Sagging pants are a problem in the classroom. They’re a problem because they bring an attitude of rebelliousness.
You’ve seen it yourself.
When a student sags their pants, they behave differently than when they don’t sag their pants. “But Michael, it’s an expression! It’s art. It’s style. It’s culture.”
All fine and good. But it’s linked with disrespect. It’s linked with antagonism toward rules, authority, listening, and learning. It’s linked not by art, style, and culture necessarily, but by behavior.
There is a difference in attitude, civility, and responsibility.
Part of being a leader is doing what is right for your students even if they or others disagree. If anything within your control is a detriment to them and their learning, then you must have the courage to get rid of it.
You must stop being so soft and start standing up for them. So, how do you do that? How do you tell students to pull up their pants when it feels so uncomfortable?
You blame your policy.
Like every rule that protects learning and enjoying school, you must lay out your policies ahead of time. It’s very likely that your school already has a dress code that prohibits pants falling below the waist.
If so, just point to it. As part of your first-days-of-school lessons, detail the dress code and explain how your “Listen and follow directions” rule covers it. Also mention any school-level consequence.
Therefore, the moment you notice a dress code violation, you enforce a consequence per your classroom management plan. It’s simple.
“You have a warning because you’re not wearing your pants at your waist.”
Now, it’s important to mention that if your school doesn’t have such a rule, you can make one in your own class. If it protects learning and helps prepare students for the future, and it does, then create the policy.
It’s not quantum mechanics.
If you lay it out the first of the year, if you let your students know up front what is expected, then they’ll accept it. Grudgingly perhaps, but they understand.
What they don’t like is when it feels arbitrary. If you let it go most of the year and then one day say, “Hey, pull up your pants,” you make it personal. It feels like you’re picking on them.
Always set it up ahead of time. Be detailed in your explanation. Model if need be. Describe why. Allow for questions.
This doesn’t mean you can’t add a new rule midyear. You can. You just have to be sure you go through the steps.
A dress code protects students from distraction. It prepares them for a future in which they very well may have to wear a uniform or dress appropriate to a profession. It instills discipline and decorum that matches the environment.
Sagging pants are unique, however, in that when enforced often results in a humbler, kinder student who is relieved to be in a classroom that makes sense. Social pressure is removed. They don’t have to create or live up to a certain reputation.
Students want discipline. They want leadership. They want boundaries and decency.
It makes them feel safe and cared for. It makes them feel part of your class and part of something bigger than themselves.
A teacher who requires non-negotiable standards that are best for students is respected. They’re respected even by the most challenging students who may not respect another adult in their life.
You can see it the moment they walk through your door. Their head lifts. A smile forms. Eye contact is made. They’re thankful to be just part of the class, like any other student.
“Good morning Ms. Jones. How are you?”
It’s a simple little thing, sagging pants, but like all details, when added up, make a big difference.
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And what if all stakeholders of all levels accuse you of being racist against a certain group of students who tend to sag pants? Should we lawyer up to CYA?
Come on man, has this really happened?
Why would I ask it otherwise
For the first time I disagree with you. Not in your advice but in your premise of the matter. Why do you say it is not a style but a means of showing disrespect.Who are you to say the reason or dictate what is style, cultural or an [ implied] negative behavior. I ask you to question your unconscious bias. Is wearing purple hair also a sign of disrespect?Is purple hair linked to a behavior? You are taking a big leap in your proclamation that it is not art cultural or style. You are making a punitive judgment. Why?Maybe you should list all or a group of what clothing and fashion ideas we see preteens and teens do as signs of disrespect and antagonism etc. What were the signs of disrespect when you were growing up? I agree, I do not like sagging pants. I agree in dress codes but isn’t this developmental just as the 2 year old is looking for independence so is the teen and preteen? Maybe if we realize it’s a developmental stage, we could have conversations to implement the dress code with a less punitive mindset because we all do know by research, preconceived notions affect our interactions.
Hi Michelle,
You misunderstood. When you get a chance, please reread the article.
