Schools say dress codes promote discipline, but many Black students see traces of racism
Schools say dress codes promote discipline, but many Black students see traces of racism
To school administrators, strict dress codes can be tools for promoting uniformity and discipline. In recent years, schools have faced pressure to reconsider their policies.
For as long as schools have policed hairstyles as part of their dress codes, some students have seen the rules as attempts to deny their cultural and religious identities.
Nowhere have school rules on hair been a bigger flashpoint than in Texas, where a trial this week is set to determine whether high school administrators can continue punishing a Black teenager for refusing to cut his hair. The 18-year-old student, Darryl George, who wears his hair in locs tied atop his head, has been kept out of his classroom since the start of the school year.
To school administrators, strict dress codes can be tools for promoting uniformity and discipline. But advocates say the codes disproportionately affect students of color and the punishments disrupt learning. Under pressure, many schools in Texas have removed boys-only hair length rules, while hundreds of districts maintain hair restrictions written into their dress codes.
Schools that enforce strict dress codes have higher rates of punishment that take students away from learning, such as suspensions and expulsions, according to an October 2022 report from the Government Accountability Office. The report called on the U.S. Department of Education to provide resources to help schools design more equitable dress codes.
I don't believe in dress codes being of benefit, but this is strictly Texas being a dick.
I was in the Army (for school, the cause sucked), and African American soldiers were often CORRECTLY given a shaving profile, aka a waiver due to ingrown hair shaving issues especially in field conditions, and it wasn't a deal. At all. In the fucking military, the (understandably) pedant, rule follower, uniformity kings.
The Texas government just doesn't want to make reasonable accommodations because they're racist pieces of shit who believe they can legislate those outside their rigid, white nationalist, stepford aspiring in-group out of existence.
93I've never had a school uniform but someone told me that it could help hide "class" differences if someone were not able to dress their child as well. I'm not sure how well I buy that but it sounded like a possible benefit.
12Uniforms for me weren’t explicit but more “polo shirt and pants” so it was less a uniform and more a very strict dress code - this was also only in middle school so that kinda tracks with when kids can be some of the most vicious about it
9It doesn't work. You can still always tell the kids who have new uniforms vs those who had to buy second hand, or those who have designer backpacks or shoes from those who have Walmart versions. The rich kids who were raised to be assholes will still find something to look down on the poor kids about. Best friend was stuck in private school for years and hated it because of this.
9I could see how ot could hide class but then now you have to buy more clothes
4
People from the outside see stuff like the drill teams and forget that we've been known to fight in body armor, helmet, and our underwear. They think uniformity has some magical property and miss all the real reasons behind it.
2sorry can you expand a bit on the ingrown hair part? It doesnt make sense to me why one race would have issue with that while the rest doesnt
2It doesn't make sense to you that different hair types might have different likelihood of ingrown hairs?
11sorry can you expand a bit on the ingrown hair part? It doesnt make sense to me why one race would have issue with that while the rest doesnt
Good question! Would that we were all comfortable expressing our ignorance and asking for edification.
As I understand it, black people (and others with similar hair type) have a tightly curved hair follicle. The hair grows out of the follicle springy because it kinks before growing out. Like an extreme version of people with curly hair (who also have a curved hair follicle). This means that if the hair is shaved completely it is more likely to become ingrown.
9"Pseudofolliculitis barbae (razor bumps) is a common condition of the beard area occurring in up to 60% African American men and other people with curly hair. The problem results when highly curved hairs grow back into the skin causing inflammation and a foreign body reaction. Over time, this can cause keloidal scarring which looks like hard bumps of the beard area and neck. Shaving sharpens the ends of the hairs like a spear. The hairs then curve back into the skin causing pseudofolliculitis barbae.
A 100% effective treatment is to let the beard grow. Once the hairs get to be a certain length they will not grow back into the skin. For most cases, totally avoid shaving for 3 to 4 weeks until all lesions have subsided, while applying a mild prescription cortisone cream to the involved skin each morning. Shaving every other day, rather than daily, will improve pseudo-folliculitis barbae. If one must use a blade, water soften the beard first with a hot, wet washcloth for 5 minutes. Then use lubricating shaving gel (Edge, Aveeno), and the Aveeno PFB Bump Fighter Razor or the Flicker razor. Shave with the grain of the beard and do not stretch the skin. Use only one stroke over each area of the beard."
