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shield AISD student survey shows that girls feel dress code is unfair MEENA ANDERSON staff reporter
CNN, TIME, The Huffington Post and many other news outlets have published stories about teenagers being suspended from school for dress code violations. So what about AISD’s own dress code? The language of the dress code itself is completely gender neutral; it does not distinguish between boys and girls. But AISD students who responded to The Shield’s dress code survey say that girls are more likely to be called for dress code violations. Freshman Bea Chamberlain said she has been dress coded between five and 10 times. “I was dress coded for wearing shorts or skirts that were called ‘distracting’ by my teachers and school administrators,” Chamberlain said. “But, when I was standing right next to my boy friends, I was always the only person dress coded, even if I was wearing shorts that were very close in length to the boys’.” Assistant principal Andrew Baxa agreed that girls are called for dress code violations more often than boys and said that he did not believe the disparity was due to any gender bias on the part of administrators. “If we looked at it as a percentage, there’s a higher percentage of females dress coded than males,” Baxa said, but “I also think that matches up with fashion styles and trends as far as that goes.” While girls might be more likely than boys to be dress-coded, boys within AISD also reported being flagged for violating the dress code. Anderson sophomore Ben Caven reported that he was dress-coded for wearing athletic shorts outside of P.E. class. “They’re athletic shorts, not showing off anything, they’re just comfortable, and I’ve only worn them a few times,” Caven said. While Caven questioned the need to ban athetlic shorts, others questioned the dress code on a much more basic and general level. “I believe there are times when there needs to be a dress code put in place,” freshman Eva Nobles said, “but ... I’ve seen girls wearing something completely in dress code told to cover up because they stand out more for race or body type, especially when it comes to gang colors and that’s just wrong.”
08 news
20 may 2016
shield AISD student survey shows that girls feel dress code is unfair MEENA ANDERSON staff reporter
CNN, TIME, The Huffington Post and many other news outlets have published stories about teenagers being suspended from school for dress code violations. So what about AISD’s own dress code? The language of the dress code itself is completely gender neutral; it does not distinguish between boys and girls. But AISD students who responded to The Shield’s dress code survey say that girls are more likely to be called for dress code violations. Freshman Bea Chamberlain said she has been dress coded between five and 10 times. “I was dress coded for wearing shorts or skirts that were called ‘distracting’ by my teachers and school administrators,” Chamberlain said. “But, when I was standing right next to my boy friends, I was always the only person dress coded, even if I was wearing shorts that were very close in length to the boys’.” Assistant principal Andrew Baxa agreed that girls are called for dress code violations more often than boys and said that he did not believe the disparity was due to any gender bias on the part of administrators. “If we looked at it as a percentage, there’s a higher percentage of females dress coded than males,” Baxa said, but “I also think that matches up with fashion styles and trends as far as that goes.” While girls might be more likely than boys to be dress-coded, boys within AISD also reported being flagged for violating the dress code. Anderson sophomore Ben Caven reported that he was dress-coded for wearing athletic shorts outside of P.E. class. “They’re athletic shorts, not showing off anything, they’re just comfortable, and I’ve only worn them a few times,” Caven said. While Caven questioned the need to ban athetlic shorts, others questioned the dress code on a much more basic and general level. “I believe there are times when there needs to be a dress code put in place,” freshman Eva Nobles said, “but ... I’ve seen girls wearing something completely in dress code told to cover up because they stand out more for race or body type, especially when it comes to gang colors and that’s just wrong.”
08 news
20 may 2016
