Should middle school students be allowed to wear leggings at school?

[Esmeralda]

I agree, Ascelpias, if all students AND teachers must abide by a strict uniform code.

Not teachers. Teachers may have a dress code, but they shouldn't wear uniforms.

 

[Esmeralda]

I agree, Ascelpias, if all students AND teachers must abide by a strict uniform code.

This is just f**king stupid. Teachers are professionals with college degrees, many with advanced degrees and many years of work as professionals. Do you wear a uniform to work, do any professionals wear uniforms to work? The teacher is the adult in the room: not a child. If a teacher dresses inappropriately, you can bet she/he hears about it from administration, and pretty much all schools have dress codes for teachers. But a uniform is not appropriate. The reason kids have uniforms is to avoid some kids being bullied because they don't have nice clothes like others or because they wear seriously inappropriate things like leggings. Get a grip: teachers are adults.

 

[Esmeralda]

I was going to post exactly that. Uniforms would solve the problem of inappropriate clothing, gang color issues, and save the parents money.

Yes, that is exactly what it is for. It also cuts down on bullying of kids who don't dress 'cool' or don't have money for nice clothes.

 

[Esmeralda]

"Maybe" is my answer, but that option doesn't exist among the poll options. I don't see the matter as binary, which is how the poll answer options tacitly present it.

I am of the mind that there are very few always-appropriate/always-inappropriate garments for individuals to wear. What "works" and when and what does not "work" and when depends as much on the wearer as it does on the circumstance of the wearing.

If the child is going to wear them as shown below, then no....

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If the child wears them as shown below, I see no problem with their doing so....

These ways of wearing leggings is fine for going to class.

(I don't approve of the coquettish bimbo pose, but the leggings are okay.)

The photos below are of high school students at the high school my son attended.

These looks are a bit more fashionable than I suspect most girls would don for school, but if my daughter were to wear it to class, I wouldn't object on the grounds of the leggings being inappropriate.

(Is the coquettish bimbo pose "a thing" among young women these days?")

If the school has an equestrian program, wearing something like this is fine for practice and whatnot. The look below is fairly typical of what my daughter wears/wore for recreational riding activities.

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Similarly, if the child's body shape is what I call "two tons of fun," then, mostly no, she should not wear leggings in lieu of pants or a dress/skirt. However, if she or her style guides have good style sense, there're ways she can wear leggings that don't look gross.

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At the end of the day, it just depends....I think parents and a school's administrators need to consider each case individually. Of course, school administrations prefer "cookie cutter" approaches to things like dress codes, but they are sometimes reticent or disallowed to implement a mandated uniform.



Aside:

I don't know why, but it strikes me as odd that, for the most part, dress code issues seem to swirl around girls rather than boys. I have three boys and a girl, and all of them figured out how to "put their sexy on" well before I'd have liked them to. As goes young male "sexy dress," what I observed differing was that "boy sexy" seemed to focus on how loose garments drape over their muscles rather than being skintight. From what I can tell, my kids' friends know as much about "putting their sexy on" as do adults.

At the end of the day, I had to accept that neither I nor the school's staff could police their every outfit choice. Accordingly, I had to trust in their exercising the good judgment they were taught to have. Giving kids free reign to exercise good judgment with their sartorial decisions and the consequences thereof strikes me as a fitting part of the "leash" parents can safely give kids. After all, learning to resist sartorial temptation -- be it the wearing or the inspiration attire may catalyze for "reaching out and touching" -- is among the things young people need to learn to resist and, when appropriate, not resist. It's never too soon to learn a lesson, and, frankly, the sooner one learns a lesson, the better.​

These are models. They are not middle and high school girls going to class.

 

[JakeStarkey]

I agree, Ascelpias, if all students AND teachers must abide by a strict uniform code.

Not teachers. Teachers may have a dress code, but they shouldn't wear uniforms.

Teachers should have uniforms to set the standard.

Fashion and design and competition among the teachers is unacceptable just as it is among the students.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Grow up, Esmeralda, and stop the entitlement defensiveness.

Teachers, males and females, are not more privileged than their students.

The purpose of education is not to be the cutest teacher and best dressed teacher at the school.

They are to teach, not fulfill their fashion and personal sense.

 

[ChrisL]

I wouldn't have a problem with teachers and kids at school wearing uniforms. Less distractions from the learning environment. No, teachers shouldn't be leaning over little boy's desks with their cleavage hanging out. The boy isn't hearing a WORD the teacher is saying at that point! Children are very easily distracted.

 

[ChrisL]

In today's world where teachers and students actually have AFFAIRS (as pathetic as that is), then it is only appropriate that they should all have to wear uniforms. School shouldn't be a fashion show anyways. All of that takes away from the learning environment and is nothing but a big distraction.

 

[Esmeralda]

I agree, Ascelpias, if all students AND teachers must abide by a strict uniform code.

Not teachers. Teachers may have a dress code, but they shouldn't wear uniforms.

Teachers should have uniforms to set the standard.

