Summary Of Appearances Are Destructive By Mark Mathabane

In the article “Appearances are Destructive”, Mark Mathabane states that a good educational system benefits from dress codes. He bases this on his personal experience with his sisters and the research he has done around the states showing that it’s a country-wide problem. What’s the problem exactly? The problem is that according to Mathabane, “Students seem to pay more attention to what’s on their bodies than in their minds.” He means that America by not enforcing dress codes, lets the students turn the school into a competition of who has the better or more expensive clothing. In paragraph three of his article, he says that his sisters were “constantly taunted for their homely outfits” He later says in paragraph four that they begged him to

Mathabane is backed up by teachers he has talked to that say they’re frustrated with students because of their lack of effort to pay attention in class. The teachers say the students are too distracted and are being destructive with constant outfit chatter. Lastly, Mathabane states that students, because of clothing competition, measure their parent's love by how expensive the clothing they buy for them is. He says in paragraph nine, “Those parents without the money to waste on such meretricious extravagances are considered uncaring and cruel’. After reading this article, I can say I agree with Mathabane on the fact that students are distracted by the competition of looking

When I first started reading it I didn’t agree with him because I am always so against dress codes. Towards the end, after the evidence, I switched sides. I managed to take in what he was saying and place it into Barlow’s environment and it’s the same. His article was published in 1993, 29 years after, outfits are still a distraction and the roots of bullying at school. I myself will admit I have judged outfits before, not to the point where I verbally bully but I give a couple of looks. I have also stood in front of the mirror and almost been late to school because of how many times I changed my clothes. There have been multiple instances where I stop myself from wearing things because I fear how others see them or how it looks on me. Lastly, I have distracted myself in a class by trying to fix my clothing and jewelry. I know I am not the only one that has done this, not the only one in my friend group or school, and certainly not the whole country. Yet again another example I can give is have bought things and already put an outfit together in my mind. With this in play, Mathabane’s claim of how outfits interfere with the learning environment is very