Recently Fremont School District put a ban on certain clothing brands. This has cause a students and parents to be upset with the district. This is not the first school district to ban certain clothing brands. Within the past few months, Murrieta Valley Schools has been approached by Metal Mulisha Sports Gear about a possible lawsuit for banning their clothing from schools. The school said that the ban of certain clothing was because of the possible gang association and that some students might be intimidated by these clothes. Metal Mulisha states that their clothing was not designed as a racial statement as some people believe it was. The clothing line was actually designed as a dirt bike clothing line with no intention of racism. A couple other brands that were banned were SRH and Tapout.
The Public School Parent’s Network address the pros and cons of having a school dress code. One of the pros that they mention is to help prevent gang association in school. Another pro is that it would prevent student for being bullied for their clothing. However, they also focus on the cons of dress codes which includes limiting the students self expression. Some people believe that if students are prohibited from wearing certain clothing to express themselves that they will find other inappropriate ways to express themselves.
I understand that schools are concerned about gang association and other problems that are associated with dress codes but I also know that limiting brand name clothing isn’t going to fix the problem. I completely agree with not allowing students to wear clothes that contain beer, drug, and/or sexual content or even clothing with profanity. I think that the only way a school is going to be able to completely avoid negative associations from clothing is to go to a set dress code like private schools. Children are told to be themselves and not worry about what other think about them, but if dress codes were forced they would not be able to do that. I would enjoy the fact of not having to figure out what I was going to wear everyday since it would already be selected for me but I would not enjoy the fact that I could not wear my favorite shirt or jeans. Also, uniforms can get expensive. Especially since you would still have to buy the clothes that you would wear outside of school.
All in all I would disagree on the fact of banning specific name brand clothing from school dress codes. I think that it is a little extreme and that the parent should be responsible for the clothing that their children wear to school, not the school district.
In my opinion, if you ban one brand or two of clothing then it is possible that the students will just find another brand of clothing to wear. I think that the brand of clothing or way you dress does make you look intimidating or mild, but still actions make the person. If you are going to be a bully, you are going to act like one too. The clothes to me are like a visual aid so you can see what's coming and you know who to stay away from.
ReplyDeleteI don't think banning a certain brand is going to change anything. I agree that there has to be guidelines, but anyone who has kids or has been around kids knows that it doesn't matter what brand it is, they can all present a product that is inappropriate at times. I that it is more important to concentrate on the what the shirt says on the outside than the label that is on the inside.
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