Why Can’t You Just Follow The School’s Dress Code?
Yet another kid got in trouble for not following her school’s dress code and lots of people are up in arms about it.
And, look, I just don’t get it.
Why can’t your kids just wear what they tell them to wear? When your kid isn’t in school, I don’t care if they wear a purple tutu and a halter top.
All of you can wear whatever you want when you aren’t in school, but part of school is being handed a set of rules and learning to follow them.
Why? Because that’s how real life is. In real life, you have to show up to work in business attire.
Most of the time, there’s not even a super simple rulebook to follow, like you have in school.
READ: I Had To Look Up What A Thotty Picture Was
You just have to be smart enough to wear clothes appropriate for a business setting and not for ‘da club, or ‘da couch.
This is simple. Schools aren’t even asking too much. All these dress codes are practically the same.
You don’t believe me? Dude, they’re the same thing.
READ: How To Pick Your Child Up From School
Every School Dress Code Practically Ever:
- Don’t show your belly button.
- Don’t wear shorts that show your cooch when you bend over.
- Wear shirts long enough to cover your butt if your leggings are so tight you can see your panty lines. (That’s just good fashion sense, anyway.)
- Don’t show your bra straps.
- Don’t wear jeans so baggy they show your boxer shorts.
So, stop making a big deal out of it and just make your kid follow the rules.
This isn’t the time to rebel against society and damn the man.
Those teachers are already only getting paid slightly better than minimum wage, and they put up with way too damn much. Don’t put them in the crappy situation of having to be the bad guy who tells your kid they’ve got to go wear old sweatpants from the lost and found.
I don’t know why people think the teachers are the ones to blame when it comes to dress code. I mean, you can’t honestly think that the teachers are sitting around in a room coming up with ways that children must dress in order to be taught.
Trust me, they aren’t. The thing is, they are just doing their job. Part of a teacher’s job is to teach your kid that society has rules. That in life there will be rules they have to follow even if they don’t believe in them.
Guess what? This is one of those times. Remember, even the teachers have to abide by a dress code, even if they do want to wear flip flops and shorts.
And trust me, they do.
Oh, and if your kid does get in trouble for wearing inappropriate clothes, don’t post about it on the internet. Just take them a sweatshirt instead, and MOVE ON WITH YOUR DAY.
In my school, a boy can be sagging and showing their WHOLE A** and won’t get dress coded but let it be a girl wearing shorts or a crop top and straight to the principal or the teachers will be like “OH MY GOD your showing too much go put on your gym uniform!” Like man SHUT THE F*** UP!!! I EM SOO DONE AND @Coiln you don’t get it your a BOY!!!
In my school u can see the girls niples some of the time, and the appropriate shirt length is just below you boobs. And those legging things are so tight it’s literally like those skin tight Halloween costumes. I mean u feel guilty for even glancing at girls with what they are wearing. I agree with this
@Colin, STFU YOUR A BOY YOU DON’T GET IT!!
my school dress code:
-no cargo pants because we might smuggle drugs in with them-
-no spaghetti straps because their too distracting-
-we basically cant wear regular length shirts because if any of us put our arms up our midriff cant be showing-
-cant wear leggings….LEGGINGS!-
-cant wear short unless their like below the knee-
(p.s im in middle school, and im 12)
stfu❤️
@Emily, Yessssss
I’m 16 and currently in High school. I do agree there needs to be a dress code but it is getting way out of control for my school. I have been dress coded twice this year for shorts that were several inches past revealing anything. I got new shorts anyways and cut them myself so I knew they were long enough… I then got dress coded because they moved while i walked. Like these in seams were probably 6 or 7 inches. Now I’m being forced to wear full pants while it is still 100 degrees out daily because the way my legs are shaped shorts are gonna roll up when I walk. Not to mention the whole not being able to show a bra strap thing/ the three inch wide strap. Like wtf. I’m a 16 year old girl, who cares if someone sees a bra strap. like are shoulders really that sexy. This is school. While yes this is our form of work, this is also our entire social life. Not to mention before I started dressing in what I felt comfortable in I felt horrible about myself and had no self continence, I finally love myself and how I look which is already so hard in this day and age, and the school is saying I can’t wear what I feel best in and what I am most confident in. Their reasoning is it distracts boys but why are they teaching girls that if a boy looks at you to change so they don’t. Shouldn’t we be teaching boys not to serializing girls and honestly the guys I know who actually care about school isn’t worried about if the girl in front of them is revealing her shoulders, like anyone who cares wont care about what a girl is wearing.
