Dress code in schools

Looking at the way people dress these days both on the street and in public institutions, it’s not surprising that more schools are enforcing dress codes this year. No…

torn or dirty clothing, see-through blouses, haltertops or midriff/crop tops, excessively short or tight-fitting clothing

…sure makes good sense to me.

Wait, these are the rules for teachers?

NASHVILLE-When this area’s 75,000 public school students returned to class this month, they faced a strict new dress code.

No jeans. No shirts without collars. No hooded sweatshirts.

Most parents accepted the rules, but some chafed at the change and asked: If our kids have to do this, what about the teachers?

Which begs the question…..what were they wearing?

“I saw a teacher’s navel piercing last year and was surprised,” said Rebecca Willocks, mother of a Nashville high school student. “The students can’t get away with that.”

Now the Nashville school board has followed up its student dress code by proposing one for teachers.

But that’s nothing, says the Chicago Tribune, compared with the code for teachers in Sayreville, New Jersey. Here’s their “specific list” of what not to wear to school, besides the above. No…

*Dungarees or jeans made of denim (corduroy is permitted)

*T-shirts

*Any dress, jewelry or grooming which would attract undue attention, create disruption, or is unsanitary or dangerous

*Beachwear (plastic thongs, beach jackets, swimwear, etc.)

(has it come to that?)

*Shorts

*Hats in the building. “Hats” shall not include headwear of religious significance such as yarmulkes

*Sneakers, tennis shoes, warm-up suits, sweat suits or “parachute pants” unless worn during physical education or special activities

My sons both attended schools with uniform dress codes that required dress pants, shirt and tie. The schools explained that, among other reasons for it, ‘we tend to act how we dress’. They wanted dignity and respectability. Private schools have done that for a long time, while public schools have allowed standards to drop and be defined down.

But now they’re raising expectations.

Catherine McTamaney, director of elementary education programs at Peabody College, the education school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, said faculty members show students “how to present themselves professionally and identify things that are obstacles to their professional credibility.”

And

Marsha Warden, chairwoman of Nashville’s Metropolitan Board of Public Education, said the proposed code is all about setting an example.

It’s good to see awareness of that in public education.