Thursday, March 8, 2007

Should students be suspended for inappropriate dress?

So I read a lot of articles in order to keep up to date and to keep my mind in teacher mode. The latest topic I read was suspension for inappropriate dress.

In the schools I taught in, students were sent home if they were dressed inappropriately. They were not suspended. I personally don't like that. A poor choice should not result in losing a chance to learn. Plus, many students dress inappropriately in order to get sent home or receive the attention.

I like the "ugly t-shirt" theory. I sat in a class once, where the teacher stood at the door and handed out t-shirts to any student that walked in and was dressed inappropriately. He did not have administration backing up dress code --therefore the kids wore whatever they wanted--except in his class. The kids were not very excited about wearing the teacher's old t-shirts, so very quickly they just learned to dress appropriately or deal with the t-shirt.

Ideally administration should back up the dress code AND all teachers should follow that dress code. If a student is dressed inappropriately--it should be caught first hour. They should be sent to office and their item of clothing should be confiscated and they should be given a t-shirt. They then can receive their item of clothing back when they bring the t-shirt back laundered. If there are multiple offenses with the same item of clothing, the parent should have to come to the school to pick up the item of clothing.

In the same regards--we should also have sweats provided for students. There are way to many minis and high hem lines and low riding stuff that should also be taken care of.

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