How do dress codes help students?

Larry Wilder favors school dress codes because they lead to a safer educational environment that increases students' ability to learn, increases equality between the sexes and tolerance among ethnic and social groups. Pros of school dress code: helping students dress for safety. By Larry Wilder, Ed.D. read more

Everyday school dress codes disproportionately target, shame, and punish girls – especially girls who are more developed than their peers. In 2012, students at Stuyvesant High School in New York (my old school) protested the biased implementation of the school's dress code. read more

About half of schools around the country have dress codes policies. A dress code identifies what clothes cannot be worn to school. A school uniform policy defines what clothes must be worn to school. Dress codes limit clothing options while school uniforms define clothing options. Schools claim that when students come in uniforms, it improves discipline and leads to academic gains. read more

Rather, it means students need to adapt, not conform. Students need to learn to dress appropriately based on context. Dress codes do not facilitate this learning. Instead, dress codes teach students that conformity and obedience to authority are most important. Individuality is suppressed. Student voice is suppressed. read more