The Dress Code Is Oppressive

It was cut in this piece but in another piece I read it was over 90 this day and several boys wore short cheerleader skirts to school in protest of the dress code and not ONE was put in this room of violations.

Somebody at this school is trying to punish women.

It doesn’t matter if you think the cause is stupid. Young people should not be discouraged from protesting/organizing, especially in this day and age. Let them make their signs. Let them have a cause. We need youth with strong voices.

I'm a grown adult and I found that girls passionate response and argument inspirational.

There is hope for the future!

I think they should be allowed to express themselves to a point (basically nothing too revealing, these are a bunch of horny teens, after all). Otherwise, let 'em dress how they like.

When I was a senior in high school it started to become a trend to wear black, opaque leggings as pants and I was dress coded for wearing them under skirts or shorts several times.

Finally, I asked why other girls weren't dress coded when they were just wearing leggings as pants and I was told it was because my body looked different than most girls.

This is why most advanced countries have school uniforms.

I am a women with quite the endowment up top.

Always have been, in middle school I was dress code twice in one day before.

I wore a tank top, didn't show boobs or anything, told to change into my gym Uniform and I did.

I got dress coded in my gym uniform because my brastraps were showing. I am so sorry we bought a size up thinking I'd grow into it. My bad.

Men routinely wore tank tops with arm cutouts so big you could see their nipples and chest. Not once did they ever get dress coded. Not once did they go to a dumbass lunch detention and get a lecture about decency and distracting other students.

I'm sorry, but none of the clothing requirements in that letter seem that far out of line, if at all.

It's a school, and kids should learn that there is appropriate clothing for certain settings. Asking them not to wear super short cut-off shorts, pajamas, and see-through shirts is not oppressive. Asking kids not to wear headphones in class is not oppressive. Asking kids not to wear a shirt with profanity on it is not oppressive. Asking kids not to wear a crop top at school is not oppressive.

I agree there needs to be some exceptions and common sense, but I do think it's important for them to also understand/learn societal norms as they approach college.

Approximately 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate with 22% lacking basic literacy skills, meaning they struggle with basic tasks like reading medicine instructions or job applications. Roughly 67% of residents are considered low-literate (reading at a 6th-8th grade level), while 71% of fourth graders do not read at grade level.

A) Young people shouldn't be kept back from organizing and finding themselves at that age. It can be healthy expression, which is good to give space for. We need to foster people to participate in communities, and these sorts of situations can be great introductions to that.

B) It sounds like this code was already in place, and the only thing that changed was the school actually enforcing it. There is a reason that schools have these policies, and it seems like this school already had a pretty relaxed set of expectations. This makes me think that students were starting to abuse it more, and possibly that they were getting complaints, which led to the reminder letter. Given that this is also a creative and performing arts school, they likely rely on good standing with donors and the state to get the funding they need. I can definitely see how the school could be in the right here.

Put them in uniforms.