Dress Codes

“I believe in absolute freedom of expression. Everyone has the right to offend and be offended”- Tasima Nasrin. Although freedom of expression is a human right and it is allowed in many different places and through many different mediums, the school system is failing to give that right to the students. Freedom of expression means that a person has the right to offend and to be offended, which makes it understandable why a school might limit freedom of expression. Many staff members do not want any student to be hurt or in pain, which is where the want of censorship comes from. However, students are going to grow up to be working members of society, and if they do not learn how to use their voice and speak up in school, it will be harder to
If they don’t, they could be asked to change, given detention or possibly suspended. Dress codes are understandable because students should be coming to school ready to learn. However, how does someone decide what someone else feels comfortable learning in. Also, some people believe that dress codes are extremely sexist in that they only limit clothing that girls can wear because it distracts the boys of the school. Christian Science elaborated, "It's not really the formal dress code by itself that is so discriminatory, it's the message behind the dress code," Maggie Sunseri, who produced "Shame: A Documentary on School Dress Code," told The Atlantic. "My principal constantly says that the main reason for [it] is to create a 'distraction-free learning zone' for our male counterparts" (Lindsay, page 2). Dress codes should be about wearing something that makes a person comfortable during a school day. If a woman is proud of her body, then she should be able to wear something that flaunts that. Now, there should be some limits, like booty shorts or sagging. However, dress codes should not come from having a ‘distraction free’ learning zone for the boys, the dress code should come from making a comfortable workspace for everyone. Dress codes should be made to make the learning environment more suitable for everyone, not just for boys, which it has been made for in the
Some schools have uniforms in order to unify students so their beliefs do not get in the way of the priority to learn. The Washington Post Stated, “Here and there, public school students have been disciplined for wearing shirts proclaiming "Marriage is so Gay," but also for wearing shirts proclaiming "Be Happy Not Gay." In Bangor, Pennsylvania ., students wore Chick-fil-A shirts in silent protest on the day of a Gay-Straight Alliance event, which led to the suspension of 10 students - for posting bullying messages on Twitter against the Chick-fil-A kids”(Lane, page 2). Some students do not know how to control what they say in order to not hurt other kids feelings. Uniforms would create a more unified environment. Students would not be able to wear clothing that may offend other cultures, religions or people. Instead, students would have to wear the same thing which may give the children a sense of acceptance. Also, uniforms could solve the problem of judging people based on their clothing instead of their personality. Many students that go to a non-uniform school belong to cliques and those are generally based on popularity which is a concept of how rich or poor someone is. Uniforms would take away that instant decision on what a kid is wearing, instead, it would force children to talk to the other kids and it would