Fashion and design and competition among the teachers is unacceptable just as it is among the students.

BULLSHIT. You are wrong. Teachers are not competing with how they dress. They are educated professional people who set a standard for the young. YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT EDUCATION OR BEING A TEACHER. Give it up.

 

[Esmeralda]

I agree, Ascelpias, if all students AND teachers must abide by a strict uniform code.

This is just f**king stupid. Teachers are professionals with college degrees, many with advanced degrees and many years of work as professionals. Do you wear a uniform to work, do any professionals wear uniforms to work? The teacher is the adult in the room: not a child. If a teacher dresses inappropriately, you can bet she/he hears about it from administration, and pretty much all schools have dress codes for teachers. But a uniform is not appropriate. The reason kids have uniforms is to avoid some kids being bullied because they don't have nice clothes like others or because they wear seriously inappropriate things like leggings. Get a grip: teachers are adults.

Grow up, Esmeralda, and stop the entitlement privilege.

Teachers, males and females, are not more privileged than their students. Get a grip.

They are to teach, not fulfill their fashion and personal sense.

You are being a complete idiot. You're an idiot. You have not got a clue what you are talking about.

 

[Esmeralda]

I wouldn't have a problem with teachers and kids at school wearing uniforms. Less distractions from the learning environment. No, teachers shouldn't be leaning over little boy's desks with their cleavage hanging out. The boy isn't hearing a WORD the teacher is saying at that point! Children are very easily distracted.

What teachers are going to school with their cleavage hanging out? You people are nuts.

As I have said twice now, teachers have a dress code, as most professional business people do. But uniforms are not appropriate or necessary.

It is just astounding how little respect Americans have for the teaching profession. You get what you give, and if you treat teachers like they are not deserving of the professional respect others get, you are not going to get the best going into the profession. I have never heard the likes of the abuse teachers in America get from any other culture.

 

[Marion Morrison]

Idk, when I was in middle school it was coochie cutters and leg warmers.

Pretty hawt!

Leggings, well, that shows everything! Not a good idea around a bunch of hormone-surging kids.

 

[ChrisL]

I wouldn't have a problem with teachers and kids at school wearing uniforms. Less distractions from the learning environment. No, teachers shouldn't be leaning over little boy's desks with their cleavage hanging out. The boy isn't hearing a WORD the teacher is saying at that point! Children are very easily distracted.

What teacher are going to school with their cleavage hanging out? You people are nuts.

Obviously you haven't been to school ever! There are teachers who dress rather provocatively.

 

[Marion Morrison]

In today's world where teachers and students actually have AFFAIRS (as pathetic as that is), then it is only appropriate that they should all have to wear uniforms. School shouldn't be a fashion show anyways. All of that takes away from the learning environment and is nothing but a big distraction.

That happened in yesterday's world, too. Just nobody snitched back then.

 

[ChrisL]

Idk, when I was in middle school it was coochie cutters and leg warmers.

Pretty hawt!

Leggings, well, that shows everything! Not a good idea around a bunch of hormone-surging kids.

When I was going to school, most teachers were not attractive anyways!

 

[ChrisL]

In today's world where teachers and students actually have AFFAIRS (as pathetic as that is), then it is only appropriate that they should all have to wear uniforms. School shouldn't be a fashion show anyways. All of that takes away from the learning environment and is nothing but a big distraction.

That happened in yesterday's world, too. Just nobody snitched back then.

Nah, I think people had more ethics and more class back in the olden days.

 

[Marion Morrison]

In today's world where teachers and students actually have AFFAIRS (as pathetic as that is), then it is only appropriate that they should all have to wear uniforms. School shouldn't be a fashion show anyways. All of that takes away from the learning environment and is nothing but a big distraction.

That happened in yesterday's world, too. Just nobody snitched back then.

Nah, I think people had more ethics and more class back in the olden days.

Well, yes, but things still happened.

I know the names and the faces..and the boobies.

 

[ChrisL]

Here is a picture of an ACTUAL 4th grade teacher, taking selfies while in the classroom. She's looking like she's ready for the club, not the classroom!

 

[ChrisL]

In today's world where teachers and students actually have AFFAIRS (as pathetic as that is), then it is only appropriate that they should all have to wear uniforms. School shouldn't be a fashion show anyways. All of that takes away from the learning environment and is nothing but a big distraction.

That happened in yesterday's world, too. Just nobody snitched back then.

Nah, I think people had more ethics and more class back in the olden days.

Well, yes, but things still happened.

I know the names and the faces..and the boobies.

Or you fantasized about knowing such things anyways. Lol!

 

[Marion Morrison]

Here is a picture of an ACTUAL 4th grade teacher, taking selfies while in the classroom. She's looking like she's ready for the club, not the classroom!

You should have seen the 80s.

That's tame.

How about braless low-cut leotard top?

Blue sheer chiffon dress. Man, that teacher was pretty. She was a real teacher, though. No hanky-panky there, and you better behave.