What are dress codes all about; are they to keep the kids from getting picked on for their clothes? Or is it to knock out the creativity of kids? Now I can see what some of the schools are getting at, statistics report overall school crime down 14.7 percent in 2000 as reported from police departments in New York City. But where does everyone stand on the matter of dress codes? What should be allowed and what shouldn’t be allowed? Where do I stand on this matter?
Some schools permit flip-flops and at others they are banned. Syracuse's regulations also call for no dragging shoelaces. To me that is a little too strict, I mean what happens if my shoe comes untied right in front of a teacher will I get detention? A lot of clothes that are allowed normally have nothing wrong or offensive on them. For most dress codes they have guys wear button up polo shirts because they want everyone to look the same, and it’s friendly for those people who are tight on money.
Dress codes help “Reduces the risk of students being robbed to and from school, or for that matter in school, of expensive clothing, jewelry, etc.” says National School Safety and Security Services. Jewelry is one of the biggest conflicts that happens when dealing with dress codes because they cost a lot of money. But people wear jewelry such as watches to tell the time and use them for a good purpose. Some people wear jewelry to show of sports achievements, like winning state, or setting a record.
Allen, 17, a senior at Henninger High School in Syracuse says that “You don't have to show that much skin if you're a girl, and if you're a boy you can't have your pants so they're off your butt," she said. "You have to dress appropriately, like you would in the business world." This is one of the best statements I could find on this matter and I agree with her so much. Clothes are used to expresses yourself, and yet it should be appropriate for the most part.

CBA senior Nathan Frechette said “he's used to the rules, but believes it can get too extreme when students are admonished because one corner of their shirt came untucked.” This is just one example of what happens when dress codes are too strict. In Cannon Falls, Guys have a few things that we are not allowed to wear: shirts with alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sex, or are slanderous to women. Being the male students of Cannon Falls, we don’t have many restrictions and some times that can be a good thing and a bad thing.
Now girls on the other are a lot more restricted then guys, because the clothes they wear can be more provocative then what guys can wear. The short’s rule is one of the rules that any girl in our school hates. Because the shorts have to be down to their knuckles when their arms are straight down up against their legs, with this some girls have longer arms then their legs so that their shorts will look even smaller then they really are. That rule also applies to skirts.
Now my opinion on this matter is that there should be codes and there shouldn’t be. Dress codes are in important thing to have in schools, but they shouldn’t be enforced so hard and strict. Kids need to be able to express them selves. If we cant then what is the point of learning art, music, and all that other fine arts. We need that stuff and need the right to do it, but things should be restricted like showing over half of your body and wearing slanderous shirts. So I like dress codes and don’t like them they are good and bad, and we should like them and hate them its just how things go.