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This picture also shows how schools force school spirit on students. It is very common among many schools.

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The article here has many pros and cons to this social issue. It gives many good reasons to why school dress codes are or are not appropriate.

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This is a video on school dress code. It shows how some kids are not liking dress code. Also it shows a  little funny skit when the kids take a test.

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This is a video on school dress code. It shows kids debating school dress code somewhere outside the U.S.

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This is a neutral article talking about school dress code.  It also gives a nice chart showing dress codes across the U.S.

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School dress code violations have become a frequent viral occurrence in the news, and they could become more commonplace, with more and more schools employing the use of clothing restrictions. A survey from Lands' End found that the number of public schools with a dress code increased by 21 percent from 2000 to 2013.

Niche has also noticed this trend. According to more than 135,000 Niche users, only 2 percent reported having no school dress codes at all.

So why the increase in clothing restrictions in K12 schools? One reason could be what happened at Columbine High School.

Dress Code Debate

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire on their school in Littleton, Colo., killing 12 students and one teacher before turning their guns on themselves. After this tragedy, people looked for answers and soon were drawn to the behaviors of Harris and Klebold, including their clothing, which consisted of trench coats with pockets deep enough for weaponry. After this horrific attack, many schools started to adjust their policies on what students were allowed to wear to school in an effort to prevent another Columbine from happening.

But inhibiting violence is just one reason for dress codes. Another argument includes maintaining discipline and limiting distraction. By implementing policy that restricts short skirts, low-cut shirts, and questionable messages (a T-shirt with "Beer: It's What's for Dinner"), schools put in place a system to be adhered to, which instills control across all classes. However, many dress code critics claim that these policies can unfairly target certain groups, such as female students and some ethnic and religious minorities.

Pros and Cons of School Dress Codes

Common Dress Code Rules

While every school may have a different set of clothing standards, these are some common dress code threads:

Students must abide by the "fingertip rule" when it comes to shorts or skirt length (must extend beyond fingertips).

Students cannot show their stomachs (belly shirt) or their shoulders (in tank tops).

Shirts with profanity or an "R" rating-including illegal acts, substances, and violent and sexual content-are prohibited.

Leggings are treated as tights and must be worn with tops or skirts that follow the "fingertip rule."

School Uniforms

With all of the trouble that comes with dress codes, many schools are opting for school uniforms. In fact, U.S. public schools with school uniforms increased from 13 percent to 19 percent from 2003 to 2012. But, like dress codes, not everyone is supportive of school uniforms, which also have advantages and disadvantages.

Pros & Cons of School Uniforms

Cities with Highest Use of Uniforms in Public Schools

Higher percentages of public city schools than public suburban schools require students to wear uniforms. These six cities have the highest usage of uniforms in their public schools.

Source: SCHOOL UNIFORM STATISTICS - Statistic Brain. 2013 Statistic Brain Research Institute, publishing as Statistic Brain. July 11, 2014.
THe Bottom Line

Many are divided on the benefits of dress codes and school uniforms and whether they truly impact students, but with schools searching for better security methods in an effort to maintain control, dress codes are sometimes the smallest and easiest form of defense.

More Articles By Niche

4 Ways to Find a Boarding School that Prioritizes Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

In fact, the pillars of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion might outrank all other perks of choosing a boarding school over traditional school. According to this Forbes article, students, teachers, and boarding school grads said "living in a diverse, close knit community was the most important benefit" closely followed by "the opportunity for deep friendships with students from around the world."

Four Reasons Why You Should Consider a Boarding School

Even if you've never considered a boarding school before, check out these four reasons that you should think about attending one.

How Parents Can Help with the College Search-Without Taking Over

It can be tempting to take the reins, but parents should play a supporting role, not take control, when it comes to helping the kids apply to college.

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Dress Codes Growing in Style at U.S. Schools

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School dress code violations have become a frequent viral occurrence in the news, and they could become more commonplace, with more and more schools employing the use of clothing restrictions. A survey from Lands' End found that the number of public schools with a dress code increased by 21 percent from 2000 to 2013.

