“I heard that our principal, Ms. Jackson, was meeting with some parents who want us all to transition from the current school dress code to wearing school uniforms,” says Sumiko.

“Ew!” says Alyssa. “I hate that idea. We already have a dress code to keep skin exposure to a reasonable level—no shorts or skirts higher than our fingertips, no bare midriffs, that kind of thing. And we’re not allowed to have swear words printed on our clothes. I’m okay with that, but we should still have some right to express ourselves in the way we dress.”

“I don’t know,” says Ethan. “Deciding what to wear and trying to figure out what’s in and what’s out is a pain. Having to wear uniforms would take some adjustment, but it would make life simpler in the long run.”

“I don’t want my school to monitor every aspect of my life,” says Mario. “What I wear should be up to me. I definitely don’t want uniforms. And as for the dress code, there are bound to be cases where it’s unclear whether a certain outfit fits the rules or not. It’s not like a dress code can be as clear and objective as things are supposed to be in science, for example.”

“Hmm. What do you mean?” asks Ms. Kahn. “Why don’t you think a dress code can be objective?”

“Well, the rules are always going to be open to interpretation,” says Mario. “Students might interpret them differently from the way the administrators who wrote the rules meant them.”

“Can you give some examples?” says Ms. Kahn. “The class can think about how to modify the rules to be clearer.”

Mario came up with some examples of rules and the ways people might misinterpret them (by accident or on purpose). Below are three of his examples.

Discussion Question:

If you could modify your school’s dress code or uniform, what adjustments would you make?