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Dress Code Benefits

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Dress Code on a Larger Scale Is the dress code more harmful to the community than it benefits? In recent studies, by the National Center for Education Statistics, more than half of the schools in the United States supplemented the dress code in their education (“Should Schools Have Dress Codes?” 1). As a result, complaints, made by students and parents alike, are seen more commonly in the courts. Charles Haynes, a First Amendment Center scholar, anticipates these cases, will be won by the students and parents because, it is crucial for students to express themselves to prepare them for society (Haynes 1). The dress code negatively impacts students by stopping them from finding their identities and diverting attention from individuality, …show more content…
That is because the First Amendment protects the people's way of expressing themselves both politically and socially. Under the First Amendment the court reviews the banned message as two separate kinds of speeches, as either pure or symbolic speech, which determines the amount of protection that the message gets (Wilson 2). Pure speech, which one conveys ideas with limited amount of words, receives more protection, whereas symbolic speech, where someone is only conveying a message through behavior, get less (Wilson 2). Not only does the First Amendment contribute as a factor in the courts, but the courts also require that what the student is wearing is distactring and leads to a violent and disrupting educational environment and not based on personal prejudice (Wilson 3). In most cases revolving around the First Amendment as an argument and referring back to the Tinker case as a precedent, the Fourteenth Amendment is not used that often. The Fourteenth Amendment, which states that no state can deprive people of basic liberties and protections of the amendments and laws, without it conflicting with the law (Wilson 4). Additionally, the Due Process Clause found in the Fourteenth Amendment makes it necessary for a test which weighs state interest versus personal interest which in turn can affect the regulations of a dress code and …show more content…
However, with the dress code in place, the policy is now raising more problems. Problems such that other attire conflicts with education rather than helping. Since people are mostly getting in trouble because of dress code violations, this disadvantage can lead to a halt in education by making them make up missing work and not receiving a proper education from the teachers. Guidelines for hair, jewelry and cosmetics would be a burden for the students to change, because unlike clothing regulations that restricts appearances, such as face and make-up cannot change during the school day or a week while jewelry acts more of a decoration in most casts rather than a distraction (Wilson 6). Also, minor articles of clothing, such as hoodies and turtlenecks, can get in the way of thinking , since, it makes it seem more important that proper clothing wore is more crucial than what we learn (Robson 3). Therefore, the dress code acts more like an obstacle than an aid in

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