School Dress Code Debates, Explained

Are school dress codes a tool for student safety or a restriction on their self-identity? The question has been debated for years.

See Also

School Climate & Safety Students Push Schools to Overhaul Dress Codes: Their Success Stories and Lessons Learned

Remove Save to favorites

Here are answers to some common questions about dress codes.

Ninety-three percent of school districts have dress codes or policies on what students wear to school, according to a Government Accountability Office report . These policies are meant to provide guidelines on what students can and can’t wear, including specific pieces of clothing, hairstyles, and accessories. Dress codes can vary widely in what they restrict. Some schools even require students to wear uniforms. Most often, though, dress codes ban clothes that the district considers revealing, distracting, controversial, or pose a safety threat to students.

The vast majority of dress codes—90 percent—ban clothing associated with girls, a Government Accountability Office report found. They also impose limits on the types of clothes students can wear. Commonly banned clothing items include halter or strapless tops, “skirts or shorts shorter than mid-thigh,” and “yoga pants or any type of skin tight attire,” the report says.

About a quarter of them specifically bar the exposure of “cleavage,” “breasts,” or “nipples,” which are aimed at female students. Many ban bare midriffs as well.

Almost 69 percent of dress codes ban clothing associated with boys, such as “muscle tees” and “sagging pants.”

And 59 percent of dress codes have rules about students’ hairstyles that disproportionately impact Black students, the GAO report found.