By Sharanya Gopinathan
I guess at this point it’s fair to say that we’ve all decided that there’s some inherent value in imposing dress codes on children. It’s something that most schools impose and no one really stops to question much any more.
But I guess it does still give pause though, when the tables are turned and adults are asked to follow dress codes. Which is exactly what happened to the parents of students of Rizvi Springfield School in Bandra. Hilariously (to me) and outrageously (to them), the parents were asked to sign an undertaking that said, “I will always come to school in decent and modest attire. If failed to do so, I will be responsible for the consequences.” Which is an undertaking I am only capable of reading in a very doleful singsong. You?
Also, modest attire? It’s so annoying that we still ascribe personality traits to clothing. Just the other day it was announced that teachers in UP had been directed to not wear jeans to school, as they lacked the “dignity” ascribed to teachers. Or something. It’s about time we realised that clothes have nothing to do with your modesty or dignity or really anything but your sense of style. Repeatedly making these links falls neatly in line with annoying schools of thought that ascribe moral values to clothes.
Anyway, outraged parents’ complaints focus on the general indignity, and also ask whether they wear indecent clothes to be policed by a school like this. Which is the reason why I find this a bit funny: we’re okay with our children being policed a certain way, but when that way is applied to us, as adults, we feel it indicates indignity and lack of decency. Children have dignity too, and a group of them should never be told that they are immodest because of the way the dress. And neither should their parents, but it shouldn’t take us being treated they way we treat kids to realise that.