I’ve personally been a student at Pike County Georgia Schools for a very long time. Within my time there, I have saw many people get dress-coded. By people, I mean I have only ever saw girls dress-coded. The dress code specifically targets females.

I have seen girls forced to change because their shoulders were deemed a distraction, while guys could not even wear a shirt and not a single teacher would bat an eye. 

I have seen girls sent home for a hole in their jeans just a tad too high, while you could see a boy’s boxers through his, yet nobody said a thing. 

This is because at Pike County, our dress code is sexist. We claim to be a modern school, yet we are preaching and enforcing outdated ideas. By taking time out of a girl’s learning day so that a male student isn’t possibly distracted, you are saying that his learning is more important than hers. 

Might I also remind you that the majority of students in the Pike County school system are minors. They are under 18, children. By saying they should cover up more as to not be a distraction, you are sexualizing a minor.

Just so I am clear, to an adult there should be nothing “sexual” or “distracting” about a minor’s body. These are children. Especially in middle school, which I have found the dress-code to be the  strictest. These are 12 year old girls being told they must leave class because their outfit is distracting. You are molding young female minds to objectify themselves. To view their own body as nothing, but a distraction. You are teaching young male students that everything females do is for them. You are teaching young males that a girl should leave class, so he isn’t distracted. 

Instead, I recommend a different approach. As opposed to teaching girls to be ashamed of their bodies and take away valuable learning time, teach boys to respect women. Teach boys that women don’t dress for their attention. Teach these boys that we are here to learn just as they are, and we deserve the opportunity to do so without interruption. As a school, you should be preparing them for the real world, which isn’t a 17th century colony were women don’t dare show their upper arm. Teach them for the actual real world where women are people just like them, that have the right to wear what they please.

You are objectifying young girls by enforcing this horrid dress code. You are contributing to low self-esteem. You are contributing to rape culture. You are contributing to poor mental health among teens.   

A minor showing her shoulder in 100 degree weather doesn’t affect your ability to teach, nor does it affect my ability to learn.

“Well, every school in America is like this.” Ok, well I go to Pike County, and if you’re reading this you most likely do too. We can be a leader for change, and inspire others. 

The bottom line is we come to school to learn and feel safe. We shouldn’t feel objectified and degraded by the system that is supposed to allow us to thrive. We should feel like equals, not underlings. 

Thank you.