The Pros And Cons Of School Dress Code

Since the first civil school was created, there was always been a sense of dress code imprinted in the school rules. “The first recorded use of standardized dress in education may have been in England in 1222, when the Archbishop of Canterbury mandated that students wear a robe-like outfit called the ‘cappa clausa.’” (Scott) Even in today’s world there is a dress code fit towards the modern day standard. However, with the new fashion trends, school dress codes seem to be ruling on the unfair side, upsetting a lot of people, mostly students. This unfair ruling nature has caused a lot of uproar in debates against schools and their dress codes. The issues aren’t about if someone’s skirt is too short, it is about the rules that discriminate against people’s religion, self expression, body type, and personality. A school’s dress code should not discriminate against someone’s religion, taste, or body,
In the case of Guiles vs Marineau; high school student Zachary Guiles, went against his principle Seth Marineau, to be able to wear an anti-Bush t-shirt that supposedly broke the school’s rules about having drug and alcohol images on it. The verdict from the judges came back not guilty. “The court stated that ‘“the pictures are an important part of the political message Guiles wished to convey, accentuating the anti-drug (and anti-Bush) message.” (ACLU) While in Richards v. Thurston, high school student Robert Richards went against his principal to; for not allowing him to have long hair. The court ruled in favor of Richards with reasonings due to no factual evidence showing that plaintiff's hair style was a health or sanitary risk to him or to others, or would interfere with plaintiff's or with others' performance of their school work, or would create disciplinary problems of a kind reasonably thought to be a concern of public officials.