Responding to a reader expressing a disagreement with the position of your post with “you misunderstood… please reread” is incredibly dismissive.
Is there a specific point that you feel the readers who agree with Michelle’s position on your post misunderstood? Or do you just believe that your position on this topic is so inherently correct that it isn’t possible that we could both have understood your position on the topic AND disagreed with said position?
If it’s the former, I would wonder why you didn’t clarify the specific point you felt was misunderstood in your comment rather than make such a general statement.
I was thinking the exact same thing as you, including the first time disagreeing part. We spend too much time on the issue of sagging pants. Kids are usually showing another piece of fabric (shorts) anyway. I don’t have many issues with classroom management, partially thanks to this site. But, I also have a great relationship with my students. I don’t make sagging an issue. Students have plenty of time to have their personal expressions squashed. The idea of “business dress” is constantly evolving. I’m sure that people can figure it out when they get to their respective employer. They don’t need to practice it.
I spent 10 years as a Human Resource Manager for small and large companies so I want to offer the opinion of most employers because they think applicants should apply prepared for employment. When we had applicants that showed up in tank tops, shorts, torn pants with large holes, inappropriate sayings on t-shirts, and sagging pants, they seemed unaware they were not employable in their current state of dress. As teachers and educators, we must prepare them for the expectations of an adult world. Applicants that appear in unacceptable attire usually don’t get hired due to them not knowing better and they are ignorant of why they don’t get hired. Just an opinion from the other side.
To set an expectation is not the same as being punitive.
I find your comment to be very offensive because you are using the philosophy of unconscious bias as a weapon against this author. Therefore attacking this author and the creators of unconscious bias philosophy. The above author has said that it is part of form of style and style is a representation of some cultures (let’s say like hip hop culture). So he recognized it as such! I don’t want to see a child’s butt crack, I don’t want to see a child’s cleavage and I don’t want to see a child’s bare feet. I find them to be disrespectful in a classroom because it causes distraction. But at home my husband and I walk around naked. The classroom has to transcend culture with respect.
How are your pants falling down a developmental stage? It is complete DISRESPECT to walk aroungd with your underware hanging out!!! There is no reason for it!
Great article. Thank you
I have addressed this over and over. I do not let it slide in the classroom. But this is how they dress everywhere else, and it is an opening problem everyday. They try and get away with this every single day, multiple times a day. I do agree with you, it does change things.
Also the masks – thanks to covid, and hysteria that is still prevalent here, they are wearing masks because they think they cannot be identified on the cameras and using the covid as an excuse. They can be gangsters with their masks and sagging pants.
It is exhausting, but one has to keep trying.
For the first time I disagree with, “Sagging pants are unique, however, in that when enforced often results in a humbler, kinder student who is relived to be in a classroom that makes sense. Social pressure is removed. They don’t have to create or live up to a certain reputation.”
I had this happen yesterday. First, I have so many things going on in a class of 26 and can’t catch it every time. Second, middle school kids have found a way around the rule, they pull them down before sitting down so the teachers don’t see it. Last, it is a half pull up and they don’t care. If you are going to say that I am not following my rules… I have been implementing your classroom management plan for years and my class runs good but over the years I have seen a shift in behaviors. So, yes, you make it sound good but now there are more exceptions with the kids we are getting now. But thank you for all you do. You have certainly helped me so much.
Thank you. Your insights help me find ways to cope with the myriad of disruptive behaviors I find daily as a substitute. It would be so much easier if the school district had standards that were the same at every school, but that’s not the case. The most common response I get from students is “my teacher lets me.” When I ask staff to clarify what’s considered acceptable, I get a shrug and “pick your battles.” Why is it that asking students to have good behavior, show kindness, be respectful or even act safely has to be a battle?
How is sagging unsafe? Like, is anyone getting hurt? Or is it hurting you?
