“Why Can’t I Wear This?!” Banning Symbolic Clothing in Schools

Abstract

There is great discrepancy in how schools enforce their dress codes and uniform policies. Schools also vary in the rationales they provide for banning certain kinds of clothing. These rationales include protecting students’ health and safety, minimizing social class indicators between students, and creating cohesion and uniformity through a dress policy. As of late, schools have been faced with an increasing amount of controversial cases where schools have banned certain student clothing symbolic of their political, social, or religious identity. I wish to highlight three cases of this kind: a British girl who won the appeal to wear the jilbab to school, American students who were banned from wearing political t-shirts to school, and English and American students who were banned for wearing Rastafarian dreadlocks. I have chosen these three cases to elucidate the way in which these symbols represent religious, political, and social forms of identity.