Should schools require a dress code? This is a very controversial topic that has been discussed for a while now. In my opinion, schools should not have a dress code. Nearly 20% of public schools in the 2019-2020 school year required uniforms and 44% enforced a “strict” dress code. What may a strict dress code be you ask? Well, things like crop tops, tank tops, leggings, and hoodies are “breaking the dress code” in most schools. These are clothing items that every teenager wears almost daily. Some teenagers express themselves by the clothes that they wear. I believe there should not be a dress code, but there should be consequences for wearing very inappropriate clothing. Crop tops and leggings are far from inappropriate in today’s society; especially for high school students. When you go to college there is not a dress code, and every teacher says they are preparing us for college or our next step after high school, but how can they be preparing us for the real world when we are still being told what to wear?

Some studies show that these policies mainly target females and students of color. A lot of school dress codes are gendered, and over 90% ban clothes worn predominantly by females. In many cases these policies make people feel less safe. It has also been found that this subset of students often faces more disciplinary action related to their attire which takes away their valuable learning time.

People can argue that a dress code is necessary to keep everyone in the school safe, but the correlation between safety and what people wear is irrelevant. Others might say kids will get distracted by either their clothes or someone else’s clothes. A specific dress code violation is having your (typically a female) collarbone and/or your shoulders exposed, and if I were to ask every student in this school “Does a girls collarbone or shoulder being out distract you?”, they would probably look at me funny.

Times have changed tremendously, and with the time changes so does style. Kids want to express themselves; around 28% of people express themselves through their style. They can express themselves in a multitude of ways, but this is the main way. How can a teenager express themselves if they are told they can’t wear the clothing items they aquire?

Having a dress code is a great priority in all Schools. When coming to school there is always a dress code and students have their opinions. Most of which students disagree with the dress codes or just think we outright don’t need them.

I disagree, I think dress codes should be applied to the schooling. I have read that when having a certain dress code for students, it helps with learning in the classroom, it is said that not having an distracting or too comfortable clothing can be a distraction and cause a damper in your learning. So when having an attire that isn’t as comfortable and soothing as normal, you will either get too comfortable and sleepy leading to sleeping in class. Another reason why dress code is important is it enforces a serious and more professional atmosphere which is conducive to success. Having an environment where you’re dressed more appropriately and professionally, you will be more focused and concentrate on schooling. Not only that it preps you for the real world outside of high school, it preps you for the workforce, it preps you to have a dress code because in certain work places you have one.

Now I know that there are reasons as to why we shouldn’t have one, like students will argue that not feeling comfortable at school can be an effect on how they do on school work. They also can state that just because they’re dressed in comfortable clothes doesn’t mean they won’t be just as successful. Most students just want to come to school in comfortable attire, their everyday attire and not have to worry about it being coded. Making a student change or wear certain styles that aren’t their style can be upsetting and uncomfortable to them which leads to them wither not being concentrated or it’s possible some students in today’s world won’t show up to school.

In conclusion in order to come to an agreement on how a dress code should be, it is enforcing one but it is not as strict as some schools have it. Let kids wear what they want to wear but it does not get too out of hand for it to get coded. Students should know what is too much for a school environment and what’s not, so having that dress code for safe measures is important.