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This is my topics counterclaim . It gives some benefits for a school dress code. Even though some things in the article may be wrong like it reduces social conflict.

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..

Over the past decade, the school dress code has become an increasingly common policy in many communities worldwide. As opposed to the requirements of students to wear specific clothing in the form of uniforms, dress codes provide guidelines through which students are allowed to wear any clothing that meets the school's requirements, whether they pertain to the color, style or cut of the clothing. Consequently, school dress codes are designed to create a certain atmosphere in a school while providing students with a bit of freedom of expression through their wardrobe.

And yet, while many parents applaud the demand of school dress codes as a way to ensure that their children are dressed properly, others question whether the requirement of dress codes in school eliminates their child's individualism.

Experts claim that there are many benefits of school dress codes. Here are some of the most important advantages:

1) A dress code promotes a more serious school atmosphere which emphasizes academics and promotes good behavior.
2) Dress codes have proven to increase student achievement by encouraging students to concentrate more on their studies and less on their wardrobe. A de-emphasis on clothing can also save money, as there will be less pressure to keep up with expensive trends and fashions.
3) Dress codes in school settings reduce social conflict and peer pressure that may be associated with appearance.
4) Studies indicate that a school dress code can reduces the prevalence of certain behaviors which are often expressed through wardrobe such as violence or promiscuity.
5) As opposed to uniforms, dress codes still allow students to wear what they want which leaves students with a sense of choice and expression.

While teenagers will always find a way to express themselves, imposing boundaries can prevent them from resorting to extremes that can sometimes lead to undesirable consequences. School dress codes are a way to teach students the importance of a respectable appearance which is a lesson that can positively impact their self-respect and self-esteem.

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5 Benefits of a School Dress Code. School skirts Kosher Casual

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5 Benefits of a School Dress Code. Huge selection of school dress code and uniform skirts.

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This is my opposing viewpoint. It shows why school dress codes can be sexist against women.

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These policies can perpetuate discrimination against female students, as well as LGBT students.

Alfaguarilla / Shutterstock

Maggie Sunseri was a middle-school student in Versailles, Kentucky, when she first noticed a major difference in the way her school's dress code treated males and females. Girls were disciplined disproportionately, she says, a trend she's seen continue over the years. At first Sunseri simply found this disparity unfair, but upon realizing administrators' troubling rationale behind the dress code-that certain articles of girls' attire should be prohibited because they "distract" boys-she decided to take action.

"I've never seen a boy called out for his attire even though they also break the rules," says Sunseri, who last summer produced Shame: A Documentary on School Dress Code, a film featuring interviews with dozens of her classmates and her school principal, that explores the negative impact biased rules can have on girls' confidence and sense of self. The documentary now has tens of thousands of YouTube views, while a post about the dress-code policy at her high school-Woodford County High-has been circulated more than 45,000 times on the Internet.

Although dress codes have long been a subject of contention, the growth of platforms like Facebook and Instagram, along with a resurgence of student activism, has prompted a major uptick in protests against attire rules, including popular campaigns similar to the one championed by Sunseri. Conflict over these policies has also spawned hundreds of Change.org petitions and numerous school walkouts. Many of these protests have criticized the dress codes as sexist in that they unfairly target girls by body-shaming and blaming them for promoting sexual harassment. Documented cases show female students being chastised by school officials, sent home, or barred from attending events like prom.

Meanwhile, gender non-conforming and transgender students have also clashed with such policies on the grounds that they rigidly dictate how kids express their identities. Transgender students have been sent home for wearing clothing different than what's expected of their legal sex, while others have been excluded from yearbooks. Male students, using traditionally female accessories that fell within the bounds of standard dress code rules, and vice versa, have been nonetheless disciplined for their fashion choices. These cases are prompting their own backlash.

Dress codes-given the power they entrust school authorities to regulate student identity-can, according to students, ultimately establish discriminatory standards as the norm. The prevalence and convergence of today's protests suggest that schools not only need to update their policies-they also have to recognize and address the latent biases that go into creating them.

