Stuyvesant High School is considered one of New York City's top public high schools, but some of the students there think a recently imposed dress code is just dumb.
The New York Post reports that about 100 students decided to protest the code, which bans girls from exposing their shoulders, midriffs, lower backs, bras and underwear, by having a "Slutty Wednesday," during which they intentionally broke the conservative dress standards.
"We work our asses off here, and school is about learning. Clothing is not important," ninth-grader Lucy Greider told the Post. Greider says she's been brought into the office 10 times this year for violating the dress code, which was introduced last fall. "A lot of the classrooms don't have a/c's and when it is 80 degrees outside and it is really hot, it's perfectly OK to show a little skin."
A 2010 poll by the National Center for Education Statistics found that about 57 percent of public schools enforce some kind of dress code. In addition, 19 percent of public schools require school uniforms, a 12 percent increase over the previous decade.
Dress codes, including school uniforms, often drift in and out of the public debate. However, more restrictive dress codes are usually reserved for private school systems. In 1996, President Bill Clinton stirred up controversy when he had the Department of Education distribute manuals to all of the nation's 16,000 school districts on how they could legally enforce school uniform policies without violating the First Amendment.
source, with video.
edit: all right, mea culpa for not posting this article, which explains the really shitty sexism and sizeism that this policy enforces....which is why the students adopted the term "slutty wednesday" in the first place. i hope this will clarify things/chasten some of you.
The New York Post reports that about 100 students decided to protest the code, which bans girls from exposing their shoulders, midriffs, lower backs, bras and underwear, by having a "Slutty Wednesday," during which they intentionally broke the conservative dress standards.
"We work our asses off here, and school is about learning. Clothing is not important," ninth-grader Lucy Greider told the Post. Greider says she's been brought into the office 10 times this year for violating the dress code, which was introduced last fall. "A lot of the classrooms don't have a/c's and when it is 80 degrees outside and it is really hot, it's perfectly OK to show a little skin."
A 2010 poll by the National Center for Education Statistics found that about 57 percent of public schools enforce some kind of dress code. In addition, 19 percent of public schools require school uniforms, a 12 percent increase over the previous decade.
Dress codes, including school uniforms, often drift in and out of the public debate. However, more restrictive dress codes are usually reserved for private school systems. In 1996, President Bill Clinton stirred up controversy when he had the Department of Education distribute manuals to all of the nation's 16,000 school districts on how they could legally enforce school uniform policies without violating the First Amendment.
source, with video.
edit: all right, mea culpa for not posting this article, which explains the really shitty sexism and sizeism that this policy enforces....which is why the students adopted the term "slutty wednesday" in the first place. i hope this will clarify things/chasten some of you.
This really isn't that tough of a school policy unless there are rules I'm not aware of. I went to school in two different districts over my high school years, and one of them had rules similar to this and the other had rules even stricter that dictated hair color, shoelace color, shirt designs, etc., so I don't see why this is seen as strict.
The real problem is that there are classrooms without AC. I'd say that should really be the focus as there shouldn't be classes without AC. Plus, I'm feeling a little weird by students protesting and calling it "Slutty Wednesday", but I can't pinpoint why and it might just be me. IDK.
I could imagine these students and their parents could protest the school board or whoever makes the decisions to install ACs/have them serviced to get something done. Or, perhaps they could hold some sort of fundraiser to get people to help pay for them/donate window units. I don't think there is nothing that can be done. When our AC would break, school would shut down until it was fixed because having AC in a hot, humid southern state was important. Especially if students and faculty started to drop or become sluggish from the heat.
it's not as simple as having a fundraiser, it costs a lot of money to run ac over the long term. especially in old buildings that weren't built with good circulation and energy efficiency in mind. I went to a high school with no ac and I'd rather have had textbooks, an exterminator, and no fees than central air, personally. we really only needed it in may, june, and september.
i took computer classes in high school because those rooms had window ACs. ;)
We didn't have a/c in my high school either. There weren't too many hot days in Michigan (not like in say, Texas, where I could see a/c in schools being necessary), so it would've cost more than it was really worth.
Could you do it if you wore a strapless bra?
anyway this is silly, visible bra straps don't hurt anyone...