5It’s not just black people, it’s just more common with them.
I have curly facial hair and I have to leave a few mm instead of shaving, or else I get ingrown hairs.
4To expand on the other response, the Army doesn't deny shaving waivers to white guys either. I had one every time I went overseas because my face is right on the line. With a weekend to rest it, hot water and all the products, it goes okay. But without all that I get rashes. So allowances were made.
2Black people (and others with similar hair type) have a tightly curved hair follicle. The hair grows out of the follicle springy because it kinks before growing out. Like an extreme version of people with curly hair (who also have a curved hair follicle). This means that if the hair is shaved completely it is more likely to become ingrown.
1
funny its only the deep south where black kids are given this kind of treatment.
might be racist? these kids are being punished for not looking white enough, and the schools admins get to snicker in their racism.
59Racist? No, some of their best servants are black.
9
The article and comments seem to be primarily focused on the racist aspects of dress codes. I just wanted to chime in and point out they are also very transphobic and queerphobic and are very often used as a way of punishing queer people. So multiple axes of oppression involved with dress codes.
29Pants. Pants are gender neutral. School uniforms are also great equalizers so that students from poorer families don't feel othered by rich kids that can afford all of the latest and greatest brands. The solution is so simple. School girls don't literally have to be in skirts. Gender does not have to be reinforced in order to promote a healthy learning environment.
1They're not "equalizers", no matter how many times you post this comment. Richer students will have newer and cleaner uniforms, even if they are exactly the same. Also, just talking about what presents they got for Christmas or where they went on vacation will make it obvious. Uniforms just look nice to parents.
6so that students from poorer families don’t feel othered by rich kids that can afford all of the latest and greatest brands
and then the rich kid has the better phone, the cool shoes and I could go on. On top often there are different quality levels of clothes that cost different amounts of money and you can see that even if the color is the same and then you have the poorest kid that has to wear the used uniform. On top the rich kid has ten of them, so if they get dirty there is always a fresh one, the kids who had only two pants were called the "dirt kids" and stumbling and ripping your trousers - they get stitched together because buying new ones isn't going to happen until next month when Mom gets paid. You suddenly grow a lot - gratulations, now you have to wear pants that are too short for some time.
If bullying because of money vs no money is a problem at your school you will not change that by trying to make everyone look samy at a surface level, because the problem is way deeper and mostly starts with the parents and they do not wear a school uniform.
Also it is not just gender it is also body shape. I was always fatter than others. In a school uniform, skirt or pants, I was looking terrible, the joke was already made, the kids just had to laugh.
2Pants. Pants are gender neutral.
That's a brave assumption in about 1/4 of the US.
0
Why would hair, a part of a person's body, be a part of a dress code? White people are fucking insane...
29how else would discriminate against "people" (hint: they don't see dark skinned people as people)
3Ooh, ooh, how about complaining about their accent and choice of slang! No way that's going to be racist wink wink nudge nudge
2
Fools like this want everyone to be invisible, anonymous, and unimportant, being non-white is already a splinter in their eye unless you prove you’re extraordinary
2Why would dress codes, a part of society broadly, be a part of white people? .... white people are whack though
-2
I've been teaching for almost 20 years. Dress codes do not promote discipline whatsoever. Administrators mete out disciplinary measures when students don't follow the dress code, to be sure, but the only thing the dress code serves to do is promote conformity.
22Dress codes, while promoting conformity, also allow students to breathe easier knowing that they don't have to worry about keeping up with expensive brand name trends in clothing. A school uniform is a great equalizer and can remove the classist element, the bullying that can occur, that students from lower socio economic backgrounds face.
-1This has been debunked over and over and over again. Most dress codes don't limit the kinds of accessories you wear, from bags to watches to jewelry. It doesn't limit what phone you can have, what car you can drive, what food you can eat. Some have mentioned before that a lot of schools even have multiple tiers of uniforms to get fancier.
This only makes sense if you don't think about it at all. There will always be bullying, and there will always be bullying against poor kids. The only thing the dress code serves to do is promote conformity.
13Sure. If the only things you can wear are school issued and nobody is allowed to bring their lunch, and nobody is allowed to drive.