I agree with being lax. I also believe kids push the limits and teachers can be jerks and don’t get paid enough for what is required. They don’t need the added issue of clothes. Nor do the kids. You can’t buy shorts for girls long enough. Jeans w out holes. We tried the Capri lengths still holes and only good for a short time. You can’t please everyone. Kids need to follow rules. Majority of work places require a dress code yet school has become a work place instead of allowing kids to be kids. See it’s never ending vicious cycle. How do you solve the problems voiced in both sides? At least enough people stop complaining ? Uniforms! Uniforms! Uniforms! The only way I see a solution. Expensive upfront but in the long haul cheaper. Just make them comfortable! Then no one can complain. We use tax dollars for inmates to have those petty uniforms lets use tax dollars for school uniforms for those low income families. And fix the lunch issue! Food is more important to me than clothes. Can’t please everyone so come up with a compromise that satisfies everyone a little.
Unbelievable in the amount of people that are arguing against this post. I teach at a high school. These parents who think their child is above the rules and makes excuses for everything Just make me sick. Follow the rules enough said.
The kids aren’t above the rules, the rules are stupid. The dress code is horribly strict for a bunch of teenagers. Let us dress how we want within reason of coarse but for some girls finger tip length is like an 8 or 9 inch inseam which is extremely long shorts. And I’m sorry but when it is over 100 degrees I refuse to wear full pants. The dress code should be less restrictive. like what is so sexy about shoulders, or heaven forbid a 4 or 5 inch inseam which shows absolutely nothing.
Honestly at the districts I’ve worked at boys get called out most often for ill fitting jeans (too saggy, too many holes, holes that are showing underwear). One of the districts that I worked with actually had a lot of rules for boys.
I’ve been working at a high school for about 5 years. And I appreciated when the school started to be more lax with their dress code so it’s easier to follow. The principal even said “how am I going to ban holes in jeans when you can’t find jeans without holes?” Girls are allowed to show midriff to an extent, caps are permitted front facing, etc there are a lot less complaints from students when you give them a little leeway to show their style
And FYI, we had a local school where the Principal and Assistants went into classrooms and looked for students out of dress code – and then WROTE UP THE TEACHERS who were more concerned with teaching class than coding students – some of whom probably entered class in code, but shirt became untucked during class. Ridiculous. I’m all for dress codes, and for following rules where there are rules. But this goes way beyond!
You realize nose dress codes apply to girls and not boys. Girls can’t wear tank tops but boys can? It’s hard to find girls shorts with an inseam more than an inch or 2. So many are left to wear pants in hot days while boys can wear shorts. Stop nitpicking about everything. Yes DONT show cleavage or not cheeks or undergarments or bellies but some rules are just dumb. 1 school said no skirts shorter than your arm length. A girl wore a long shirt and leggings and was dress coded because her “dress” was too short. She had to argue it was a shirt not a dress for an hour. Before mom could leave work, drive home, get a new shirt and drive to school to bring her daughter a shirt. She missed an hour of classes and a test because her shirt looked like a dress to 1 teacher.
Boys can’t wear tank tops in m many of the districts I’ve worked in
You are so off target! Children, girls in particular, are singled out, called out in public and shamed, and are removed from their learning environment until a parent can come down and bring different clothes for something as simple as their shirt was 1/2″ too short, or their shorts were 1/2″ too short, even though they come halfway down their thigh, or their shirt doesn’t fully cover their shoulders, which as we all know can be so undignified (smh as to the stupidity). So, the children sit in in-school suspension with a complete derailment of learning for the day, and get to hang their head in shame because their jeans had a hole in it on their knee (which jeans often do and it gets expensive replacing them all the time), or because they dared to not have long enough sleeves on their shirt. And who erroneously told you that dressing respectfully and in a dignified fashion means that a beautiful dress or leggings with a long shirt that are just 1/2″ too short are not dignified or respectful, and that learning is enhanced by what you wear? I would love to see that research article. Now our school has implemented random dress code violation checks where they come over the loud speaker and STOP all classes, make all the students stand up, and have the teachers go around inspecting clothes for a dress code violation and then have to send the violators out of the class to the office. What about that ENHANCES learning? Not one thing. Nothing.
