For as long as schools have policed hairstyles as part of their dress codes, some students have seen the rules as attempts to deny their cultural and religious identities.
Nowhere have school rules on hair been a bigger flashpoint than in Texas, where a trial this week is set to determine whether high school administrators can continue punishing a Black teenager for refusing to cut his hair. The 18-year-old student, Darryl George, who wears his hair in locs tied atop his head, has been kept out of his classroom since the start of the school year.
To school administrators, strict dress codes can be tools for promoting uniformity and discipline. But advocates say the codes disproportionately affect students of color and the punishments disrupt learning. Under pressure, many schools in Texas have removed boys-only hair length rules, while hundreds of districts maintain hair restrictions written into their dress codes.
Schools that enforce strict dress codes have higher rates of punishment that take students away from learning, such as suspensions and expulsions, according to an October 2022 report from the Government Accountability Office. The report called on the U.S. Department of Education to provide resources to help schools design more equitable dress codes.
I’ve been teaching for almost 20 years. Dress codes do not promote discipline whatsoever. Administrators mete out disciplinary measures when students don’t follow the dress code, to be sure, but the only thing the dress code serves to do is promote conformity.
Dress codes, while promoting conformity, also allow students to breathe easier knowing that they don’t have to worry about keeping up with expensive brand name trends in clothing. A school uniform is a great equalizer and can remove the classist element, the bullying that can occur, that students from lower socio economic backgrounds face.
Have you ever seen the kids shoes. Some have some expensive Air Jordan’s and others might be wearing gold trumps. They know who has the money just by looking down.
In my school uniform included shoes (or at least they had to be of a certain colour). True, you will know who is rich anyway, but the point of the uniform was not to hide who was wealthy, but instead level all clothes and avoid flashing.
Personally, although I think uniforms don’t serve their purpose, and kids are better off wearing whatever they want, I loved that I didn’t have to think about what to wear when going to school.