Stephanie Barnes
Being a teacher is often a thankless job filled with countless highs and lows. As a teacher, you’re responsible for shaping the minds of the next generation, and that takes patience, passion, and real dedication. But if tackling a room full of students wasn’t tough enough, you also have to worry about dress code violations.
In a viral TikTok, one student teacher explained that she had received four dress code violations, and showed off the outfits that she wore each time.
The video from TikToker Mei Mei (@meimonstaa)—which is now unavailable—featured several outfits she recently wore to work as a student teacher. The video received well over two million views, according to a report from The Daily Dot.
“If I get dress-coded one more time, I get kicked out of the program,” Mei Mei said in the video.
She then went on to explain that she got in “really big trouble” because she wore an outfit that included shiny leggings. Mei Mei said she was also reprimanded for choosing to wear a t-shirt to work.
But there was one outfit that the school’s higher-ups found appropriate for their institution.
It seems the school administration approved of a floor-length dress that has been dubbed the “prairie dress” by the TikToker.
Fellow TikTok users were quick to weigh in with their thoughts on the dress code policies described by Mei Mei.
“Not going to lie, I feel like their constant dress coding is misogynistic and feels targeted,” one user wrote.
“There is a difference between being young and being inappropriate. Wearing a t-shirt does not impact your ability to teach,” another chimed in.
Some users took the opportunity to highlight other issues in the education system.
“They wonder why teachers quit. No one wants to be paid poorly and have to buy $100 [worth of clothes] for work,” one user wrote, according to The Daily Dot.
Mei Mei has yet to provide updates on the situation.