Dress Codes Hit The Vocationals

Dress codes of Pennsylvania vocational education once relied upon to keep little imps looking tidy now serve as bloodshed-preventing safety measures. Schools around the country have banned provocative clothing items, such as baggy pants, caps, jackets, or bandannas popular with gang members; and backpacks, other than the see-through kind, where drugs or weapons could be stashed.

Such paranoia is perhaps justified in the wake of a rash of shootings perpetrated by students against their classmates and teachers. It also can taint all students, however slightly. Job-seeking vocational students today may need to overcome an automatic prejudice against young people that they, as individuals, did nothing to cause. The ACLU disagrees with many of the latest school dress codes for just this reason. The Midway policy banning long coats assumes that everybody is a potential weapons carrier. That is not what Pennsylvania country is about.

The ACLU opposes most efforts by schools to impose dress codes that ban particular types of garb (such as the fright makeup inspired by shock rocker Marilyn Manson). The group mostly scoffs at concerns about safety or distractions, saying those reasons don't justify the resulting blows to freedom of expression.

Perhaps the boy with shaved head and spider web tattoos may simply be too immature to realize that in most lines of work, the extraterrestrial look won't fly. As teachers of youngsters like this, vocational educators should reinforce whatever dress code the school has, using an attitude that's sympathetic yet firm. It may help to bring in representatives from several professions to discuss how colleagues at work look and behave. Or it may be possible to adopt part of the curriculum used by Central High Magnet Career Academy in Pennsylvania.

A school that attracts teens from around the city, Central High draws kids with keen interests in work. The youngsters declare majors, and they specialize in law, veterinary science, medicine, dentistry, culinary arts or other fields. Like most teens, they come with a built-in fashion sense that escapes most members of older generations. But from the first day of classes, teachers hammer home the necessity of blending in with the workplace of choice. Since students must spend20 hours shadowing a role model, the right style is obvious. On Thursdays, Central High students are asked to come to school dressed as though they already worked in their chosen field.

Teen lawyers wear suits, as do budding bankers and financiers. Medically inclined youngsters don white smocks. During the summer, the city bar association provides $600 clothing stipends to students who land internships in prestigious firms. They are expected to show up at the office looking like younger versions of their bosses.

"Initially we had mild resistance (to the dress policies)," recalls Principal Harold Fenderson. "But once kids understand the culture, you move them toward success. It becomes part of their understanding in terms of If I'm going to be able to do an internship, receive the compensation or have a shadowing experience or a mentor, I'm going to have to make the adjustment." Proper dress also affects their grade.