Is there any good reason they won't allow hats at school?

At our school they say they're "gang related" and "distracting" and "they hide your identity". They won't even allow headbands at our school.
Answers

Roger

There was a time ... (I’m 65) when “Men” removes their hats in all public buildings as a sign of respect for our country. Sigh ...

Anonymous

"good" reason is subjective, they're all reasons though, and as the school it has the legal right to decide the uniform it requires to study on its premises. You always retain the right to challenge these rules though; I do not know if you have a student council body or some other organization which could champion this cause for you, but if you do, I'd suggest petitioning your student council to remove pointless archaic rules such as these that serve no purpose other than giving enforcers a power trip. You could use the right to religious freedom as your defense arguing that people like Sikhs and Women wearing Hijabs and Jews (like the Haredi Jews) and other students would be discriminated against as these laws prevent them from openly and freely practicing and expressing their religion. That's one another point you could bring up is how "distracting" & "hide your identity" are vague reasons, since masks can do those 2 things too and flashy clothes or clothes with emotional slogans on them such as obscene language can be distracting too. and headgear is not especially concealing, and a teacher can still identify children regardless of whether you're wearing a cowboy hat a sombrero or a medieval knight's helmet. Headbands are definitely not capable of hiding someone's identity. The Last point related to gang violence can easily be mitigated by banning Gang symbology in specific rather than a blanket ban on all head ware. The school would need to research and single out specific gang symbols and codes they want to ban and then do so temporarily till the time the symbol dies out and is replaced by another. Hats are not the only way for gang members to identify each other and does nothing to actually stop gang related activity or the ability for gang members to recognize each other. These half baked rules were obviously written up by some out of touch old fart who never actually sat down to think through the rules before enforcing them. You could challenge that these laws are useless, and do NOT help alleviate any of the challenges they were drafted to combat, and hence you could petition that they need to be done away with. If you do not have any sort of student council, and would just like rights to wear hats for yourself, you could ask your parents to meet with your principal for special privileges, or if not that, just write an open letter to your principal and have all your like minded friends sign it.

Squid

Yes. Each of those things you mention is a good reason.

NONAME

They allow it at my high school. They also allow hoods for the most part. I guess some schools might not allow it for purposes of identifying people if a crime is committed. In my school, there is not a lot of crime, so thats probably why it’s permitted.

TriStateGirl93

Kids could be sneaking kids in, and they hide their face with hats. Gang references. Kids could keep their hats low to sleep in class.

Gypsyfish

Are you talking about the headbands that go across your forehead? Those are often gang related. I don't believe they're outlawing the kind of headbands that girls wear to keep their hair back. Hats obscure your eyes. The teacher needs to be able to see your eyes, and to see where you're looking. If you want to change the dress code, get up a petition and get the other students to sign it.

drip

You have listed them. It is easier to not allow any of it, than to try to negotiate with a teen

Laurie

It doesn't matter. If they're not allowed, they're not allowed. Have you ever heard the saying "Choose your battles carefully"? The world is full of important things you SHOULD go to battle over - racism, poverty, abuse, homophobia, religious intolerance, homelessness, civil rights - but "hats" is not one of them.