I don't believe in dress codes being of benefit, but this is strictly Texas being a dick.

I was in the Army (for school, the cause sucked), and African American soldiers were often CORRECTLY given a shaving profile, aka a waiver due to ingrown hair shaving issues especially in field conditions, and it wasn't a deal. At all. In the fucking military, the (understandably) pedant, rule follower, uniformity kings.

The Texas government just doesn't want to make reasonable accommodations because they're racist pieces of shit who believe they can legislate those outside their rigid, white nationalist, stepford aspiring in-group out of existence.

funny its only the deep south where black kids are given this kind of treatment.

might be racist? these kids are being punished for not looking white enough, and the schools admins get to snicker in their racism.

Why would hair, a part of a person's body, be a part of a dress code? White people are fucking insane...

The article and comments seem to be primarily focused on the racist aspects of dress codes. I just wanted to chime in and point out they are also very transphobic and queerphobic and are very often used as a way of punishing queer people. So multiple axes of oppression involved with dress codes.

I've been teaching for almost 20 years. Dress codes do not promote discipline whatsoever. Administrators mete out disciplinary measures when students don't follow the dress code, to be sure, but the only thing the dress code serves to do is promote conformity.

I come from a country with school uniforms and I hated it.

Felt more like a way to control us and/or it was all about the schoool's image.

Our hair had to follow certain rules, short, no colour, no gel.

Even the military has recognized that certain hairstyles are worse on different ethnicities hair, and has subsequently relaxed the standards since I've been active.

The military, which is all about uniformity and "discipline", can see that different cultures have different hair treatments/needs, and not everything has to be "all Caucasian, all the time".

And yet our K-12 schools can't seem to do that?! Like wtf?

I'm native on my mother's side and I'd get the same thing about Mohawk style haircuts and how they're "inappropriate and against code". Back in those days you couldn't do much but deal with their racist rules

Bruv, how you gonna punish a black kid for his hair? That’s fucked.

Dress codes are a great excuse for racism against anyone you hate, if they really want it it should be more like ‘wear simple and not overly colorful clothes’ or something like that, rather than ‘that hairstyle is not allowed, noo how dare you cover your head!’, this can be done in numerous ways

I think some codes are reasonable, mainly those that promote hygiene, which kids are notoriously bad at.

discipline is a bullshit virtue to promote. innate subjection to authority is not something to foster in children

I went to highschool for 1 year in the UK, where a uniform was mandatory for every student.

I can assure you, it does not promote discipline in any way. Kids fight, do stupid things, and skip classes regardless of how they're dressed.

I wish my k-12 experience had a dress code. Nothing crazy. No hair requirement nonsense. Just everyone, every gender, wears the same polo/tshirt, and the same pants. Makeup is fine, whatever. 1) cost effective. 2) no thinking in the morning. I don’t think discipline has anything to do with it, and that shouldn’t be the focus.

Fuck dress code mostly, but honestly I'd have been fine with school uniforms if they were free, comfortable, not hideous or obviously designed by an old pedo with a uniform fetish, have pockets and no functionality affecting design flaws, and we got enough to wear while others were in laundry. Or if you could exchange for a clean one at school, like jobs with uniform service.

Forcing hair style though is a fuck that. In real life there are like 2 situations that can justify hairstyle mandates and even then only in a very limited manner, food handling jobs the hair should fit in a hairnet and potentially beard net, and trades and other labour jobs that need respirators which require full shave for definitive functionality and short ish hair with machinery that can pull your hair or beard in and kill you. I had a very far back hair line from a young age and every hair style looks like shit on me, so I wouldn't care for myself generally as maintaining it is a meritless endeavour that I wish could be automated. Now if they covered my hair cut or had a decent on call barber every now and then students could visit for a basic haircut if they didn't already have a hairstyle they maintain themselves, that would have been sick. Go to school, get a hair cut and uniform exchange in the free block, grab a bowl noodle from locker and hot water from caf or the student advice lounge. Maybe I wouldn't have hated 90% of school and just 70 ish instead.