I am here at my school right now, where the entire student body is in shambles because of a new dresscode that was proposed last week. The code is really vauge and generally very stupid. Things like “No exposure of Private Parts” and “No Bathing Suits” have been suggested, but I think it is completely unnecessary. The rule that stands right now is, that if an article of clothing or the way a student is wearing clothing, disrupts a class, then it is inappropriate for school grounds and it needs to be changed. As a junior in high-school, I can honestly say that no clothes or student has EVER caused a problem with the way they are dressed. There are many more important problems to be delt with without stupid dresscodes. I hate the educational system in America…
Get used to dress codes buddy. Unless you plan to never get a job of course. Most jobs have a dress code/uniform. If you have a test, you can always use the dress code to your advantage as well, since they’ll make you go home and change (just try not to make it too obvious, a big “FUCK YOU” shirt is too obvious).
“No exposure of Private Parts”" “No Bathing Suits?” DAMN! Why, back in the 1970s, we used to show up for school in our topless, crotchless bikinis and no one even raised an eyebrow about it! As long as we weren’t wearing black patent leather shoes . . .
My best friend, who is a high school Biology teacher would certainly say otherwise. Last year, she had a female student that had a particular habit of walking into class two minutes late, dressed in a tight mini-skirt, tank top, and high heels–which, of course, made nearly everyone stop what they were doing to watch her walk across the room. That is a problem–because it is a class disruption. This also goes for the guys who wear the extremely baggy pants, with the boxers hanging out (oh please, when will this go out of style?).
Get over it. Dress codes are a part of life, especially if you do plan on becoming part of the work force. Most places won’t hire you if you dress like a hooker or a hoodlum, have visible piercings/tattoos, or unnatural hair colors.
The people who run the school obviously had to make mention of “no exposure of private parts” and “no bathing suits” because there must have been a problem with it. It may sound ridiculous, but, growing up in Southern California, I do remember the surfer-types sometimes showing up in beach gear at school, because they were planning on hitting the beach right after class.
Of course you hate the educational system of America. They obviously didn’t teach you how to construct a proper sentence or spell.
(Sorry, I usually don’t pick on spelling/grammar, but the irony was just too great to pass on.)
Well, hey, welcome to the Pit, Evnglion! May I join you in saying, “Fuck dress codes!” Even if they are a fact of life, fuck 'em anyway. My daughter goes to a high school that has a “no spaghetti straps, no cargo pants, no baseball caps” dress code, and I personally think it’s fairly stupid. What, you’re gonna prevent another Columbine by not allowing cargo pants? Disallowing spaghetti straps is gonna make people stop thinking about sex? And–my favorite–the elimination of baseball caps is gonna get rid of gangs? Right.
P.S. You do know your Computer Skills teacher can look in your History folder and see you’ve been visiting down the street at the Straight Dope? Just 'cause we ain’t XXX don’t mean he won’t have a cow if he peeks into the Pit. :eek:
P.S. Eh, Javamaven, lighten up, dude. One typo does not signify the failure of an entire educational system. Nothin’ wrong with the kid’s sentence. “There are many more important problems to be dealt with without stupid dresscodes.” How would YOU have put it, O Master of Grammatical Perfection? Pray, enlighten us.
Be grateful DDG. Up here in the frozen north (Michigan), my son’s school has outlawed all hats.
So, in the dead of winter, when it’s minus 20 wind chill, they have to make sure they remove said warm chapeau immediately upon entering the door (and yes, the security folks/teachers/admins etc will get on them about it).
:rolleyes:
Currently poor guy has his head shaved (last swim meet of the season, they shaved their entire body :eek: ), so his witty bitty head is mighty cold these days.
As for the OP. When I was a teen (back in the stone ages), we had a dress code as well, that included no blue jeans for girls, dresses had to be knee length. We had administrators having girls kneel in the hallway to check the length of their skirts (could not wear shorts or culottes sp? either)
My son, currently in high school, the day after the administrators announced the new dress codes “boys will not wear…, girls will not wear skirts shorter than…” so he planned on wearing a short skirt ("they didn’t say anything about how long the skirts that boys wear). Reason 234,309,198,390,293 I’m glad he wasn’t twins.
