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School Dress Code Controversy

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Thesis: Today, would like to present the two main perspectives I came across regarding whether or not dress codes should be enforced in schools and then open the floor for a short discussion. Introduction: There are many ideas, such as murder is bad and helping others is good, that are pretty much universally agreed upon. However, there are other things that fall into a grey area such as all the topics we have been discussing this past week. One topic that falls into this grey area is whether or not dress codes should be enforced in schools. I grew up as a home schooled Catholic in the South with three brothers so dressing modestly in a T-shirt and jeans was, and still mostly is, my go to outfit when I'm not wearing tights and a leotard for …show more content…

One of the main arguments on this side of the dress code controversy is the idea that dress codes teach girls that they are a problem. An article from the Huffington Post titled "School Dress Codes: The Funny-Not-Funny Video You Have to See" states that when girls are told that they are a "distraction" dangerous ideas are being put into their brains about control, sexual assault, etc. (Chemaly, 2014) An article in the Atlantic titled "The Sexism of Dress Codes" says that educators and sociologists have said that dress codes can lead to the idea that girls are "asking for it" and "boys will be boys" (Zhou, 2015) Also included with this article was a picture of a girl wearing jeans, a tank top, and a cardigan. She was sent home because her collar bone could be seen. The arguments I read against dress codes were peppered with similar incidents including a girls called out in front of entire classes and being detained in offices while their outfit was being judged thus keeping them from their classes. Other common arguments against dress codes are they limit students' abilities to express themselves and suppress individuality.

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