Girls are not even allowed to wear a tank top under a shirt if the tank top straps are seen at all. WTH does this do to promote learning?
@Tracy Farvis, I sooo agree with you!!!
Amen this is the best response I’ve seen, most of these rules r just trash and us parents know so no I will not abide by ur trash rules I will parent as I see fit and u can deal. I give 0 fucks if you don’t like it, u don’t support or pay my bills so you get no say in how I live. Now yes u shouldn’t dress with ur titts out or ass out but my daughter will be just as comfortable as my son.
I don’t usually respond to articles when scrolling Facebook but this one has me heated. This is so much deeper than a dress code. Dress codes are aimed at girls which teaches boys they don’t have to be accountable. It’s the girl’s responsibility to dress modestly so as not to distract the boys? That I don’t agree with. As the mom of a 14 year old daughter that has been dress coded multiple times, I can tell you the repercussions are many. My daughter is a modest dresser and prefers jeans and sweatshirts. In the warmer months she layers tanks over her bra so it isn’t seen. The very first time she was dress coded we obliged. But soon she became the target of her peers. Secondarily she didn’t learn anything on the days she was dress coded. She was so upset and distressed her focus was compromised. Even more than this, can we talk about socio-economics? What about families that can not afford the clothing required? A family may be required to pass clothing down and it may often be worn to the very end of its life. In my daughter’s case, she wasn’t dressing flashy or showing too much skin. She wasn’t thinking how can I upset the administration at my school. She was just dressing in the clothes that we as a family agreed were acceptable. I do believe once a child is dress coded they are on the radar and scrutinized more closely. The other aspect of this to consider is that as our kids grow, they may not fit clothing that is age appropriate. For instance, I know several moms who’s daughters are much larger than their peers so they are required to shop in the women’s department instead of juniors or children’s. The clothing available isn’t always desirable for their age bracket. So much more to this issue than the black and white you write it to be. Yes, rules are rules but some need to be updated and amended. Let’s get back to focusing on serving the children and their needs and not punishing them for something that is often times not even in their control.
See, this just isn’t what it should even be about. I don’t care how anyone dresses out of school, but in school there’s rules, just follow them.
Agreed. Just follow the rules! I’m tired of hearing that they are against girls and let boys do what they want. Not true. I work at a high school. We’re all held to the same standard…it just happens that girls have more “parts” they tend to show too much. ?
Real life has standards wherever you might be…I would dress differently if I were going to a fast food restaurant over a fine dining place. I would dress differently for the mall than I would for my grandmother’s funeral. It’s reality! Get with it people! Just dress appropriately. Oh and those that say it’s hard to find shorts of an appropriate length…it’s funny how the rest of us have no problem finding appropriate clothing…you just need to look harder.
I am a teacher and boys are held to the same standards at my school. The year the dress code came in (common dress, not uniform) we had student, parent and teacher meetings to be sure everyone was safe not over burdened by the changes. It was an equalizer as kids were focused more on school work than labels and price tags. Kids can be very creative without sagging pants so they look like 2 year olds with a full diaper! Short shorts on boys or girls is scary because so many kids sit in desks and you don’t know what bacteria or fluids might be left behind on the seats. The author is correct that this is part of how kids get ready to join the world. If you get a job at McDonalds and don’t wear your uniform, they don’t call your mom to bring it; they send you home with your final check.
Thank you. I am on the same page. As a teacher and girl mom, I can’t abide this girls only dress code stuff. No one in my class is in a snit because a girl’s shorts are past her fingertips (Really? Fingertips!?) Stop slut shaming girls and just teach. When they are in the workplace, they will have to dress professionally. They will also get PAID. School is compulsory. Let them express themselves without being self conscious!
This is a very narrow opinion on a rather large topic. Not all schools have general desss codes like you wrote about. Some dress codes are difficult to follow as they are restrictive to the point that what would be acceptable attire simply doesn’t exist for kids.
