School dress codes are for students, not their moms and dads.

Students in mainstream schools soon learn that the classroom is not likely to be the place where they are free to express themselves through their clothing. Most educational establishments have a few rules about what is appropriate to wear in school, especially for their female students. While these dress codes can sometimes raise questions about the ideology and ethics of controlling what kids wear, their proponents believe that they maintain a certain level of propriety among students.

As most of us have experience with, there are always some teachers who are more overzealous about enforcing these rules than others. Some don’t bat an eyelid at an obvious dress code violation, and others will try to land a kid in detention for the smallest of slip-ups. They truly believe that students need to present themselves in a certain way to be ready to learn. It shouldn’t be surprising that educators can have strong opinions about what parents are wearing, even if they don’t have direct control over it. Most would argue that it isn’t their place to act like their opinion on the clothing choices of adults holds any weight.