High school administrators are facing new challenges when it comes to establishing and enforcing dress codes at their schools. The center point of these new difficulties? The individuality of human beings or, to be more precise, high school students. As gender lines are blurred, dress codes are having to be rethought and rewritten. After all, we can’t let the kids get away with anything that might speak to a sense of self-expression. Right?
I went to a high school with a very rigid dress code. While I abhorred it with a sense of allegiance to the student body, I never really struggled with abiding by it. I didn’t wear midriff-baring tops or facial piercings or daisy dukes. I was a square and played by the rules. And as I look back on my high school experience now as an adult, I understand that dress codes are necessary to maintain a safe and somewhat sheltered environment for kids. Some rules, like the “no professional sports apparel” rule at my school, were set in place to avoid conflicts potentially related to gangs or rivalries. And, I think rules regarding decency are also necessary. Short skirts, low-cut tops and anything too revealing is not a form of self-expression so much as it is a cry for attention and an obvious distraction on high school campuses.
But, I think high school is a very different place today than it was when I was growing up. This is a world where a gay male student was crowned prom queen at a Los Angeles high school. Looking back, I can only recall one openly gay student at my high school and he certainly wasn’t popular, quite the opposite. What kind of environment is that? One in which the gay kid was singled out for the way he dressed and his sexual orientation. Is that a safe environment? Part of me wants to defend strict dress codes for keeping high school a sheltered and academically focused environment. But, what are school administrators sheltering these kids from other than themselves? Are strict dress codes only creating a more judgmental foundation that will lead to intolerance in the future?
On the flip side, could a more open dress code–one that embraces individuality–lead to a more open-minded population once the students enter the real world? Would it foster lasting acceptance and self-confidence in students? Who knows. But in the here and now, I can’t see any harm in allowing students the freedom to express themselves. Perhaps school administrators should sit with members of their school’s student body to discuss the issue. That might produce an amicable compromise while teaching kids how to reason and discuss problems instead of acting out irrationally. Maybe. They are, after all, teenagers.
Bottom line, I don’t think a girl’s senior photo should be banned from the yearbook because in it she wore a tuxedo. Furthermore, I don’t think male students wearing makeup should be off limits either. Likewise, I do think a girl should be allowed to attend the prom in a tux, and vice versa.
Comments
No comments.