As I am walking through the hallways at school, I see many different outfits. Some people are wearing shorts and some are wearing pants. The teachers are standing in the hallways eying all of the outfits and picking out the students that they think are wearing inappropriate clothes. Dress codes are definitely necessary, but they do not need to be taken to the extreme.
One of the main rules of the dress code at Harpursville is that a person's skirt or shorts have to be as long as their finger tips when their arms are down by their sides. This would be a good rule, except that some people have really long arms and some people have really short arms. So, one person could get away with the same shorts somebody else got in trouble for, just because their arms are shorter. Some employers say that some of the women at their workplace show up in extremely short shorts and skirts (Puente). At a school in Tennessee, the rules are being enforced strongly. Skirts above the knees are not acceptable (Breitman). If the dress code is going to be put in place, it should be enforced equally for all students.
There are some rules that were too difficult to enforce, so they no longer exist. Flip flops used to be against the dress code because they were considered dangerous. I think that it is the person's own fault if they fall up the stairs because they are wearing flip flops. Flip flops are also considered inappropriate. Wearing them to the White House to meet the President is definitely not appropriate (Cohen). Some people believe that flip flops are just as inappropriate as fish net stockings and stiletto boots (Puente). It was too difficult to enforce this rule because everybody still wore them to school, so they ended it.
Even though dress codes are necessary, there are problems with them. Sometimes, they are not enforced strongly enough. Other times, they are not enforced equally. Some teachers will see somebody wearing an outfit that is inappropriate and they will not say anything. Other teachers report every improper outfit they see to the principal. The style of clothes students used to wear were considered too revealing, now they are considered too casual (Breitman). A Christian school in North Carolina is even hooking up with a local department store to help high school seniors buy clothes appropriate for upcoming interviews (Puente). Some students will get in trouble for their outfits and other students get away with their attire, even if it is less appropriate than another students.
Dress codes are crucial in high school and other professional places. If there were not dress codes, people would be running around in very insufficient amounts of clothes. Some people would probably go without clothes altogether. At one office, a woman came to work without a bra (Puente). Some dress codes need to be strict, but others are taken to the extreme when it is not necessary. Places like lawyers offices need strict dress codes to show that they are serious and professional about their work. On the other hand, places like schools should be more laid back.
Dress codes are taken too far sometimes. There are some places that need strict dress codes and others that do not. Some of the rules at Harpursville High School are a little too extreme and are not enforced equally among all of the students.
