Opinions

Have you noticed the recent change regarding children's fashion? Lately the topic of children's clothing has begun to spark concerns for many. Today children can be seen wearing crop tops, strapless shirts, short shorts, mini skirts, ect… While some outfits are deemed “cute”, how far until “cute” is seen as inappropriate? The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated in 2022 that 3.3 million children are being exploited and sex trafficked at any given moment. These “cute” outfits could make the children easier targets for potential predators; every 40 seconds a child goes missing.

It's estimated that 2,300 American children go missing every day and 460,000 a year. With numbers these high parents should be taking precautions to ensure their children's safety the best they can. (Hernando Sun- “Revealing Clothing on Children is a Trend that Must Stop”) Some parents tend to cross boundaries when it comes to keeping their children up to date in the latest trends. While parents may intend to keep their children fashionable as a show of love, pride, or to build confidence this can unfortunately result in kids getting their childhood innocence robbed. Dressing children in ageinappropriate clothing can oversexualize them and expose them to manipulation, even exploitation from predators.

It can also unintentionally expose them to adult themes at an early age, causing them to be wary about the length of their skirts, shorts, shirts, and the effect those clothes have on other people seeing them, making them overly self-aware about themselves and their decency at early ages. (Nairobi News- “This is the harm you do by dressing your kids inappropriately…”). Kiara Brooks, a junior at says, “ I feel that we should implement some type of age restriction when it comes to children’s clothing for their safety. Things like short shorts, shirts that show the children's stomach and certain swimsuits should be restricted because children are meant to be protected for as long as they can be, wearing these types of clothes at their age can attract predators.” We can all admit that social media plays a big role in everyday life. Even influencing the way we clean, cook, talk, and dress. Tighter and more revealing clothes have become more popular in recent years, so it's no shock that children are starting to follow these trends to fit in.

While following a couple trends may not seem like such a bad thing it can bring potential harm to the children wearing those styles of clothes. Social media has started to reach the hands of children who may not really understand the dangers of social media. So a simple TikTok dance in clothes like a crop top may seem like harmless fun and can catch the attention of predators. Predators who can easily pose as another child to contact, lure, or manipulate them. Mishila Collins, a senior at says, I “ I feel like social media is impacting the way kids dress nowadays. Everyone wants to fit the social standards and the first way to do that is to dress how everyone else does. If they don't they can easily be considered weird and get made fun of strictly because of the way they dress.” Parents should figure out how to approach the topic of ageappropriate clothing and the danger age-inappropriate clothing can bring them.

A simple outfit can attract the wrong person, we can't always tell who it is, and we can't always stop it. However, going out of your way to make sure your child is as safe as they can be can be as simple as dressing them in looser, less revealing clothes.

According to Ohio State University, about 20% of public schools required school uniforms from 2011-12, and about 6 out of 10 private schools required uniforms in 2011-12. Advocates of school uniforms have argued that, among other things, school uniforms promote better attendance, and also a stronger sense of community, which results in less confrontations and bullying (“School uniforms don’t improve child behavior, study finds”). In Western Hills University, there is more confrontation with authority figures being so stern with dress code and with what students are wearing, then there is with bullying about what one has on.

Being so engaged with what a student wears, takes away learning opportunities. Some may say that the “dress code” isn’t the issue with the students but rather than it (dress code) being applied to everyone throughout Western Hills University. So the question is “Does monitoring what students can and can’t wear affects their learning ability?” Students in Western Hills Hs would in fact be more engaged in academics, and may raise the attendance rate if there was not a dress code. Being so deemed, and strict on what students decide to wear to express themselves can make students feel out of place, and not accepting of their individuality.

Even if is such an environment, maybe we should just enforce school uniforms. Mustafaa Yisreal, a history teacher at says, “Anything that helps students stay focused on learning moves us in a positive direc tion. Far too often students engage in shaming because of materialism, making one feel uncomfortable because their parents can afford it is beneath us as a human family.” In , there's also controversy about whether “Dress code” falls more heavily on the female students than male students and whether it limits students from expressing themselves. The vast majority of dress codes ban 90% of clothing associated with girls. Almost 69% limit clothing associated with boys (School Dress Code Debates, Explained - EdW). Meg Groat, an English teacher at Western Hills responded to the topic: “Yes dress codes do limit students to express themselves.

Students do not generally appear or verbally show that they are distracted by the clothing choice of students - therefore, adults may need to adjust our views on ‘appropriate’ vs. ‘inappropriate’ dress.” Being a student at West High, I see a lot of biased actions and unfair treatment with this dress code. I also see that rather than the students being distracted by their and others appearance it's the faculty that seems diverted from the underlying and serious issues throughout the building. Another site Smartasset says, dress codes can break down class barriers between students.

When students don’t wear school uniforms it can be easy to spot kids with the most or least economic privilege. Another argument is that dress codes may increase students' focus in school.