ADM has a dress code we all know fairly well, for it has been an annoyance to most students for years. We tend to just accept this and some do their best to be crafty and find loopholes to beat the system, but why should we do this rather than question the rules we do not understand?

Dress code. Such a simple item, holding nothing specific in its title, but holding so much more symbolism than that. When girls in our school are barred from wearing certain items of clothing, this is at first thought to be a normal occurrence. However we are not the only students to disapprove of such a thing.

Mary Beth and John Tinker were students in Des Moines during the Vietnam War. To protest war and preach peace, the siblings wore black armbands embellished with peace signs. They were suspended, and proceeded to take the court to school to fight for students Constitutional rights in school. They claimed being suspended for their armbands was a violation of the First Amendment.

The school does not have the right to make students change their clothing because they disagree with the political, religious, or social message the students’ clothing displays. This was why the Tinker siblings won their case; the school now had no right to dictate the morals and views they advertised on their own bodies because those views did not cause a disruption to the learning environment.

Although this is a different situation than yoga pants, shorts or tank tops, an important principle and lesson can be taken from Tinker vs. Des Moines. Mary Beth and John took what they were fighting for and they stood by it. They took effort to not just yell and fight about the fact that they wanted to wear some item of clothing; they took it farther and spoke for what their suspension represented. We can all learn from this.

When fighting for an alteration in dress code, one must remember to fight for something bigger than themselves. This is not simply about wearing yoga pants to school. This is bigger; this is about fighting for the rights of not only students, but women as a whole. When students are sent home for wearing yoga pants or wearing tank tops with straps thinner than two inches, this is showing the students that their education is worth less than a person in a position of power’s opinion on clothing.

Greg Dufoe, ADM’s Superintendent, had some interesting points when questioned about the dress code.

“There is a significant difference in environments between that of a high school and that of a college.” said Dufoe.

This may be so, but it can also be said that when students are treated like children without minds of their own capable of decisions, they will act that way. However, students who are treated as equals and like adults who can make their own decision will behave with a higher rate of maturity and responsibility. This is an issue now of trust.

How are students supposed to be trusted with greater responsibility if they are never given the chance? Question this.