A few days ago, a family friend—a high school student—called home for a change of clothes. Why? She’d been told that her dress was too short as part of a dress code lineup.
A dress code lineup?????
Yep, you read that correctly. So, we aren’t just governing what these kids wear, but we’re lining them up like criminals to make sure they comply? Makes sense. By the way, are there any male staff members involved here, even tangentally? Because I would love to be a fly on the wall during that lawsuit.
If you aren’t disturbed enough by the image of teenagers being lined up and judged for their clothing choices, check out the dress for which this girl was called out:
Photo used with permission
Assuming things haven’t changed drastically since I was in high school (and let’s be honest, any change in this regard has hardly been for the better, in my experience), this dress is pretty much as far from scandalous as you can get without covering every inch of your body. But this is what gets called out from the all-mighty lineup. A quick consultation with the girl in question (or should I say, being question, thanks to the Pennsylvania school system) verifies that this is far from the most improper outfit to appear in the halls, nor is it the first time she’s worn the offending garment, though it has never previously caused an issue.
Have these school districts seen the cheerleading uniforms they typically provide…? I’m as much a cheer fan as anyone else, but if the dress above is so terrible, surely a cheer skirt—even with bloomers—can’t be appropriate, especially in schools that allow uniforms to be worn in class on game days.
With this incident in mind, I decided to try a little experiment. After all, these “inappropriate” outfits are thought to be a distraction (we all know that the education of straight men is of superior importance than that of the girls being objectified, of course). Why not test out their theory in my college courses, where the ridculous dress codes of high school don’t apply?
College students may have their hormones slightly more in check than their high school counterparts, but the general hookup culture and newfound independence tend to bring sex—and subsequently, sexualization—to the mental forefront. So, I threw on my favorite romper and headed to class, looking far more improper than my high school friend. And…nothing happened.
This quickly became one of my most-shared Facebook posts ever, for what I think is a pretty good reason. Obviously the “disraction” logic is flawed (not that anyone really had any doubt there in the first place).
High schools of America: It’s hot out. It’s not the end of the world if a girl’s shoulders are showing when your air conditioning doesn’t even work to keep the kids cool (keep in mind, dear readers, that schools throughout Pennsylvania have been in the news the past week for dismissing early due to excessive heat). It’s one thing to dress professionally. But quite honestly? This is high school—get over yourselves, Administrators. Let the kids be comfortable and express themselves. They’re going to do it anyway; sorry to break it to you, but you can’t control them forever, nor everywhere. Will there be individuals that take it too far? Always. But that is no reason to be this outragous.
Don’t prioritize the education of a teenage boy who can’t keep his pants on (for simplicity’s sake, I’m keeping this within the traditional gender binary—please don’t take offense if you don’t personally identify thus. Nor do I assume that every teenage boy in question is at fault here.) over that of a girl in a perfectly proper dress. Don’t pull kids out of class to change—especially not in the form of some sort of lineup, which is all sorts of not okay. Don’t have parents missing work to bring in a change of clothes. Just don’t be stupid; you’re supposed to be the ones doing the educating here.