The one I could never understand when I was in highschool was the “no shorts” rule. Oh, sure, hot pants or something like that would be inappropriate, I get that part. But we didn’t have rules about mini-skirts. So if you were a girl, you could wear the shortest minis known to mankind and get away with it, but if you were a guy (or a girl who wanted to stay cool in the warmer months without risking revealing her crotch to the world), no shorts for you.
I once showed up wearing a skirt so short my not-so-long top pretty much covered it. My fellow students stared at me all day (reason number 437 why you should always test run outfits at home) but that was about it. If I’d worn shorts of a similar length, I’d have been sent home.
Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me…
Please send my love to your son. I wish I’d had the cojones to pull something like that when I was in school. Rock on!
And Evnglion - cool screen name! “Zankoku na tenshi no youni…”
More proof that there’s nothing new under the sun: A bunch of guys in my senior high school class wore skirts one day for just these reasons. I graduated in '87.
When I began to think I’ve been on this board long enough that people knew I was a girl… 
When I was in High School (waaaaaaaay back in the 90’s) my school started the no short skirt crap for girls. The next day I wore my kilt to school all the while carrying around a copy of the Memo that was sent out about skirts. Was told by every teacher and admin that I passed to go to the office and all the while I held up the memo with the word “GIRLS” highlighted brightly.
Made it through the whole day too. The next day, it was amended to “Boys and Girls will not wear short skirts.” 
I rule.
As for the OP: With apologies to George Carlin: “Dress codes are a great idea! I remember seeing films from the 30’s with all students in the same clothes. Of course it was hard to understand as it was all in GERMAN. What the fuck is wrong with the American Education system? First we make these kids think alike and now they have to look alike?”
My step-brother was on the local news for him and his buddies wearing mini skirts to school when they banned shorts for the guys.
Personally, I think teens need to have the ability to express themselves. I never thought guys wearing this or girls wearing that was a distraction. All it was was a means by which to express who we were and what groups of people we “belong” to.
It was a public school with a very high amount of wealthy people, not that matters, but perhaps more tame than our counterparts at other schools where the income level was considerably lower. But when I went to a junior high school where the income level was lower, a few of my friends and I stood out because of our attire.
In either case, I find strict dress codes to be suspect. I could understand if some chick came to class in a crochet bikini but the baggie pants (which I think are deplorable) and the babydoll tshirts are hardly anything to be concerned about. This is the style of the day, like it or not. What my peers wore when I was in my high school years (you can thank Madonna and other video pop stars) really isn’t all that different than what the “kids” are wearing today. It’s just fashion and I really think that kids need to express and explore during those years through their college years. It doesn’t define who they are but it helps them express who they are at that particular time. I don’t think that is so wrong.
BTW, I had some wild ass yellow and black stirrup pants that were skin tight I would wear with a tight black sweater with four inch heels to school…some might think it a hooker outfit now but when I bought them at Macy’s in New York, I was one hip chick…oh and topped it off with my black leather jacket. That’s the time, 15 years from now most of these kids will be thinking “what was I doing back then?” but they will remember the individuality they tried to get across, something I encourage all teens to try to do…clothes don’t make the kid but the clothes are an expression. And far better an expression than some things they could be doing.
And rob, did you wear your kilt in the traditional manner? 
feel as if I should correct something. My son wanted to wear a skirt. Mean mommy (aka wring) said “no, I’ve seen enough of the school administrators for a while, thank you”.
He did, however wear his Porn Star[sup]tm[/sup] t shirt on picture day.
