Dear Mr/Mrs. President,

Stereotypical Towards Girls

Public school dress codes are mostly too strict towards us, girls, and I feel that is unfair. Some of these unnecessary rules include no spaghetti straps, shorts have to be no shorter than 3 inches above the knee, and no leggings/yoga pants. These rules reinforce stereotypes against girls implying that they are "slutty" for wearing leggings and spaghetti straps. This will then lead to a decrease in self-esteem because girls are already trying so hard to impress everyone around them and live up to society's expectations towards them without schools judging what they wear. According to the Girls' Attitude Survey, the overall proportion of girl surveyed who were not happy with their looks increased to 33% this year from 29% last year and the girls that are happy with their looks decreased to 63% from 73% 2 years ago. More statistic evidence like this can be found in the article found at this link: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/29/girls-low-self-esteem-rising-girlguiding-report . 

Dress Code Reasoning

Public schools reasoning behind the dress codes are that they maintain safety in the schools and reduce distractions in the learning environment. I disagree with their reasoning completely. Dress codes do not maintain safety. In fact, they even give the boys the thought that they are superior to girls by expressing that they have more rights according to the dress code. This could result in more issues of sexual harassment. You could decrease the chances of this happening by making a more strict curriculum in health classes in high school. They should be teaching more about sexual harassment instead of just touching on it. Now, the distracting aspect. This aspect is not true in that there are many other distractions in the classroom that have more of an impact than the way girls dress. Some of these other distractions include cellphones and friends. Teens are also just naturally distracted and there is no way to stop them from getting distracted without the willpower to stop. Girls should not be punished for boys not being able to control themselves.

Solutions

To settle the dispute of the dress code, schools should at least let the actual students have a say in the rules of the dress code. Maybe hold a vote or something along those lines. The students will be happier and I actually think the educational experience will increase in greatness. If schools don't want to take that route, an even easier way of settling this dispute is to have uniforms. Uniforms will provide the safety and will eliminate the distraction that public schools believe dress codes could do. According to a 2013 survey by the National Association of Elementary School Principles, 86% of school leaders said uniforms have a positive impact on peer pressure and 64% said they reduce bullying. Being a high school student, i would be perfectly fine with having uniforms and I have discussed this before with my friends and they all said they would not mind having uniforms and that it would actually be easier on them.

Please take into consideration my ideas. One problem solved, about 999999.9 more to go.