“Rules are meant to be broken” is an expression you’ve likely heard. While the statement incites rebellion for the most part, it sometimes means that some regulations just don’t make sense.

A mom had to deal with the strict dress code of a private school her son attended, something she eventually got fed up with. After finding a loophole in the rulebook, she maliciously complied, much to the displeasure of the school administration. 

The son still fondly recalls the incident that happened over three decades ago. Scroll down and read the entire text to see why. 

Some rules don’t make enough sense and are worth questioning

Image credits: Thirdman / Pexels (not the actual photo)

A mom got fed up with the dress code imposed in her son’s private school

Image credits: Teona Swift / Pexels (not the actual photo)

She took matters into her own hands through malicious compliance, causing a significant change in the school

Image credits: I_aim_to_sneeze

Image credits: Thirdman / Pexels (not the actual photo)

Research shows that school dress codes aren’t fairly implemented

The author says the school uniform fiasco happened to him over thirty years ago. Unfortunately, it’s a problem that continues to persist. 

A 2022 report by the US Government Accountability Office revealed that school districts enforce dress codes so strictly that they’ve caused problems among students, parents, and civil rights advocates. Their main issue is the disciplinary actions imposed on students of color. 

“Reports are showing that these school dress codes are disproportionately affecting black and brown students because our schools were built on systems that were supposed to be predominantly for white people,” Illinois school administrator Alyssa Pavlakis told Education Week. 

In some cases, students receive sanctions for supposed school dress code violations because of what is written on their shirts. In 2019, a seventh grader from Albritton Middle School in North Carolina was asked to cover up her shirt because it touted an “offensive” message. 

The shirt had the phrase that read, “Why be racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic when you could just be quiet?” It was intended to convey a message against discrimination, but teachers misconstrued it as a form of hate speech. 

In 2018, the Essex High School Administration in Ontario, Canada, suspended two girls for wearing shirts that exposed their bra straps. But in this case, the students took a stand, knowing they did nothing wrong. 

One of the girls, Mallory Johnston, spoke with Business Insider about her school’s “very degrading” dress codes.  

“I knew going forward with this would get backlash, but it was a risk I was willing to take because I believe that something should be changed,” she said.

Johnston and her fellow female students collectively wore tank tops, dresses, and clothes that made them feel comfortable as a sign of protest. The school took their actions lightly and suspended them, but it gained enough traction to expose such discriminatory practices. 

In the story, the mom expressed opposition but did it through malicious compliance. While it ruffled the feathers of administrators, her actions caused a positive change, which was a win for the students. 

Most readers lauded the mom’s actions, as some shared similar personal experiences

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But there was one who thought she acted like a “Karen”

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