* * *

At Woodford County High, the dress code bans skirts and shorts that fall higher than the knee and shirts that extend below the collarbone. Recently, a photo of a female student at the school who was sent home after wearing a seemingly appropriate outfit that nonetheless showed collarbone-went viral on Reddit and Twitter.

The restrictions and severity of dress codes vary widely across states, 22 of which have some form of law granting local districts the power to establish these rules, according to the Education Commission of the States. In the U.S., over half of public schools have a dress code, which frequently outline gender-specific policies. Some administrators see these distinctions as necessary because of the different ways in which girls and boys dress. In many cases, however, female-specific policies account for a disproportionate number of the attire rules included in school handbooks. Certain parts of ​Arkansas's statewide dress code, for example, exclusively applies to females.* Passed in 2011, the law "requires districts to prohibit the wearing of clothing that exposes underwear, buttocks, or the breast of a female student." (The provision prohibiting exposure of the "underwear and buttocks" applies to all students.)

Depending on administrators and school boards, some places are more relaxed, while others take a hard line. Policies also tend to fluctuate, according to the University of Maryland American-studies professor and fashion historian Jo Paoletti, who described dress-code adaptations as very "reactionary" to whatever happens to be popular at the time-whether it's white go-go boots or yoga pants. Jere Hochman, the superintendent of New York's Bedford Central School District echoes Paoletti in explaining that officials revisit his district's policy, which has been in place "for years and years and years," "on an informal basis." "It's likely an annual conversation, he notes, "based on the times and what's changed and fads."

While research on dress codes remains inconclusive regarding the correlation between their implementation with students' academic outcomes, many educators agree that they can serve an important purpose: helping insure a safe and comfortable learning environment, banning T-shirts with offensive racial epithets, for example. When students break the rules by wearing something deemed inappropriate, administrators must, of course, enforce school policies.

The process of defining what's considered "offensive" and "inappropriate," however, can get quite murky. Schools may promote prejudiced policies, even if those biases are unintentional. For students who attend schools with particularly harsh rules like that at Woodford, one of the key concerns is the implication that women should be hypercognizant about their physical identity and how the world responds to it. "The dress code makes girls feel self-conscious, ashamed, and uncomfortable in their own bodies," says Sunseri.

Yet Sunseri emphasizes that this isn't where she and other students take the most issue. "It's not really the formal dress code by itself that is so discriminatory, it's the message behind the dress code," she says, "My principal constantly says that the main reason for [it] is to create a 'distraction-free learning zone' for our male counterparts." Woodford County is one of many districts across the country to justify female-specific rules with that logic, and effectively, to place the onus on girls to prevent inappropriate reactions from their male classmates. (Woodford County High has not responded to multiple requests for comment.)

"To me, that's not a girl's problem, that's a guy's problem," says Anna Huffman, who recently graduated from Western Alamance High School in Elon, North Carolina, and helped organize a protest involving hundreds of participants. Further north, a group of high-school girls from South Orange, New Jersey, similarly launched a campaign last fall, #IAmMoreThanADistraction, which exploded into a trending topic on Twitter and gleaned thousands of responses from girls sharing their own experiences.

Educators and sociologists, too, have argued that dress codes grounded in such logic amplify a broader societal expectation: that women are the ones who need to protect themselves from unwanted attention and that those wearing what could be considered sexy clothing are "asking for" a response. "Often they report hearing phrases like, 'boys will be boys,' from teachers," says Laura Bates, a co-founder of The Everyday Sexism Project. "There's a real culture being built up through some of these dress codes where girls are receiving very clear messages that male behavior, male entitlement to your body in public space is socially acceptable, but you will be punished."

"These are not girls who are battling for the right to come to school in their bikinis-it's a principle," she says.