Good information. I’d like advice on the use of the phone in the high school classroom. The phones are a huge distraction and their eyes are down to their lap and you know their phone is out. I’ve tired several rules over two years and the same students break every one of the. The school policy is clear. I’m clear. I have the phones removed and or a tug of war ensues. I have the student removed from class and 19 minutes with a slap on the wrist their back. Over and over again. Then they complain about their grade and ask why it’s so low. The work never gets done.
As a parent of a high schooler, I agree about the phones. For most of middle school, phones were kept in lockers. Then some teachers in 8th allowed the phones and AirPods to listen to music while working. Then in high school, some teachers let them on them like in cooking class while they were waiting and for other classes it was a distraction. Finally at the end of the year, I get a letter home about my kid’s bad grade in a certain class and one of the reasons marked was using phone! It was so easy for me to just turn it off to down time for most of the day, IF I had known. How did 6th and 7th not have any phones? ALL teachers followed the policy. When some allow and others don’t it gets to be a gray area and they try to get away with it.
Thanks for another great article! I think you might have another career, opening a school and as acting principal.😊 I would work for you in a heartbeat! It is so frustrating as I’m not allowed to even ask my students to take off hats (baseball OR winter hats). It “stifles a child’s expression” apparently. 😟 Thank you though for speaking truth, it really helps to know that not all common sense is lost!
Same here! Heck, I’d even move to another state to teach at Principal Linsin’s school.
The same should also apply to halter tops and bikini tops for girls in the classroom. Alas, though, instead of students respecting you for having boundaries and protecting their education, they and PARENTS accuse you of all kinds of nasty things. Our entire school tried to implement the dress code that our district has, but it’s impossible because not enough teachers want to deal with the hassle that parents cause us.
Michael, you are brave to open this hot topic, especially during our insane times.Back in the day, dress code violation was boys with long hair and sideburns, and girls with mini skirts. Seems so innocent now doesn’t it? I feel even a hat turned backwards or sideways is a show of subtle defiance, but other teachers don’t agree. Dress code has now evolved into something more: Sagging pants, at my school, is a symbol of gang activity and is taking seriously. Certain color hats, clothes and symbols are discreet gang affiliation. But nothing can be done, because their parents are also part of the issue. Regarding bright colored dyed hair, which I thought was an artistic expression. Naively, I asked one of my students why she has that particular shade of blue and she said she was wiccan, and followed paganism. She’s so happy to hear that she can now start a Satan Club. Wow, things have changed!
God help us all!
I’m not sure why you are using a student with a (presumably) different religious/spiritual beliefs system than yours as a negative example of student’s self expression. Especially when I’m not convinced a person choosing to wear their hair a certain color as an expression of their own personal religious/spiritual beliefs is different (or necessarily separate from) an act of artistic expression.
Would you react in the same way if a student told the were wearing a cross necklace because they were Christian or a hijab because they were Muslim or had long hair because they were Sikh?
There is a difference between something being uncomfortable for you because it is unfamiliar to you and it actually being harmful. The example you gave of a previous generation considering long sideburns and miniskirts to be inappropriate self-expression acknowledges just that.
Thank you, Michael, for this article. Our district has weakened on our dress code and disrespect has gone through the roof in the last couple of years. And please don’t blame it on covid. Practicing an appropriate dress code brings a sense of decorum of behavior and respect. If I were an employer in an interview, I would hire the person who dresses appropriately and appears to have a sense of cleanliness.
Thanks again.
Dress code is certainly a hot topic and not as much as an issue in elementary where I teach, but I do think it can be a distraction. My high school child’s PE teacher made a comment that she loves teaching PE because all the phones are in lockers and every single kid is wearing the same dorky PE uniform. She said it’s so nice to see so many kids relax when the pressure of looking a certain way goes away for that period of the day.
My amusing memory is saying to a group of teenage boys with saggy pants, “Pull your pants up, you look scruffy. Do you see me walking around with my petticoat hanging down?”. The look on their faces was telling; clearly not one of them had any idea what a petticoat was, not one of them was daring enough to ask, and not one of them argued.
I agree with Michelle and Donald. Students dress more or less conventionally, I simply do not believe there is a link between the way they dress and their behaviour in my classroom. Not in my experience.