I’m all for most dress codes in schools. I agree that kids should be allowed to express themselves, but to a certain point. A lot of my reason being that when I was in school, there was no real style or fashion for guy dress. Girls pretty much were the same, except for the really hip chicks who took great pains to imitate Pat Benatar, Cindy Lauper or Stevie Nicks. Today however, it’s not about individualism. The style is “baggies” aka Clown Clothing, which was started by gangs for ease of concealing weapons, dope, etc… So the non-gang kids started wearing them to help give the impression of being in a gang, rather than a single unit. Eventually it progressed to where wearing baggies and a wrong color shirt, or a hat with just the wrong tilt in many larger city schools can get a kid killed. I understand that this isn’t the case in most areas, especially rural ones, but anything remotely connected with gangs frightens people, especially schools. Yes I agree it’s gone overboard these days, but in some areas, if it helps a kid from getting targeted, it’s worth the loss of 8 hours of not being able to express themselves. Being in the service meant a uniform, with no individuality shown on it. Just like my job now doesn’t allow jeans or t-shirts. I don’t like not being able to wear what I want, but that’s life. I can wear what I want on my time and so can kids. My dad would have skinned me alive if I ever came home with green hair, had the idea of doing it ever occurred to me, and I will do the same if my kids do. I was raised in an area where kids didn’t have rights, they had priveleges, all earned and easily taken away. It worked for me and most of the people in my time frame (at least in that area) with no ill effects. IMHO, when on CNN about three years ago I watched a 16 year old girl in process of working to sue her school for violating her rights cuz they had the gall not to let her inside wearing about 50 condoms pinned to her clothing, I knew we’d gone too far with civil rights and freedom of expression. It’s not about just being an individual anymore, it’s about trying to get a rise out of people.
Some of the post-Columbine school dress codes are pretty asinine. I grant the schools credit for trying, even though some of the restrictions seem pointless. Just to be fair, they have a lot of equally clueless but very worried parents pushing from the other side.
It’s sad that they’re alienating more kids rather than preventing trouble by prohibiting the symbols. I think Mercutio had a thread about being dragged into the office for a possessions check because he wore a long, dark coat. The tighter and more unreasonable the restrictions, the greater the urge to flout them.
But I still don’t it’s unreasonable to impose some reasonable limits. The kids might as well learn sooner than later that different situations call for different attire.
I hate the Junior Slut look. For one thing, it is distracting. I’ve seen young girls floucing around in flimsy spaghetti strap tops who were waaaay too well endowed to wear them; skirts so short they showed underwear (and more), etc. It probably has hormonal young guys walking into walls–which is the point, of course. But they’re jail bait, barely beyond puberty, and they look like they should be leaning against a Greyhound station wall, twirling their room key by one finger.
Veb
Where I went to school, the only rule that was really enforced was the no hats rule. Well, clothing promoting marijuana use (or legalization) generally ended up having to be turned inside out, as well as one tshirt I recall that proclaimed in huge letters “Nobody knows I’m a lesbian”. But to this day, I just can’t see wearing hats at school. Just as I couldn’t wear a hat at the dinner table or in church, so I can’t think of it as appropriate for students in school. Really just as a matter of respect for the institution and all that. Maybe I’m just abnormally old-fashioned for a 22 year old.
Oh, occasionally the administration would try to forbid shorts before June, but it really only lasted until the first day that was hot enough that everyone did anyways. Several times various groups of guys would do the wearing skirts thing. I don’t recall the administration caring. Probably just laughed at them.
I actually did not, as the school had a policy about “appropriate undergarments”. Although no one asked about it, I wanted to cover all my bases. Normally I do wear it in the traditional style.
See my pic on the people pages for the bright yellow tartan that I wore to school.
Jeez, where do you guys work? I wear a suit and a tie, or something from my “Exploding Pen/Inkspot Collection,” or a french cut tee under a suitcoat — nobody cares, as long as I get my work done.
I think people overlook the possibilities of weird attire. Dress equals costume. It’s a form of communication. (Unlike my posts, which are a form of typing )
But they’re right, Evnglion; learn to conform right NOW - it will make the slippery slope into evil much more mundane if you just give up and be like everybody else.
Dressing to other people’s expectations isn’t evil. Conformity isn’t evil. It may not be your cup of tea, but to call it evil is to seriously dilute the meaning of the word evil.
Personally, I’d actually like a job where I’d have to dress in a nice suit every day. Somewhere where “casual Friday” would mean I could get away with a nice blazer. I like wearing nice clothes, and the number of jobs where it’s important to look good is dwindling. Maybe I could go to law school. Lawyers still dress up, right?