There's also the disruption and humiliation that enforcing the attire rules can pose during school. Frequently, students are openly called out in the middle of class, told to leave and change, and sometimes, to go home and find a more appropriate outfit. In some instances, girls must wear brightly colored shirts that can exacerbate the embarrassment, emblazoned with words like, "Dress Code Violator." Some students contend this is a bigger detractor from learning than the allegedly disruptive outfit was in the first place. "That's crazy that they're caring more about two more inches of a girl's thigh being shown than them being in class," says Huffman. These interruptions can also be detrimental to peers given the time taken out from learning in order for teachers to address the issue, as Barbara Cruz, author of School Dress Codes: A Pro/Con Issue, points out.

Dress-code battles can also take place at events outside of the classroom, such as prom. At Cierra Gregersen's homecoming dance at Bingham High School in South Jordan, Utah, administrators asked female students to sit against the wall, touch their toes, and lift their arms to determine whether their outfits were appropriate. "Girls were outside the dance crying hysterically," says Gregersen, commenting on the public nature of the inspections and the lack of clarity around the policy. "We should not have to be treated like sexual objects because that was what it felt like." The incident prompted Gregersen to create a popular Change.org petition and stage a walkout with more than 100 classmates, but she says she never heard back from administration. (Bingham High School has not responded to multiple requests for comment.)

* * *

Every year, Strawberry Crest High School in Dover, Florida, holds a Spirit Week right around Halloween, during which students wear outfits in accordance with each day's theme. One of the themes last year was Throwback Thursday, enabling students to dress up in ways reminiscent of a previous decade. Peter Finucane-Terlop, a junior at the time who identifies as gay, decided to come to school in drag as a 1950s housewife.

Wearing a knee-length, baby-blue strapless dress, a button-up on top, a wig, and some make-up, Finucane-Terlop's outfit, he says, wasn't only accepted by his peers-it also complied with all the school's dress-code rules: His shoulders and chest were covered, and his dress was an appropriate length.

But sometimes the ways that schools regulate attire have little to do with explicit policies. According to Finucane-Terlop, a school official commented on his outfit in the middle of the courtyard during lunch that day. Finucane-Terlop recalls him saying, "Why are you dressed like that?" and "You shouldn't do that. You're a boy-dress like it. What if little kids saw you?"

Finucane-Terlop says he mentioned the incident to his school counselor right after it took place but didn't end up getting a response from administrators. April Langston, Finucane-Terlop's counselor, and David Brown, his principal at Strawberry Crest, however, do not recall talking about or hearing of such an incident.

Beyond this specific case, Emily Greytak, the research director at GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network), says the organization has noticed that incidents like the one Finucane-Terlop described are becoming more frequent, when LGBT students are discriminated against either verbally, or via disciplinary action, for clothing choices that don't fall in line with either a dress code or dress expectations that starkly demarcate different rules based on gender. According to a recent GLSEN study, 19 percent of LGBT students were prevented from wearing clothes that were thought to be from another gender and that number was even higher for transgender students, nearly 32 percent of whom have been prevented from wearing clothes that differed from those designated for their legal sex.

"This isn't occasional; this isn't just some students. This is something that happens quite regularly," Greytak says. The discipline is sometimes informed by teachers' personal biases while in other cases, school policies discriminate against transgender or gender non-conforming students expressions of their gender identity.

As Emery Vela, a sophomore, demonstrates, eventually some students manage to navigate and help reform the policies. Vela, a transgender student who attends a charter school in Denver, Colorado, dealt with this issue when looking for footwear to match his uniform in middle school, which had different requirements for boys and girls and suspended students if they broke the rule. Despite some initial pushback, the school adjusted the policy after he spoke with administrators.

"While they're trying to achieve this goal of having a learning environment that supports learning, it's really disadvantaging transgender and gender non-conforming students when they have to wear something that doesn't match their identity," Vela says.

* * *

Dress codes trace back to the 1920s and '30s, and conflicts over the rules have been around ever since, says Paoletti, the fashion historian: "Dress has been an issue in public schools as long as teenagers have been interested in fashion." Several cases, including Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District in 1969, in which students alleged that wearing black armbands at school to protest the Vietnam War constituted free speech, have even gone all the way up to the Supreme Court.

