Requiring dress code can’t help students pay less attention to their appearances, but on the contrary, it can even encourage students to rebel and make them destructive in school. Even school requires dress code, classes could be still “disrupted by [students] ogling themselves in mirrors, painting their fingernails, combining their hair,” and comparing their customized uniforms as substitute for “comparing designer labels on jackets, caps, and jewelry.” In my middle and high school, where strictly requires uniforms, over half of students violated schools’ policy spending a lot of time by customizing uniforms such as altering the length of skirts short, wearing black socks instead of white, wearing sweaters inside of jackets. Some students simply enjoyed customizing uniforms as fashion, and some students like me expressed frustrations by rebelling against the school policy. Consciously or unconsciously, those students who violated school policy may have tried to refuse society’s distorted sense of virtue: to follow the norm without questioning because the authorities said so. Teachers educate students how to be creative, but forces us what to wear and how many inches your skirt’s length should be. I simply couldn't understand why they didn’t allow me to wear my own thicker socks during snow days and had to suffer from chilblains. I was frustrated when a teacher forced me to dye my hair black as if they didn’t value that I studied much harder than other “good” students and that I usually ranked in top five on exam scores. I lost respect for my favorite math teacher when she had my classmate who has natural and beautiful curly hair go to salon to make it straight. No teachers have explained to me why students should follow such policies. Eventually, those school policies forced many students and I to pay attention to appearance try to rebel or listen to what teachers tell to do specifically. This shows pointless of requiring dress code or having school policy about appearance.
Despite the negative outcome, requiring dress code could benefit students by preventing bullying and teasing that comes from homely outfits and that can affect students’ academic life. One of my classmate never showed up for school after only the first four weeks of the freshman year since he was teased because of dermatological condition appeared on his face and body. In his case, it’s not about his clothing, but other students judged him from his “appearance,” and school should remove reasons of teasing as much as they can. For teenagers, appearance plays a big role in their lives, and they think “it gives them status and earns them respect,” and under such a condition, it’s unfair to be taunted because of the fact that he or his family can’t afford pricey clothings. As Mathabane describes how those environment of open dress code negatively affected to his sisters who were “taunted for their homely outfits,” those children can’t do anything with their financial issue.
Requiring uniforms also benefit student’s families as it can help their finance by saving a lot of money spending for trendy clothes because “the fiercest competition among students is often not over academic achievements, but over who dresses most extensively.” In that situation, many parents tend to be willing to buy whatever these children want, believing that is their love to be tolerant for their children. From these point of view, it’s reasonable to require dress code in school, so that students won’t be affected by unnecessary peer pressures with their appearance and their family won’t need to spend money for unnecessary clothes.
In addition to, dress codes also benefit community as a role of safety function as they can discourage students from criminal activities such as stealing, drugs, or vandalism in the public because of easy recognition. They may also help students whose parents “often watch in dismay and helplessness as their children become involved with gangs and peddle[...]” because communities or the power of recognition supervise them. These benefits can be seen in my home town where successfully kept the community safe, supervising students by communicating closely between schools and neighborhoods. People can identify which school students belong from their uniforms itself or parts of the uniforms such as ribbon color, school bags, or school badges. My school held workshops for students whenever they got phone calls from neighbors reporting some students smoked in parks or when students shoplifted. School didn’t have the workshop a few times after in the first year, because letting students know that someone is watching you, it helped us avoid yielding to the temptation to commit criminal activities in the public.
Considering these benefits, it’s worth trying requiring uniforms in public school especially in areas where hold disparity of wealth, and see what outcomes schools and students can earn. More importantly, school should require policy with convincing reasons when students ask them why. Otherwise, it may causes confusion or rebel among students and make the policy as meaningless such as requiring dress codes in order to make students focus on their mind than appearance.
© 2014 LifeIsGood All Rights Reserved
どんどん話すための瞬間英作文トレーニング (CD BOOK)/ベレ出版
￥1,944
Amazon.co.jp
毎日の英文法 頭の中に「英語のパターン」をつくる/朝日新聞出版
￥価格不明
Amazon.co.jp
CD付 ディズニーの英語 (コレクション5 アナと雪の女王) (CD付書籍)/KADOKAWA/中経出版
￥1,620
Amazon.co.jp