I also remember being a teenager – making an issue out of the way I dressed would have alienated me completely.
It’s kind of a question of what we decide the rules should be. If sagging is against school rules, policies against the practice should be enforced. But there’s not a good reason to have such a policy, the policy should be changed.
I tend to be against strict dress codes on the merits. But the worst outcome would be for administrators to have a strict policy and then not back teachers when they try to enforce it, or (worse yet) piously lecture teachers about unconscious bias when it is the policy of the school.
To quote G. K. Chesterton, “We are oppressed today not by the most antiquated traditions, but actually by the most recent fashions.” It seems to me that one of the ways we, as educators, are oppressed is we must spend precious amounts of time fussing about the way students dress when we need to be/could be thinking about the best ways/methodologies to help youngsters learn. Youngsters are oppressed, whether they know it or not, because their attention is focused on their garb rather than on their education. Could it be that if a student really wanted to learn, he/she would dress appropriately?Private schools aim to erase that target by developing a dress code. I will go out on a limb and argue that you won’t see sagging pants at private schools. There are so many ways youngsters can express themselves at school. If fashion is the only way a student feels he/she can express him/herself , then Houston, we have a huge problem with our education system.
Barbara,
You make a good point. Thank you.
Regardless if it is a cultural expression or not, it is distracting to their own learning. It’s not much of a distraction to me or those around them. But I notice my students who wear their pants below their bum spend a lot of time pulling them up or holding them up. They don’t participate in activities as freely because to move around the room would mean they needed to be cognizant of their pants. But I’ve noticed this is the rare and not the norm. Most have a belt that is sufficient and their shirts are long enough to cover their undergarments.
I haven’t had the experience that students who wear their pants that low show anymore or any less disrespect than any other student. But we all teach in different places with different cultures and norms. It’s not a deal breaker for me because it’s not a disruption to anyone else’s learning, and therefore not a hill I’m willing to die on.
I would be curious what data you would be able to provide to defend the assertion that wearing sagging pants is “linked with antagonism toward… listening, and learning.”
This feels more like a subjective judgement than an objective fact to me, and yet you state it as if it is a fact without providing any kind of evidence to support it as a fact.
It also makes me uncomfortable that you lump antagonism toward rules and authority along with antagonism toward listening and learning as if students (and people more broadly) that feel a certain amount of antagonism towards rules and authority that are imposed upon them are inherently disinterested in listening to and learning from sources they respect.
If I felt that my students’ feelings about my classroom’s rules and/or my position of authority as a teacher were impeding their ability to learn from me, I would be drawn to reflect on whether my teaching practice was veering more authoritarian than authoritative rather then jumping to blame my students attitudes (let alone their style choices).
Personally, I believe it is a teacher’s job to create an environment where all their students can learn, which requires a practice of constantly evaluating for potential barriers to learning and a willingness to adapt as new barriers are identified.
My takeaway from this valuable thread is that admin should totally support a rule, and require enforcement of it, or get rid of it.
Personally, when comparing Muslim facecoverings to sagging pants, I see facecovers signalling reverence and sagged pants signalling irreverence. I prefer and support reverence.
I think this issue of saggy pants is not so much a question of “CULTURE”. but of proper attire.
If you were a business executive or cliet of a business exectutive, would you show up with sagging pants? If you were a lawyer, would you show up in court with sagging pants? If you were a doctor, would you see your patients with sagging pants?
I think it could be OK around your friends, at home, or in the neighborhood, or lounging around on a Saturday afternoon watching TV or playing video games. But in a professional environment (and school has to be where the professional environment begins) sagging pants should not be acceptable.
I do not agree at all. Sagging pants is just a trend, just a style. Let people wear their pants as they prefer, there is nothing wrong with that.
I am now a 26 years old guy. I started sagging pants at 14 at my high school, and I am still sagging them. And nobody in my life told me that this is linked with disrespect. Some friends like my style, other don’t, but that’s it. It’s my style.