The vast majority of American dress codes for schools aren't actual uniforms. You buy whatever you want that fits the dress code. And for white guys it comes down to, "please just wear something" while everyone else has to read a novella length dress code to figure out if their school clothes and hair from last year are still legal.
4
I come from a country with school uniforms and I hated it.
Felt more like a way to control us and/or it was all about the schoool's image.
Our hair had to follow certain rules, short, no colour, no gel.
21School uniforms are a related, but different, issue. School dress codes in the U.S. do allow freedom to wear some of what you want, but many of the restrictions are arbitrary "no hats" or antiquated "skirts must be below the knee." And many of the dress codes are intentionally designed to favor things like white people's hair without caring about the legitimate physical issues black people might have with those hair codes. Many are also designed to shame girls.
14Yeah we had them in Australia and they fucking suck so bad, not to mention it’s more expensive buying the school clothes you can only ever really wear at school.
Also had rules around hair, makeup, etc. but I didn’t really run into them too much.
7we never had hair restrictions ... that I bumped up against (even with wild colours) ... and getting detention for non sanctioned clothing was a badge of honor. I basically spent my entire final year in a trench coat, and maybe Columbine helped me out a little bit there, but honestly the whole 90's was basically a class on how to subvert the school dress code for me and my classmates.
but I guess if you lack imagination it could be a bit stifling not being able to get your personality off the rack.
-9
Even the military has recognized that certain hairstyles are worse on different ethnicities hair, and has subsequently relaxed the standards since I've been active.
The military, which is all about uniformity and "discipline", can see that different cultures have different hair treatments/needs, and not everything has to be "all Caucasian, all the time".
And yet our K-12 schools can't seem to do that?! Like wtf?
19Oh they know. Discipline doesn't mean punishment for wrong deeds, it means forceful changes in any behavior, concepts, or ideas that the one executing the discipline dislikes. Disrespecting your "betters" is always a part of this too. I got pulled over once because I passed a police office. He was going under the speed limit so u went the speed limit and passed him. His reason was not showing due respect.
3Even better, the principle in Texas pointed to the military as a shining example of uniformity. Not realizing the real reasons behind that. (Easy field hygiene)
Yet again a military larper ruins it for everyone around them.
2
I'm native on my mother's side and I'd get the same thing about Mohawk style haircuts and how they're "inappropriate and against code". Back in those days you couldn't do much but deal with their racist rules
13They were just jealous of how rad Mohawks look. In all seriousness, though, I'm sorry you had to deal with that racist bullshit.
1
Bruv, how you gonna punish a black kid for his hair? That’s fucked.
12discipline is a bullshit virtue to promote. innate subjection to authority is not something to foster in children
9Dress codes are a great excuse for racism against anyone you hate, if they really want it it should be more like ‘wear simple and not overly colorful clothes’ or something like that, rather than ‘that hairstyle is not allowed, noo how dare you cover your head!’, this can be done in numerous ways
9I think some codes are reasonable, mainly those that promote hygiene, which kids are notoriously bad at.
8There is no helping children’s hygiene except through education, rules won’t do shit
4Rules are an enforcement method instilling education of the consequences of not following the rules.
4
can you give me some examples of that? I've never seen a policy that your clothes had to be clean but maybe that's because I never went to look for that sort of thing
2
I wish my k-12 experience had a dress code. Nothing crazy. No hair requirement nonsense. Just everyone, every gender, wears the same polo/tshirt, and the same pants. Makeup is fine, whatever. 1) cost effective. 2) no thinking in the morning. I don’t think discipline has anything to do with it, and that shouldn’t be the focus.
7Me, too. I remember getting bullied for my clothes and lack of style in elementary school. It would've been nice to take that out of the equation. Definitely wouldn't have wanted hair to be part of the rules, though.
2
I went to highschool for 1 year in the UK, where a uniform was mandatory for every student.
I can assure you, it does not promote discipline in any way. Kids fight, do stupid things, and skip classes regardless of how they're dressed.
7Fuck dress code mostly, but honestly I'd have been fine with school uniforms if they were free, comfortable, not hideous or obviously designed by an old pedo with a uniform fetish, have pockets and no functionality affecting design flaws, and we got enough to wear while others were in laundry. Or if you could exchange for a clean one at school, like jobs with uniform service.
