You must have come across stories featuring the violation of dress codes in schools, playgrounds, etc. Dress codes do sometimes become a barrier for students and players.
I learned about an incident in which a young wrestler was stopped from entering the match and could not compete just because his hair was a little long. He, therefore, had to choose between playing the match and cutting his hair.
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Similar to such a case, a student could not attend his first day at school just because he was not following the proper dress code. Usually, the children are so excited on the first day of their school and when such events happen with them their young mind is shattered and they feel depressed and discriminated against.
I am not against dress codes as they are creating a safe, equal and positive environment. But sometimes too many restrictions or rules on dress codes create an opposite effect. Dress codes shouldn’t be shaming the students or discriminatory effect or targeting any gender, color, or sect.
But the good thing is that now many of the schools are trying to resolve this problem of dress code with positive updates on it. They are trying to make the dress code more reasonable.
Knowing the key problem
To understand this issue much better, we need to first understand the root cause of it. Many studies revealed how dress codes harm student’s feelings and there is a drastic change in their behavior. We list some of the major problems below:
Discrimination based on culture
Many of the students have to face humiliation in schools because of their hairstyle. Most of the boys face this issue at least once in life that their hair length is not up to the mark. I just want to ask a simple question: does the length of the hair is not safe or distracting because girls have long hair and they are much welcomed in schools.
Similarly, if a student wants to wear a headscarf or a hat maybe just because she wants to hide her braids, is this dangerous or harmful to anyone? I think we are basically asking the students to erase their own personalities and making them adapt to other things forcefully. I believe many such issues could be easily resolved if the teachers have a friendly relationship with their students. The students should feel like my teachers think I am dirty and my looks are not that good.
Teachers should make the students feel valued and included in the class. The feeling of exclusion not only decreases their performance in a class but also makes them dull throughout their life because in the beginning only their self-confidence is shattered.
Discrimination based on gender
Gender discrimination is one of the common problems that is caused because of the dress code. The school authorities should not make a dress code that discriminates against a girl and a boy because this would affect the mental health of the non-binary students.
Forcing the students to dress up according to their gender’s appearance might not be comfortable for each of them. The prime motive of the schools is learning and not on the dress code. A student might not start thinking that a school is a place full of restrictions as in this way the value of education is lost somewhere.
Economy based discrimination
This is the most prevalent problem in society where the students whose family income is low are forced to wear clothes as per the dress code of the school. For example, a student whose coat was navy blue for maybe two years and after that the color of the coat needs to be changed. This frequent change in the dress code might not be bearable to each student’s family.
It is like targeting the low-income family student and letting them feel humiliated because eventually when they won’t be able to buy the new clothes they have to take the punishment. So the school authority should make a special note that the update in the dress code should not affect the well-being of the student.
What things to keep in mind while updating the dress code of the students?
Keeping in mind the problems associated with the dress code, I am trying to highlight some suggestions that could be easily enforced while updating the dress code. They are:
The first thing to keep in mind is that the student must never be punished or made to leave the school for not following the proper dress code.
The school authorities should form a proper committee and ask each member to partake in bias and anti-harassment training programs once every year.
Make sure that only the members of the committee are involved in enforcing the dress code; not everyone, like the school’s police or security guards, is involved in it.
Public humiliation should be avoided at all costs.
Include freedom along with restrictions so that the students might face none of the above-listed discriminations.
Conclusion
Always remember that a dress code should never be a barrier for a student. Dress codes are meant for creating uniformity among the students and not any form of discrimination. If properly and leniently enforced, the concept of dress code could be a source of positivity and unity in the schools.
Photo by Keira Burton from Pexels.
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