A high school in El Paso, Texas, has banned students from wearing all black, claiming the color is “linked to depression and mental health issues.”
According to a local news station KFOX14Charles Middle School sends a letter to parents Inform them that the school’s uniform policy will no longer allow students to wear all black. Instead, the school’s dress code was rewritten to only allow students to wear khaki pants or blue jeans with a black or green polo shirt and sweater.
These changes are necessary”[eliminate] Students wear black tops and black pants, a look that has become popular on campus and is more closely linked to depression, mental health issues and/or criminal behavior than to happy, healthy kids ready to learn ,” the letter read. KFOX14.
“They do not allow students to wear black from top to bottom,” El Paso Teachers Association President Norma De La Rosa said in a clarifying statement. “They can wear black shorts to sports events. They can Wear it on dress-down day, but they just can’t wear it from top to bottom.”
The policy was met with almost immediate backlash from parents, who claimed it was unfair and ridiculous.
One parent commented online: “Having a student wear different colors doesn’t magically make them a completely different person.”
El Paso Independent School District officials appeared to distance themselves from the decision after facing backlash. “The campus prematurely communicated the dress code change as a final decision rather than a recommendation. We regret the poor communication, specifically the intent behind the change,” the school district statement, Obtained by the BBC, please read.
This change in dress code is part of a bizarre attempt to combat rising rates of teen depression and anxiety. It is absurd to suggest that clothing is the cause of any behavioral or mental health issues students experience, rather than being a meaningless correlation with those issues.
The decision reflects a kind of safetyism among school officials. Instead of trying to address the root causes of student behavior problems, school officials needlessly interfere with harmless self-expression—behavior that could prevent rather than create mental health problems.
