Kameron Maier

In 1965, a group of students sued their school system for not letting them express their
views about the Vietnam war. The students sued the school district because they said dress
codes were against the 1st Amendment. However, without dress codes, school time can
become more chaotic and unruly than if there was a dress code. Dress codes can decrease
bullying in a school campus. Furthermore, dress codes help boost learning potential, and
likewise can help students moral.

Dress codes help students by increasing learning potential. In Document 4, paragraph

27, it says, “School administrators and teachers who support dress codes say that in addition to
making gang confrontations less likely, they help create an atmosphere conducive to learning.”
This evidence clearly states that dress codes can help students study better, and thus get better
grades, which can help them get into better colleges and jobs.

Besides helping students achieve better grades, dress codes can also decrease gang
symbols showing up in schools. In Document 5, paragraph 2, the text states, “The focus then
was on potential discipline and safety benefits, including: preventing gang members from
wearing gang colors and insignia at school." From this text, you can see that dress codes can
decrease students wearing clothing that would promote gangs in a learning environment.

Along with decreasing, the amount of gang logos in school, dress codes can help
student morale. In Document 4, paragraph 30, the text says, “When they’re dressed nicer, they
feel better and work hard.” The evidence here clearly shows that without dress codes, schools
could have a decrease in morale, leading to lower grades. With that in mind, you can clearly
understand that dress codes are good for schools.

Besides boosting students moral, dress codes are good because they can decrease
bullying, and help with learning. Some students, and even parents, think that students do not
need a dress code. Those types of people don’t like dress codes because it can restrict freedom
of speech. However, with clear guidelines, they are one of the best ideas that school boards can
make if school systems want their school to become less chaotic, and more hardworking than
the rest.