Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/04/27/1957-school-dress-code-video-for-students.html
…
4 Likes
The administrators who made this video also had a dress code, although the required sticks weren’t visible due to where they were worn.
17 Likes
Ah, it was winter 1970. I went to rural high school, which meant you rode the bus and waited in the cold for it. It was 1 degree out. One of my classmates decided what the hell and wore her really nice pantsuit to school. I remember it being a red and blue plaid with matching pants and and a vest, and a shirt underneath the vest. The school, of course, called her mother and told her to come pickup her daughter and not send her back to school until she was dressed properly. Girls did NOT wear pants under ANY circumstances. I mean they said they weren’t monsters, she could have worn pants under her skirt to stay warm on the ride to school, but once there, the pants had to be put away.
In other schools, girls were forced to kneel on the floor with their arms straight down so the school could measure how short their skirt was. 1.5 inches? School not happy, but okayish. 2 inches, go home and get proper attire. And jeans? NOBODY boy or girl could wear jeans to school. Tee shirts were out as well. Proper button down shirts required.
None of these were elite private schools with uniforms, just public schools with, what are now seen as ridiculous dress codes.
11 Likes
By today’s standards, many of these outfits look preppy.
I will point out that some of the fashion considered “preppy” is specifically chosen to get around dress codes at prep schools. If they have a rule that requires “leather shoes, no boots”; docksiders are about the most disreputable shoes that fit. If the rule says “you must wear a collared shirt,” in an attempt to prohibit T shirts, than polo shirts (eg. Izods) are basically a T shirt with a collar.
15 Likes
The way that the student performers are posing is super interesting, because to me the “bad kids” are just standing normally. But I presume they are supposed to showing defiance, rebelliousness, and bad attitude. I had to watch it a couple of times to see that.
9 Likes
If there’s one plus for my place of work*, is that the dress code is ‘yes’.
As in ‘come clothed please’.
The most I have heard is (to men, never heard a pip addressed to women):
“Tonorrow the Japanese customer representatives are coming, please refrain from bermuda short”
WRT my previous one, it was an unexpected salary raise!
*been there 30 years, so not the only one TBH.
8 Likes
It’s the aggressive gum chewing for me.
There’s another video on that account where he goes into more detail:
8 Likes
Gum chewing was the vaping of its day!
7 Likes
“These students are in what we consider to be appropriate attire.”
Edit: “Class of 1999” Edition.
4 Likes
as a kid enrolled in several different school systems in Michigan in the 80s, dress codes were a thing for the history books. even in the rural area I lived in for a while. in 87, I moved to Nashville in jr high. no shorts. it was the first time I experienced weather in the >90° f range and >90% humidity, which was brutal enough in shorts. in MI, shorts weren’t an issue for all 5 days of the school year it was warm enough to wear them. HOWEVER, in Nashville, girls could wear skirts. every few years on the news, there was an item about boys sent home for wearing skirts to school in protest.
eventually I acclimated and it became bearable, but still a dumb rule I hope has been discarded.
9 Likes
Yup, in the early 70s I had a homeroom teacher (equivalent of early middle school) who somehow knew about ‘soccer’ and wanted to teach it to his class. This meant he had to petition the principal to get the right for girls to bring shorts or pants to wear under our skirts/dresses while playing during recess. It was not an easy sell. They would have preferred that we girls simply didn’t play, just as in gym class we didn’t learn things like basketball, (American) football, and baseball but rather tumbling, volleyball, and jump rope.
13 Likes
Strangely, the students wearing “appropriate” clothing included women students with sleeveless shirts. That was not allowed the entire time my daughters were growing up in the 21st century.
7 Likes
The woman in the “tight skirt and sweater” looks like my mom last week. 
8 Likes
The point of uniforms in the authoritarian mind isn’t what they look like, or their practicality, it is to have something to enforce on the lower orders.
5 Likes
The hostility in her voice 
6 Likes
Today I am wearing a denim skirt that’s about mid calf level, a black, button up short sleeve blouse with a collar, no earrings at all, nor any ankle bracelets, and over-the-calf socks. I’m sure I’m within the dress code!
Wait, no, my socks are striped (in bi-pride colors, not that I’d expect the narrator to know that), and I’m wearing (Shock. Gasp.) tennis shoes!
I wonder if they’d have an issue with the purple hair?
10 Likes
8 Likes
I went to 12 years of Catholic school.
Classic uniforms through 9th grade but then they changed to dark pants and white shirts with a collar, girls could wear a skirt or pants.
In our school skirts couldn’t be shorter than the fingertips with arms at your side.
The bigger problem was blouse buttons, not for us boys but for the assistant principal who had to police the girls.
Our daughter went to 12 years of Catholic school as well, mostly because our public school choice was awful.
She also grew up with the classic plaid jumper and plaid skirt in the older grades. High school was khaki pants or skirt with a white shirt with a collar.
I gotta say though, as a parent, a uniform made life a lot easier for us. It also made for a lot less competition when it came to kids wearing the latest fashions.
In high school they were allowed to accessorize with jewelry, ribbons, socks, etc… so they were able to express themselves.
That being said, grade school uniforms were more of a hassle because the nearest uniform store was an hour away and she grew out of them pretty quick.
Watching that video is crazy what was considered inappropriate.
6 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
