Editorial: School dress codes get deserved support

Thursday, Sept. 25, 2003 | 9 a.m.

Edward Goldman, superintendent of the Clark County School District's southeast region, is telling principals at all his schools to take a harder line when enforcing dress codes. The reason for doing so, Goldman told the Sun, is that he has been receiving calls from parents whose children have been reprimanded for wearing navel-baring shirts or nose rings while their kids' friends at other schools aren't being required to conform.

There are some parents and students who oppose a tough enforcement of the dress code, asserting that the school district shouldn't be the arbiter of what children wear when they go to school. There always will be students who rebel against authority -- they wouldn't be teenagers if they didn't. But adults have to set some limits. Parents should be on top of the situation so that their children are properly dressed when they leave the house. If that doesn't happen, however, principals and teachers must step in.

School discipline, by necessity, includes a reasonable dress code, which should be strictly enforced to prevent any unnecessary distractions. As we've noted a number of times in previous editorials on this topic, students are in school to learn, not to make a fashion statement.

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