The subjectivity inherent to many of these judgment calls-like the dress-code cases contending that boys with long hair would be society's downfall-is often what ignites conflict. As with the kinds of protests staged by Sunseri and Huffman, many of the larger movements to resist school attire regulations today echo a broader momentum for women's rights, pushing back against existing attitudes and practices. "We've seen a real resurgence in the popularity of feminism and feminist activism, particularly among young people and particularly in an international sense, facilitated by social media," says Bates, who sees dress code protests as one key everyday impact of such trends. "I think that one of the striking elements of this new wave of activism is a sense of our entitlement and our courage to tackle the forms of sexism that are very subtle, that previously it was very difficult to stand up to, because you would be accused of overreacting, of making a fuss out of nothing."

Similarly, Greytak says these conflicts are also an indicator that LGBT students are feeling safer in their school environments and able to criticize them: "It's very possible that we are hearing more and seeing more about these cases because before less students would even feel comfortable being and expressing themselves."

As this issue has gained exposure and traction, students have also derived inspiration from the actions of their peers, including Sunseri, who's now in the process of negotiating changes to the dress code with her school administration, "If high-schoolers across the country were standing up for what they believed was right, why shouldn't I?"

* * *

According to students, the best solutions for remedying these issues entail more inclusive policymaking and raising awareness about the subject. And students and administrators tend to agree that schools should involve students early on in the rule-creation process to prevent conflicts from popping up. By developing a system like this, they have a stake in the decision and are significantly more likely to both adhere and respect the final verdict.

This also helps reduce some of the subjectivity that shapes the rules and acknowledges how touchy the topic can be for all stakeholders. "It's sensitive for the students, it's sensitive for the parents, it's sensitive for the teachers," says Matt Montgomery, the superintendent of Revere Local Schools in Richfield, Ohio. "You're in a tough position when you're a principal evaluating the fashion sense of a 15- or 16-year-old female. Principals are doing things like engaging female counselors and other staff members to make sure that everything is okay."

Similarly, when conflicts do arise, maintaining an open dialogue is critical. "I always tell administrators to not be on the defensive, to hear students out, to hear families out, and then to have a well-reasoned explanation and if at all possible, to look at some of the research and be able to cite some of that," says Cruz, the author. "Most of the time, school administrators are basing their decisions more on anecdotal evidence rather than empirical research. They need to be able to explain their rationale."

Huffman, too, highlighted the importance of student involvement."Adults aren't going to be shopping at American Eagle or Forever 21," she says, "They don't know that it's not even possible to buy a dress that goes to your knees." Like Huffman, Kate Brown, a senior at Montclair High School, in Montclair, New Jersey, met with school administrators after organizing a protest, helping secure many of the policy changes her campaign had sought: removing words like "distracting."

After all, teachers and administration don't always realize that their policies are offensive-and this is where more education comes in. "Even for a lot of teachers in 2015, they have never had a trans student or a gender-nonconforming student where they've had to deal with this," Finucane-Terlop says. "It's new to them, so I understand that they might not know how to react."

Ultimately, such rules could be the wrong way to handle some of the issues that they purport to cover. Since so many have previously been used to address the potential of sexual harassment in schools regarding male students paying inappropriate attention to female students, it's clear other practices, like courses on respect and harassment, may be needed to fill this gap. These initiatives would shift the focus of school policies. "Is it possible that we can educate our boys to not be 'distracted' by their peers and not engage in misogyny and objectification of women's bodies?" asks Riddhi Sandil, a psychologist and co-founder of the Sexuality, Women and Gender Project at Teachers College at Columbia University.

" I think we live in a culture that's so used to looking at issues of harassment and assault through the wrong end of the telescope," Bates says, "that it would be really refreshing to see somebody turn it around and focus on the kind of behavior that is directed at girls rather than to police girls' own clothing."

