and supply shopping, many begin to question why a dress code is needed in school.  The following was taken from a local middle school in Texas: 

BACKGROUND

Student dress, according to research, plays an important role in the success of middle school students. Our goal is to enhance a positive learning environment and minimize the influence of peer pressure through clothing styles. A standard dress policy will:

- Promote school pride and unity

- Improve student conduct and performance

- Increase self-esteem

- Decrease peer pressure & competition in regards to clothing, style, brands

- Decrease gang influence & -Increase student safety at school

The thought is that by not allowing certain types or colors of clothing, students involved in gangs will be less likely to display their affiliations.  This is wrong on many levels:

• Gangs are no longer strictly red or blue.  The same school that this was taken from allows blue and light blue clothing, but not red.  And their school color is purple.  Almost every color under the rainbow is claimed by a gang.
• Dress code policies have to include much more than clothing.  Haircuts, facial hair (including eyebrows), tattoos, and even shoes have to be included in policies to effectively curtail gang influence. 
• Gangs adapt!  If a gang involved student wants to display his gang at school, he’s going to. 

Rather than creating policies that do not adequately meet the needs of the school, more effort should be placed into intervening when a student is in violation of one of the rules. 

The same holds true for increasing self-esteem and competition.  What many fail to take into consideration are shoes.  Not only does the price and brand easily distinguish the haves from the have nots, the condition of the shoe as the year progresses is also an large sticking point in school social circles.