Spring Break
Dress to Repress?
School's should not enforce dress codes
Jake Moore, Guest writer
Issue date: 9/29/08 Section: Opinions and Editorials
Jake Moore is a sophomore Music/Vocal Performance major. Moore submitted this piece about dress codes to the Opinions and Editorial editor. We encourage you to also submit any written pieces expressing your opinions about any issue. Please keep in mind that the opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Periscope news staff. We are dedicated to reporting the news fairly and without bias. We also hold the right to edit any submitted pieces in accordance with the AP style guide as well as our newspaper's Code of Ethics.--Ashley-Grace Ramocan, Editor-in-chief
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Educational institutions, like private schools (and even some public), have taken the step of enforcing a dress code among their student body. While some schools have had this as a tradition for generations, others are still pushing to implement such a policy for different reasons and with varying degrees of success.
Many schools dictate what their students wear for reasons such as discipline, structure, religious or philosophical beliefs, or even simply wanting to present a more professional appearance in the educational environment. Suggestions have been made that our school should adopt such a policy.
Even though this topic is still highly debated, by the year 2000, 37 state legislatures, including those in California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia, had enacted legislation empowering local school districts to set their own uniform policies.
Dress codes do indeed seem to be a trend that is catching on fast, but is this trend something that should be embraced or should people think twice before becoming a slave to this fashion?
Not surprisingly, like most "controversial" subjects, there are widely differing views on the subject of whether or not a school should have the right to dictate what its students wear and to what extent.
In 1997, the Board of Education in Santa Barbara, California attempted to enforce a strict dress code, which would have prevented students from displaying any sort of religious pride for fear of being offensive to others in the classroom.
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Educational institutions, like private schools (and even some public), have taken the step of enforcing a dress code among their student body. While some schools have had this as a tradition for generations, others are still pushing to implement such a policy for different reasons and with varying degrees of success.
Many schools dictate what their students wear for reasons such as discipline, structure, religious or philosophical beliefs, or even simply wanting to present a more professional appearance in the educational environment. Suggestions have been made that our school should adopt such a policy.
Even though this topic is still highly debated, by the year 2000, 37 state legislatures, including those in California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia, had enacted legislation empowering local school districts to set their own uniform policies.
Dress codes do indeed seem to be a trend that is catching on fast, but is this trend something that should be embraced or should people think twice before becoming a slave to this fashion?
Not surprisingly, like most "controversial" subjects, there are widely differing views on the subject of whether or not a school should have the right to dictate what its students wear and to what extent.
In 1997, the Board of Education in Santa Barbara, California attempted to enforce a strict dress code, which would have prevented students from displaying any sort of religious pride for fear of being offensive to others in the classroom.
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