There's a growing interest in making dress codes as gender-neutral as possible as a means of reducing sexism and LGBT discrimination. But even beyond policy changes, students say there needs to be a fundamental shift in admitting that teachers and administrators come in with their own set of biases, which they may bring to creating and enforcing school rules. "I feel like there's this misconception ... that you can separate your prejudice from your profession, because so often prejudice is unconscious," says Vela. "The biggest piece of advice I can offer is to recognize that."

In order to combat latent prejudices, schools must first acknowledge that they exist.
*This article previously stated that Arkansas's entire statewide dress code exclusively applies to females. We regret the error.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

Li Zhou is a former editorial fellow at The Atlantic.

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These policies can perpetuate discrimination against female students, as well as LGBT students.

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This is an opposing viewpoint.This like my other article allows people to understand why school dress code can be sexist.

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Enforcing school dress codes teaches girls to be ashamed, not 'modest' | Jessica Valenti

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Jessica Valenti: Dress codes assume that male students' education needs to be protected. What girls need doesn't rate

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This article also has excellent pros and cons to this issue. It is one of the best articles i have listed here.

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They come in soft yellow polo shirts. They come in white blouses. They come in plaid skirts or jumpers. They come in pleated pants, navy or khaki. They are all made of durable fabric. They come in all sizes. They are school uniforms. And despite their name, uniform, which means "remaining the same in all cases and at all times," school uniforms can still look different from one student to another.

Over the past twenty years, school uniforms have become a big business. In a 2019 study, the National Center for Education Statistics found that during the school year 2015-2016, approximately 21% of the public schools in the United States required uniforms.﻿﻿ That same school year, annual school-uniform sales (including parochial, private, and public schools) totaled an estimated $1 billion.﻿﻿

School Uniforms Defined

Uniforms used at schools can range from the formal to the informal. Some schools that have implemented them have chosen what one usually thinks of in connection to private or parochial schools: nice trousers and white shirts for boys, jumpers and white shirts for girls. However, most public schools are turning to something more casual and more acceptable to parents and students: khakis or jeans and knit shirts of varying colors. The latter appears to be more affordable too because they can be used outside of school. Many school districts that have implemented uniforms have provided some sort of financial assistance for families that can not afford the extra expense.

Pros of School Uniforms

"Uniform of a soldier and uniform of a student both are equally needed for the nation."
― Amit Kalantri, (author) Wealth of Words​

Some of the reason offered to support school uniforms are the following:

Preventing gang colors, etc. in schools

Decreasing violence and theft because of clothing and shoes

Instilling discipline among students

Reducing need for administrators and teachers to be 'clothes police' (for example, determining whether shorts are too short, etc.)

Reducing distractions for students

Instilling a sense of community

Helping schools recognize those who do not belong on campus

The arguments for school uniforms hinge on their effectiveness in practice. Anecdotal information from administrators in schools that have implemented uniform policies point to the fact that they do have a positive effect on discipline and the school. Note that all of the following were from middle schools.

The first public school in the nation to require K-8 school uniforms was Long Beach Unified School District, 1994.﻿﻿ In 1999, officials found that criminal incidents at the district's schools had decreased 86%.﻿﻿ Test scores and grades rose and absenteeism, failures and discipline problems declined. However, administrators point out that uniforms were only one of several reforms made, along with class size reduction, core courses, and standards-based pedagogy.

More recently, a 2012 study found that after a year of having a uniform policy at a middle school in Nevada, school police data showed a 63% decrease in police log reports.﻿﻿ In Seattle, Washington, which has a mandatory policy with an opt-out, school administrators saw a decrease in truancy and tardies. They had also not had a reported incident of theft.﻿﻿

As a final example from Baltimore, Maryland, Rhonda Thompson, an official from a middle school that has a voluntary policy noticed a "sense of seriousness about work." Whether any of these results can be directly linked to school uniforms is hard to say. However, it can be said that something has changed to make the officials take notice. We can not discount the coincidence of school uniforms with these changes either. If you would like more information about schools that have implemented uniform policies, see the Department of Education's Manual on School Uniforms.

