this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2024
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I think some codes are reasonable, mainly those that promote hygiene, which kids are notoriously bad at.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

There is no helping children’s hygiene except through education, rules won’t do shit

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Rules are an enforcement method instilling education of the consequences of not following the rules.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

because probably it was not bad enough for them to enforce it. But there is always that one kid...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's not school rule. It's parenting rule to provide your kid with clean clothes as much as you can, or at least, it should be.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I've never heard of it and didn't realize it was necessary. dark if true

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Did your parents never tell you to keep your clothes clean for school? That's just normal parenting, how's that dark?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

it's dark to think that some kids go to school wearing dirty clothes and so there's a policy against it

holy shit lemmy is stupid

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Well it was not clear what you were referring to. The comment you replied was talking about the rules, not the kids wearing dirty clothes.

Since when Lemmy got full of pretentious twats that label everyone stupid for having a misunderstanding that is clearly their fault?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

dark if true

why?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago (2 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Even 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Oh 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.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

Bruv, how you gonna punish a black kid for his hair? That’s fucked.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Why would hair, a part of a person's body, be a part of a dress code? White people are fucking insane...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

how else would discriminate against "people" (hint: they don't see dark skinned people as people)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Ooh, ooh, how about complaining about their accent and choice of slang! No way that's going to be racist wink wink nudge nudge

[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Dress 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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Sure. 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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Have you ever seen the kids shoes. Some have some expensive Air Jordan’s and others might be wearing gold trumps. They know who has the money just by looking down.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

In my school uniform included shoes (or at least they had to be of a certain colour). True, you will know who is rich anyway, but the point of the uniform was not to hide who was wealthy, but instead level all clothes and avoid flashing.

Personally, although I think uniforms don't serve their purpose, and kids are better off wearing whatever they want, I loved that I didn't have to think about what to wear when going to school.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (1 children)

This 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

This only makes sense if you don’t think about it at all.

That's why so many of our American policies work great.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

They were just jealous of how rad Mohawks look. In all seriousness, though, I'm sorry you had to deal with that racist bullshit.

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