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Editor's note: Schools ond school districts face the challenge of monitoring students' modes of attire in a bid to promote order, an environment conducive to learning, to ward off gangs, and the list goes on. School districts across the country have adopted dress codes governing the way students dress for school. Trie U.S. Department of Education reported that about one in five public schools, including early colleges, required students to wear uniforms during the 2007-2008 school year. This is the first of a two-part article by family and consumer sciences educators looking at the relationship between dress and behavior among high school students. Trie second part will be in the February issue of Techniques.
SCHOOL SYSTEMS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES are faced with numerous concerns regarding student dress. Schools often address these concerns by enforcing dress codes, which are sometimes referred to as Appropriate School Attire (ASA), or by mandating school uniforms. The basis behind a school system implementing dress codes or school uniforms ranges from modesty concerns, to health and safety issues, to attempts to ensure that the school's classroom environment is conducive to learning. The issues surrounding a school system's decision to mandate student dress are controversial and, in our view, worthy of careful consideration of adolescent developmental issues. Additionally, we propose that a review of research studies that have attempted to either validate the importance of mandating school dress or discredit their importance is helpful to school systems faced with making such decisions.
Understanding the Mindset of Teens
The teen years are often depicted as being full of conflict, turmoil, alienation, recklessness, risky behaviors and challenges. Conflicts and challenges often surface over issues of dress between parents, school administrators and students. Adolescents may view these conflicts and challenges as a violation of individual rights (Freeburg, Workman, and LenztHees, 2004).
Clothing choices are especially important for adolescents as they interact and make the transition to adulthood. Adolescents view dress as a symbol of identification, self-expression, as well as a regulator of expected behavior. According to Papalia, Olds, and Feldman (2009), Erikson identified the chief developmental task of adolescence as the confrontation of the crisis of identity versus identity...