Others, like ours, require parents to purchase an entirely separate wardrobe to attend public school. I find it costly to provide two sets of clothing and difficult to find clothing that fits all body types well. Often times parents are forced to pay to have clothing children will outgrow in a few months tailored.
Also, the business world has come quite far away from business wear. I work within the government and can wear jeans and a sweatshirt if I want… I’ve also worked for a utility company as well as two major food corporations and was not required to dress for any of them. It’s an antiquated idea.
I worked in a high school office that had a dress code (no jeans, no tank tops, no shorts or short skirts, etc). Mostly girls got sent to the office. I spoke with many male teachers as to why they didn’t send kids down when they had already had the offenders in class that day. Their reasoning was they didn’t want to seem like a letch with the girls low cut tops or short skirts, so they did nothing.
Thank you for this article. I’m a teacher and I don’t think a lot of teachers are out to nail the students for the nit-picky things. Today I called a girl out for wearing a zip up hoodies 1/2 zipped up with nothing but a bra underneath. I simply asked her to zip it up and moved on with my life. We rarely want to spend learning time fighting a kid and their parent about their clothes. I know there’s always that teacher but in every profession there’s that person.
Yes! Exactly. It’s not like teachers WANT to fight about the dress code all day.
@Jamie, then don’t ? not that hard r u rlly being paid enough to care if a student is wearing something just do ur job and teach pls their outfit is not hurting anyone but you
As a high school student, I totally understand the rules about not letting what shouldn’t be shown out into the halls, but some dress codes are unreasonable. At my school, straps have to be at least four inches wide. That’s ridiculous. I can understand spaghetti straps but I got threatened with being dress coded for a dress with a one inch strap. I was not showing a bra strap nor was I showing off cleavage or anything like that. I looked like I was dressed well.
If you know the 4 inch rule on sleeveless, then why not follow it? This is what the article is saying. Why would you do that, knowing what the freakin’ policy says? Rules don’t care how you feel. Rules are rules. That’s it.
I agree. Specially girls they are at risk of being raped or sexully assulted. Theres lots of sickos out there and Im not just talking about school Im talking about after school. Protect your children. Teach them to dress modest. God bless!
Blaming the victims of rape and assault for how they are dressed is a truly disgusting opinion.
Yes! Mike you nailed it. This is ridiculous. There are a LOT of rules I’m thrilled people stopped following because they didn’t make sense. See Civil Rights Movement. Following rules just because they’re rules is the kind of mindlessness we need to fight in this country.
@Lady V, Thank you!
There should be more mothers like you.
Thanks 🙂
Holly molly man I totally agree with you and the way to solve this is bring back school uniforms, when I was at school our school uniform dresses and then later skirts had to be 1 inch below the knee , we had to wear a blazer and hat to school and after school and even if Mum went shopping and we were in uniform and it was 40 degrees in Africa we still had to abide by the rules and NONE of us ever stepped out of line.
these days the world has just gone to the slumps it is so sad, no respect oh well what comes around goes around and each generation gets worse..
I applaud this article. However, you have a typo. It should be “your cooch,” and you have “you’re cooch.”
?
I bet it was auto correct! Haha! I typed it on my phone and sometimes auto correct takes liberties. 😉
Haa haa that’s what we all say
lol! 🙂
I hate to see this. When I was in school… I was 5’9 in middle school. (6’1 now). But MIDDLE SCHOOL. And a DD bra. I could wear t shirts and jean shorts (Bermuda shorts) and I would get in trouble bc my boobs would have ripples between them on a 1x shirt and my Burundi shorts were a cm above my fingertips. Well. Unless I made my own shorts it wasn’t happening. And on top of that, fringed clothing wasn’t allowed. Nothing with certain labels. Nothing that has more than so many pockets. No purses allowed (yeah lemme just stuff some pads in my backpack to fall out when I need a pencil). Some rules are a bit rediculous. I would wear a button up fully buttoned up and it would peep open a bit and I’d get sent to the office bc at that point no one made the schools uniform bigger than a 2x.
Good Advice!!! Don’t make stupid clothes choices just to see if you can get attention. then whine about it.
You are a moron.
Name calling is something people do when they can’t seem to form a coherent argument to back up their point.
@Jamie, no they’re just telling it how it is
when someone is past the point of saving, all you can do is sit back and point out how idiotic they are being
like you <3