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.
Pants. 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.
They’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.
That’s a brave assumption in about 1/4 of the US.