When it comes to discipline surrounding
dress, are school administrators correct in reprimanding children? Clothing is
an expression of self, and when you are a child your clothes are what allow you
to fit in with your neighborhood, family, and friends. When a school decides to
take away that expression of self by dictating what a child can and cannot
wear, is that really helping the child academically? Reproduction theory is
never the less saying that our bodily appearances influence our success.
I know when I was in grade school my
clothing choice had nothing to do with whether or not I received a good grade,
typically my mother chose my clothes when I was in the lower grades. Time and
effort determine grades and success in school. Clothing should not even be a
factor when looking at the outcome of test scores. A dress code has its
purposes. I’m not against a code of conduct when it comes to clothing, but
there have to be limitations as to what they ban from the academic setting.
Clothes which are torn, or appear “gangster” are not on the banned list yet
children are punished or labeled for wearing them. The administration wants to
be perceived in a certain way, and having unkempt students only stereotypes the
school as a “rough” or “prep” school. We teach children to stereotype, right
from the beginning of their academic career we base what they look like on how
they will strive within scholastics. A code around what a child can and cannot
wear only allows for gendering and stereotyping. For example, a prep school has
exact dress codes of their pupils they tell the girls to wear this, and the
boys to wear that. But what happens to that child who is struggling with their
gender identity? My sister works in a daycare where some parents and managers
will not allow her to let the young boys to play with nail polish and dress up
with the young girls. What happens when you take away their form of expression
of who they are in ways like this? We force boys to be boys, and girls to be
girls when it comes to dress. Administration then genders children into being
exactly what they want them to be and how they should act based on those roles.
A girl would be punished in a prep school for wearing the boys’ uniform, and
vice versa. They lay out how a child should act based on clothing choice. And
they still question why children rebel against a dress code and wear what they
choose anyway. Have you ever tried to herd sheep before? They are constantly
going where their shepherd does not want them to. Academic superiors are like
the shepherds of a flock, and they cannot just push children into looking a
certain way because they wish to be perceived as academically inclined, or to
have a unison flock.
In the case of Carla in Edward W.
Morris’s article she was just dressing in a way which will allow her to blend
in to her community. Her survival had nothing to do with her gender, a
stereotype or how she wished to be perceived. It was a way to blend in so she
would not stand out (Morris, 2005, pg. 27). Children are chastised for their
attempt not to stand out in a less than ideal neighborhood by their superiors
because the look “gangster” or what they deem inappropriate. What kind of
message does that send out to the youth of today if we do not allow them to fit
in with their family and friends, because we think it will cause them to suffer
academically? We are basically labeling them black sheep for something they
cannot control. A family’s income determines what they can afford to buy their
child. We cannot and should not punish a child for living within their means,
within their neighborhood. Why must we stereotype boys and girls into being
rebellious or being docile? I resent the label, and I am 22. I cannot imagine
how much a student in middle school or high school would dislike such a label.
Can we not be who we are, and let us find our own stereotype? We all fall
within a category which all seems to resemble the Breakfast Club (the rebel,
the prep, the nerd, the freak, or the jock). The hierarchy within a school
cannot place us within these categories; an individual must decide who they are
on their own. The penalization based on what he or she is wearing is only
forcing us into such labels when we may not necessarily associate with such a
clique.
After contemplating this topic I
reflected upon what Saint Mary’s looks like. There is a vast variety of
clothing choices and no one is reprimanded for what they wear and we all determine
our own academic outcomes. Our way of dress has nothing to do with scholastic
success. Does individual self-expression through clothing choices not encourage
success academically more so than following someone else’s instructions? Rebellion against authority takes time, time
which could better be spent working on academic advancement. Reproduction
theory was a theory created in 1977 (Morris, 2005, pg. 26), can we not live in
the current generation and accept that not everyone can afford expensive
clothing, and that they may choose to look a certain way for whatever reason? Attempting
to herd the masses can only end in disaster or lack of focus.
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