Forcing hair style though is a fuck that. In real life there are like 2 situations that can justify hairstyle mandates and even then only in a very limited manner, food handling jobs the hair should fit in a hairnet and potentially beard net, and trades and other labour jobs that need respirators which require full shave for definitive functionality and short ish hair with machinery that can pull your hair or beard in and kill you. I had a very far back hair line from a young age and every hair style looks like shit on me, so I wouldn't care for myself generally as maintaining it is a meritless endeavour that I wish could be automated. Now if they covered my hair cut or had a decent on call barber every now and then students could visit for a basic haircut if they didn't already have a hairstyle they maintain themselves, that would have been sick. Go to school, get a hair cut and uniform exchange in the free block, grab a bowl noodle from locker and hot water from caf or the student advice lounge. Maybe I wouldn't have hated 90% of school and just 70 ish instead.
5I would say that to school, children should be appropriately clothed because it’s an official institution. That means, you should not come there half naked or anything similar. However, uniform/sth very strict seems like a useless move. I can imagine something more comfortable.
1Fun fact. You can take your old school uniform, rip it up with a knife, and mail it to your principal with a note scrolled on it saying "this is what I think of your fucking uniform, shithead".
-6nothing really preventing Darryl from getting his GED and joining the workforce - he's 18.
-8I would have argued against this as a kid, but having since taught overseas in places with school uniforms, I would say that's the way to go.
Dictating hairstyles to too much though. Particularly when you consider the variety of hair types you're going to see in a diverse country like the U.S.
-8That's the thing, though. Dress codes aren't about uniforms but about uniformity and punishment. It's about everything else - what haircuts you can have, how much makeup you can put on, whether or not you can use hair gel, etc. It's an excuse to punish people for not being white enough, or for being women, etc.
It's justification for stomping out anything outside of the dominant culture (or what these racists believe the dominant culture should be).
A uniform is one thing, but so many of these dress codes come down to "we don't like black people having different hair" or "we want to shame high school girls into wearing long skirts because we believe that men can't control themselves and the boys and teachers both will be so distracted and horny that they won't be able to learn/teach."
This stuff always reminds me of those ads for skin bleaching kits from around the 60s that had taglines like "Be white. Be loved."
6Yeah, basically all Japanese schools have strict dress codes and nobody ever complains about cultural or ethnic insensitivity in...
Checks notes
...The monocultural ethnostate of Japan.
3
The title talks about dress codes, but the article focuses almost exclusively on hair.
-10to the school there is no difference.
24Every single dress code I've been under has included hair.
Edit: I should add, some have been more restrictive than others. Back in high school, it was pretty restrictive. No unnatural dyes, stuff like that. I've also been under ones that essentially boil down to "just don't look like a complete mess man".
16My current employee has a dress code that basically boils down to 'dress professionally, no jeans' for everyone without any mention of hairstyles. The dress code it replaced about a decade ago had everything including hairstyles defined by gender roles.
Every dress code I have had at schools or employers included hairstyle rules.
9
Yeah, they’re usually part of dress code. Like at my work for instance, it’s part of the dress code to not show any signs of growing facial hair. You can either be clean shaven or have a full beard, but no inbetween.
11
We should difference between racism and victimizing here. I don't know which of these two is.
If the dress code apply for white and black kids I believe it's just victimizing and shaming racism.
If the dress code apply only for black or white kids then definetly it's racism.
-16It doesn't have to apply only for one group to be racism. Redlining was a practice that was technically about areas, not people, and there could be white people within those areas, but it's still racism. If the effects of a policy land disproportionately on one group or affect one group differently, like the shaving policy AllonzeeLV mentioned, where a frequency of shaving harms one group more than another, holding the group that will be harmed to a policy that harms them is racist.
14Pretty accurate, if someone it's discriminated for any racial characteristic not just the skin color I believe it's racism too.
Anyway dress codes are dress codes it doesn't matter which race you are if there is a dress code to follow you should follow it.
Maybe we should talk about dresscodeism.
-15
You can have policies that equally apply to all people that are still racist. Same with sexist. If, for example, the dress code requires men to have a short list of approved haircuts, and all of them are styles that only work with a specific type of white hair, the policy is racist.
On the sexism side, if the policy is that everyone must wear an exact uniform, but that uniform doesn't fit wide hips or large chests, the policy is sexist.
1