Five Years of Uniform Policy

One of my students strolled in five minutes after the 8 a.m. bell rang and I stated that she would get a tardy.   She proceeded to argue with me about the mark on her record, and asked “what does it matter if I come in late or not.”     The question is valid, but I didn’t really want to spend valuable class time explaining the importance of being on time, how time is the one thing you can never get back, why it disrupts the class and potentially interferes with her success.  Instead, I asked her to stay after class to discuss it.

The thing with rules and the enforcing rules is that those who are in authority want to understand that there’s a valid reason for enforcing a rule.  When we enforce the tardiness rule, there are good reasons (as stated above.)  When my students aren’t allowed to wear open-toed shoes or bring drinks into the lab, there’s a reason for it.   My cell phone policy also has reasons; even my students who hate the rule will concede that the reasons are sound.

Then we get to the dress code, which requires students to wear black or khaki pants with a polo shirt.

We’ve had five years now of the dress code and as I walk through the halls of the final quarter of 2016, it doesn’t seem that we even have the policy.  Don’t get me wrong, the kids are dressed fine, nothing majorly inappropriate, but I don’t see the polo shirts and khaki pants they are supposed to be wearing.  What I do witness is a sea of yoga (or stretch) pants and either black or red t-shirts, which are the school colors.   It’s close to the dress code and the students know that most teachers probably won’t send them to the office over it.   If they do, well, they have a polo shirt in their locker that they can throw on over that t-shirt on their way to the principal’s office.  An hour later, they might end up with a detention or a warning, but they have most assuredly missed the lesson for the day, and possibly even multiple classes if they get assigned to In School Suspension.

So why aren’t teachers consistent with enforcing this rule?   The main reason probably has to do with time. It takes time out of class to deal with the kid wearing the wrong shirt, and  then you will need to fill out the paperwork and send the kid to the office.  In addition, the student who has left the class because of a t-shirt has now missed class, and most teachers understand that missing class does interfere with that student’s success.  Teachers will quietly ignore it, thinking that maybe another teacher in another class that isn’t doing  important things will catch it.  The problem is, we are all doing important things.   That t-shirt just isn’t as important as the student learning the quadratic equation, the causes of the civil war, or the significance of the endocrine system.

Is there a reason for the policy?   There are definitely pros and cons to having a school uniform.   This page has a comprehensive list of the arguments for and against imposing a strict uniform on students.    Going forward, there is some talk of revisiting the uniform policy,  discussing what changes could (or should) be made.  Ultimately, it is the decision of the school board and superintendent, though it would probably help if students and staff had a clear view of what the policy is supposed to accomplish.    In addition, I would like to see discussions on how we can improve enforcement of the policy with minimal disruptions to learning, and reducing the conflict that occurs between teachers and students over what they are wearing.   Classroom and school culture is important, and most teachers know that to encourage and motivate teenagers, you must develop positive relationships with them.

The truth is, what students are wearing doesn’t really matter to me, what matters is their engagement in the lesson, their attention, and their willingness to learn.   All of those things can be done with or without khaki pants and polos.