Uniforms and Dress Codes

Is it better to have all people in school dress the same way in school, or to allow them to dress more loosely with some regulations? Or is a dress code of any form necessary?

I have been in schools with both strict uniforms and looser dress codes, and I can say that I much prefer the dress code, although this does create a sense of ingratitude among students. Complaining about clothing was minimal in my uniformed school. Although there were complaints about having to wear long pants in the summer, that was the bulk of it. In a school with a loose dress code, people are constantly complaining about their clothing.
I like expressing myself with my clothing. It makes long tests easier when I can dress more comfortably, and helps me find things I have in common with other people. But it also makes it more difficult to concentrate. When dressed in a uniform, I feel focused. Although it is less comfortable, the clothing keeps me awake more easily and provides a sense of being at work; having a comfier set of clothes at home also allows me to relax more easily and appreciate weekends.
I think it is up to the school to decide what their dress code is. I prefer uniforms or at least reasonably strict dress codes, but a school has the freedom the decide what its rules are. I do think that a few basic rules should be reinforced in all schools: shoulder straps should be at least two fingers wide, shirts should reach down to the hips, shorts should reach down to meet the base of your palms, undergarments should not be visible, largely distracting clothing articles may be removed, etc.

I think that a school year should start out with a dress code. Something along the lines of shorts and skirts should be a required length, no shirts that show the belly, no underwear showing, no bras showing, no spaghetti straps, no strapless tops, no extremely low-cut tops, etc. If students continually violate the dress code, the school should change their dress code to uniforms.

Now, of course this will get the dress code abiding students angry at the culprits, and that just might stop them from bringing the same fate upon their peers the next year. It will also get the parents of the poor dressers who have the 'my child can do no wrong' mentality angry. They'll use the 'clothes as self-expression' defense. And the response they should but probably won't get? 'So your child expresses herself by dressing like a hooker?'

I also think clothes shouldn't be measured in body parts. Everybody is a different size, so it really isn't fair. Use centimeters or inches.

This topic reminds me of a YouTube video 'The Problem With Jeggings'. Here's a link https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=problem+with+jeggings

Charlock Holmes wrote:I also think clothes shouldn't be measured in body parts. Everybody is a different size, so it really isn't fair. Use centimeters or inches.

That wouldn't work. You'd need a different scale for everyone with a different leg length. Martha is 160cm and her legs are 80cm. Janice is 100cm and her legs are 40cm. They both wear 20cm shorts. Martha is covering less skin than Janice. It makes more sense to use percentages: 20cm shorts cover 50% of Janice's legs and 40% of Martha's legs. Say the most skin you can have showing is 80%--shorts must cover 20% (16cm for Martha, 8cm for Janice). If you give them both 8cm shorts, Martha will be breaking the dress code, while Janice won't. Barely.

I was more referring to this statement when I said that standard units of measure should be used.

Chiasm Chicken wrote: shoulder straps should be at least two fingers wide

I just think that two inches doesn't raise quite as many questions as two fingers. (The wearer's fingers? The fingers of the teacher who called the width of the student's shoulder straps into question? Is there a standard finger width out there some where?) I realize that fingers easier to whip out than a ruler, but this is school we're talking about. You're never that far away from a ruler.