Some issues will, without fail, provoke controversy among K-12 educators.
The use of standardized tests is one. Approaches to classroom management is another. Then there are dress codes.
What students wear may seem, at first glance, relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of education issues. But many educators hold strong opinions about it.
What’s more, educators on both sides of the dress code debate fiercely defend their respective positions whenever the topic surfaces, as they did in a recent, unscientific EdWeek LinkedIn Poll that asked readers: How do you think dress codes affect student behavior?
Nearly 700 readers responded to the poll question posed in August, and several respondents felt compelled to provide additional thoughts on the topic. Notably, nearly half of respondents (49%) said dress codes help improve student focus, while 14% said that dress codes create distractions instead.
Polls like these, and the responses they generate, are neither scientific nor definitive, but may help spark or inform administrators’ conversations as they consider whether—or how—to adopt dress codes for their student populations.
Keep reading for a more nuanced look at how educators feel about dress codes’ impact on classroom behavior. Some responses have been edited for length and clarity.
In favor of dress codes
Eliminates discrimination [and] improves disciplined behavior.
Dress codes should prepare students for the world of work
It should be a tool to prepare students for the world of work—whether that’s in a factory, running a business, [the] military, [an office], or [anywhere else]. Proper dress, and dressing with etiquette, respect, and professionalism, is necessary. As kids get older, a dress code should reflect this. … We should all be able to be individuals. Individuality is important. But when you are in the world of work, you should be dressed for the world of work. Dress codes should be promoting life skills. Not just trying to cover up someone’s shoulders.
Dress codes reduce distractions and class divides
Creates less distraction when girls can’t wear belly or halter tops and boys sagging pants. Also, [there are fewer] class distinctions with pricey brand clothes.
Adamantly opposed to dress codes
As a former K-12 educator, professor of education, and parent of a high school student, I understand the need to establish and enforce rules that create an environment conducive [to] learning. However, I find it extremely problematic when these rules unfairly [or] inequitably target an individual student or student group. Policing girls’ clothing is an example of such a policy. Not only are many of these policies sexist and gendered, they unnecessarily sexualize young girls and place the responsibility for boys’ inability or unwillingness to control their physical [or] sexual [behaviors] on girls. This is akin to blaming girls [or] women for being sexually assaulted because of the way they dress or act. Such policies also reinforce a false male/female binary [that] fails to acknowledge students who identify as [nonbinary] or who physically present as male or female but identify [differently]. What happens if someone the school identifies as a ‘boy’ wears a miniskirt, a tank top, or a midriff-bearing top to school? Will they be disciplined for violating the dress code?
Dress codes ‘sanctify conformity,’ not discipline
Dress codes in schools are but another mask, draped across the face of our children, concealing nothing, revealing everything. They pretend to elevate discipline when, in truth, they sanctify conformity. They are born not of brilliance but of fear—fear of difference, fear of creativity, fear of a mind that might refuse to be tamed. To insist that a hemline or a hairstyle defines order is to confess one's poverty of imagination, to reveal that one has no greater vision for the child than obedience.
Mixed feelings
Depends on [the] dress code. Some basic guidelines are needed, especially around graphic T-shirts with pictures and sayings that are harassing. But rules that are gender-biased are a form of harassment. Uniform and strict dress codes actually distract from teaching. Too much focus on policing clothing.
It’s complicated
Complicated. If students wear common uniforms, research shows it has a very positive effect on behavior and even self esteem and positive mental health effects. But if there is a dress code that is vague and not enforced, then students wear trends and attention-seeking clothes and generally this results in poorer behavior and lower mental health as they are focused on what others think of their latest fit.
