A Middle School District on August 6, 2024 located in Texas has recently banned students from wearing black to school. The reason for them not wanting people to wear black is because it can be associated with being “depressed.” Imagine being able to express yourself with the color black, and the next second, not being able to have that option.
Kids should have the choice to wear whatever they want to and not have assumptions about how they have “mental health issues” just because of one color they wear. The kid’s and parents weren’t even able to have a say in the decision.
However, I do understand why people would say the color black could be associated with being depressing and negative. When you search up the meaning behind the color black, the first words that appear are: death, mourning, evil magic, and darkness.
While it may say those depressing words, it also states how the color black could mean elegance, wealth, restraint, and power. So while people are looking at the bad side of the color, they haven’t even tried to look at the other option of it not being as bad as it seems.
Personally, I wear the color black a lot as I just like the color and how it goes with all my clothes. Since I wear that color, would they automatically call me out for having mental health problems? They can not assume something like that when they don’t know the person well enough to make that assumption.
Kids do wear the color black because they may be depressed, but when they hear that they are being called out because they are wearing that color, it will just embarrass them. Everyone remembers the kids that wear all black to school which is why banning black has been brought up.
They had it run by the district’s Campus Improvement team where there are parents, faculty, and staff. Which they had all approved of this new rule of black not being worn from head-to-toe. With the student’s not having their freedom to dress how they feel, it could make the student feel even worse, ironically.
The policy, which was created by El Paso Independent School District(EPISD), made a statement on how the decision they made was, “to enhance students’ well-being and sense of pride.” How are they helping the students when they just took away something to express themselves with?
It sounds like they are trying to help themselves more than the students. These kids deserve a voice and to speak up for themselves for something that is not right.
At least some parents disagree with the fact of taking the color black away. Parents don’t like how they are grouping the kids and calling only them,“red flagging kids that just like to wear black.” The parents are correct, it’s true and what this district is doing is very uncalled for and unnecessary.
Just because they take the color away from them doesn’t mean these kids are going to change and become better now that a choice of color has been taken away. Basically they are saying that if you’re a good kid you dress normal but if something’s wrong with you, you wear all black.
Just think about going home and looking in the mirror, meanwhile you are wearing all black, and just stare at yourself after they have made this decision of banning black. You would feel like an outcast and feel hurt that because you wear a certain color it has to be associated with something bad.
The EPISD recently stated, “Unfortunately, the campus prematurely communicated the dress code change as a final decision rather than a recommendation. We regret the miscommunication, particularly the intent behind the changes.” They had not made it an official decision and it was just more of a thought that they said out loud.
The amount of stress and pain these kids and parents had to go through when they thought this rule was for sure. How could a school get it so wrong with such miscommunication?
They only had the “no black” dress code for three days then changed it to something different. How is that even allowed in that district and how can they just change it so sudden?
Now, at least students will have a choice to wear black. These kids have a new dress code in which they can wear some black pieces of clothing on certain days. They have a free dress day where they can wear full black outfits or just any black.
The color black has such a bigger meaning to it, but will continue to be known as a depressing color.