Cons of School Uniforms

"[On school uniforms] Don't these schools do enough damage making all these kids think alike, now they have to make them look alike too?" -George Carlin, comedian

Some of the arguments made against uniforms include:

Students and parents argue that uniforms violate their freedom of expression.

Some students might choose to express their individuality through other means such as body piercing which is harder to regulate.

Parents raise concerns about the cost.

Because uniforms single out students as being from one school, this might lead to trouble with students from other schools.

Families fear it might interfere with religious clothing like yarmulkes.

A new policy for school uniforms can be time-consuming and difficult to enforce.

There are concerns that uniforms are often associated with low-income, urban school settings. The Institute of Educational Science National Center for Educational Statistics noted that in 2013-14:﻿﻿

A higher percentage of schools where 76 percent or more of students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch required school uniforms than did schools where lower percentages of students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

Other concerns have been raised by David L. Brunsma, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He analyzed data from schools nationwide, and published research with co-author, Kerry Ann Rockquemore that concluded that 10th-grade public school students who wore uniforms did no better than those who did not in attendance, behavior, or drug use.﻿﻿

Conclusion

The effectiveness of uniforms will be a subject of continuing research as more schools look for solutions to socio-economic problems of attendance, discipline, bullying, student motivation, family engagement, or economic need. And while a school uniform may be only a small part of the solution for all of these ills, they do solve one major issue, the dress code violation. As Principal Rudolph Saunders explained to Education Week (1/12/2005) that before school uniforms, "I would spend 60 to 90 minutes a day on dress-code violations."﻿﻿

Of course, there are always those students who will try to alter a uniform for individuality. Skirts can be rolled up, pants can be dropped below the waist, and (inappropriate?) messages on T-shirts can still be read through issued button-down shirts. In short, there is no guarantee that student wearing a school uniform will always meet the dress code standard.

Supreme Court Rulings

In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School (1969), the court said that a student's freedom of expression in school must be protected unless it would seriously interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline. In the dissenting opinion written by Justice Hugo Black, he said, "If the time has come when pupils of state-supported schools ... can defy and flout orders of school officials to keep their minds on their own schoolwork, it is the beginning of a new revolutionary era of permissiveness in this country fostered by the judiciary."

Students are still protected under Tinker. However, with an increase in school violence and gang-related activities, the political climate seems to have turned more conservative, and the Supreme Court has begun to return many decisions back to the discretion of the local school board. The issue of school uniforms itself, however, has not yet been dealt with by the Supreme Court.

Schools must educate students in a safe environment. Over time, education has often slipped away as the main focus of schools. As we have unfortunately seen, school safety is such an enormous issue that it is hard to come up with policies that truly work without turning a school into a prison camp. After the mass shootings at Columbine High School in 1999 where students were singled out partially for what they wore, and after numerous thefts and murders over designer shoes, it is obvious why many school districts want to institute uniforms. We must realize that learning cannot take place without some sense of decorum and discipline. Possibly instituting school uniforms might help bring back that sense of decorum and allow teachers to do what they are hired to do: teach.

Parent and Student Support for Uniforms

Many schools have in fact made the choice to have students wear school uniforms. Until the Supreme Court rules otherwise, this is entirely up to the school district. However, they do still have to follow state and federal anti-discrimination laws when they make their polices.Following are some ideas to make the use of uniforms easier to accept by students and parents:

Make uniforms more casual - jeans and a knit shirt

Allow students an outlet for their own expression: buttons to support political candidates, but not gang related paraphernalia

Provide financial assistance to those parents who can not afford the uniforms

Accommodate students religious beliefs. This is required by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Make your program voluntary if community pressure is too large

Institute an 'opt-out' provision. Not including this would probably cause a court to rule against your program unless there is proof that lesser measures are ineffective.

Make uniforms an integral part of the school safety program.

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School Uniforms: What Are the Pros and Cons?

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What are the pros and cons of school uniforms? The debate about their effectiveness continues to rage with parents, students, and teachers.

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This picture shows just what may go through any students mind following dress code. It is a great picture and is somewhat funny.