In the buckeye school of the arts dress code there are two main things we would like to change, no rips in pants, and no bra straps. If you are to break any part of the dress code and do not have a change of clothes you will sit in the office all day, even if it’s something simple. Around October of 2019, I remember walking into the office because for in school suspension. I saw one of my classmates sitting in the office, I asked him why he was in the office, he replied “because I’m wearing ripped jeans, I’m waiting for my mom to bring my clothes” I sat next to him for the rest of the day. He was not allowed to go back to class because of the rips in his pants. The school took away from his education because he broke the dress code. Most commonly schools argument is “it’s distracting to the other students” so by removing the students from the classroom you’re not distracting from their education anymore. you are completely taking it away.

 I’ve heard from teachers and even the principal is that the dress code is there to keep us “safe”. Safe from what? Safe from other people in our class? If that’s the case don’t you think instead of restricting our self expression you should be teaching self control? What specifically are we being kept safe from, sexual assult? That is rape culture. Once again that falls under the self control topic, I imagine that’s what you’re trying to keep us safe from, if so you are sexualizing minors. The dress code targets feminine people, and we are told it is in place to keep us “safe”. If I am in an environment where rules have to be set to limit our self-expression because people cannot control themselves, there isn’t anything you can do to make me and the others feel safe no matter what rules you set in place are.