Should Schools Have Dress Codes?

Dress codes in American schools date back to the 1920s, when high school attendance first became widespread throughout the United States. Today more than half of America’s K-12 schools have dress codes, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Most states allow local school boards to establish dress codes to promote a safe school environment, prevent distractions, and set standards for what the community considers appropriate. But dress codes have always been controversial. 

“As long as teenagers have been interested in fashion, there have been conflicts over school dress codes,” says Jo Paoletti, a fashion historian at the University of Maryland. 

Here, two experts weigh in on whether schools should regulate what students wear. 

Dress codes, whether they’re in the form of strict uniforms or general guidelines for what to wear, are an essential part of our culture. In schools, in businesses, and on sports teams, dress codes promote professionalism, establish identity, and foster a sense of community. 

What you wear communicates something about you and the institution, business, or team you represent. Whether you’re dressing up for your prom, wearing your team uniform in competition, or putting on a dress or suit for a wedding or funeral, you’re showing those around you that you care about your appearance and that you know what’s appropriate for a particular situation.

Over the course of my career, I’ve worked in five schools in five states. Each of them had some kind of dress code for students and employees. While the specifics of dress codes vary widely from school to school—in our country and across the globe—their purpose is quite consistent. 

In schools with strict dress codes—requiring, for example, collared shirts of a certain color—clothing is intended to communicate a seriousness of purpose that educators hope will translate to academic success. More relaxed dress codes may ban clothing with inappropriate slogans or offensive symbols—both of which create distractions for other students. The most rigid form of dress code—a uniform—is rare in most parts of the U.S., but it’s very common in public schools across Africa, Asia, and South America. In schools with uniforms, students appear as equals, whether they’re rich or poor, stylish or oblivious to fashion. 

But as useful as they are, dress codes can be controversial—especially if they’re allowed to become outdated, or if they’re not applied fairly to boys and girls. Schools need to review these policies regularly, update them as necessary, and take care to enforce them consistently. 

On the whole, however, dress codes are necessary in our schools, just as they are essential in the adult world for which students are preparing. 

—WILLIAM BUGG,

Head of School, Thetford Academy, Thetford, Vermont

School dress codes send a clear, and negative, message from school administrators to students: Your individuality is inconvenient. The self-identity that you want to express through clothing doesn’t belong here. Those opinions on your T-shirt are distracting.

But self-expression isn’t an inconvenience or a distraction; it’s the lifeblood of our nation. 

In a famous 1969 case about free speech in schools, the Supreme Court declared that “students don’t shed their constitutional rights at the school house gates.” That 1969 case, Tinker v. Des Moines, involved a 13-year-old named Mary Beth Tinker who was suspended after she wore a black armband to school to protest the Vietnam War. She filed a First Amendment challenge against her school for restricting her political speech. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, and Mary Beth Tinker won.

The vitality of our representative democracy depends on people standing up for their right to free expression, just as she did. At 18, Americans can face the full weight of criminal law, are entitled to vote for the leaders of our nation, and men must register for the draft. In essence, we expect teenagers just out of—or even still in—high school to engage in all the glorious and messy aspects of our participatory democracy. 

Schools are where we plant those seeds of democratic citizenship. Among those core values are self-expression, confidence, and dissent. We simply can’t have a healthy democracy without them. But dress codes don’t reflect those values. They send a powerful message to our young citizens that their government discourages free expression and has no interest in producing a new generation of outspoken individuals like Mary Beth Tinker. And no administrative convenience justifies that message.

Adults in the United States treasure their freedoms—especially their First Amendment rights. We should trust that our kids can handle those constitutional values too.

—LEE ROWLAND,

Staff Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)