CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Indecent appearance has come to characterize the dress pattern of many students in the campus of higher learning in Nigeria (Omode, 2011). There is hardly any institution of higher learning in this country that is not being plagued with this nauseating problem. The manner of dressing adopted by these students, especially the female ones left much to be desired. The skimpy and tight fitting nature of these dresses reveals the sorry state of moral decadence among our students in the polytechnic communities. These dresses besides being skimpy and tight are also transparent and as a result revealing certain parts of the bodies that should have been covered under normal dressing pattern.
Girls are not the only people guilty of indecent dressing boys also dress indecently. Boys are guilty of putting on dirty and unkempt hairs and dirty jeans having pockets of holes deliberately created around the knees and lower parts of the trousers (Omode, 2011). Also, the waist of their trousers are lowered and fastened tightly at the middle of the two bottoms to reveal their boxers (pants). And they are walking, they drag their legs and one their hands particularly the left one, occupying their middle scrotum as if they will fall to the ground if not n (Omode, 2011). This study is aimed at investigating indecent dressing as a serious encroachment of our moral values among mass communication students of the polytechnic of Ibadan, Adeseun Ogundoyi campus, Eruwa.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Recently, there has been a lot of noise about the controversial issue of Dress Code on our campuses. Yes, I said “controversial” because there are so many varying views on this Dress Code issue. However, before I begin to present the very diverse views on the dress code saga, let’s look at the dress code itself. What is it all about? The Dress Code on campuses is simply a law passed by the authorities of some universities and other tertiary institutions in order to ensure that students dress properly and decently. The Dress code, which has been passed in many institutions, notably the University of Lagos, Federal University of Technology, Minna, University of Abuja among others, prohibits certain types of dressing considered to be indecent for the students on campus. It goes further to specify specific uniform dress for students in some professional courses such as Law and Accounting among others.
Furthermore, in order to ensure compliance to the dress code law, the school authorities have empowered the school security personnel to turn back any student not properly dressed from the school premises. This was operational at the University of Abuja (I doubt if it has been sustained) where students were checked at the main gate before being allowed to go in. apart from the security, lecturers have also been empowered to send out student from lecture halls, students who do not comply with the dress code.
Enough said, let us now turn to the question, why the sudden clamor everywhere for dress code on the campuses? Why is there such a deafening din about and in some quarters, against the Dress Code when, as they say, there are so many other problems bedeviling the tertiary institutions in this country? Now, let us be honest with ourselves. Whether we like it or not, we must all agree that the types of dressing on our campuses nowadays can best be described as outrageous, dangerously seductive and flagrantly indecent! Even the people of Sodom and Gomorrah would surely feel like saints if they were alive to see what we call “dressing” on our campuses today.
We learn from history and anthropology that early human beings were naked wanderers. But as Evolution progressed, Humans became wiser and began to live in houses and to wear clothes. Unfortunately, we are now witnessing a backslide or reverse of evolution because it seems that we are going back to the days of early man going by the almost naked mode of dressing we see on our campuses today, all in the name of fashion. These types of fashion we see today are undoubtedly the major cause of rampant promiscuity among students today. Additionally, it has led to the molestation of so many students by some staff and on the other hand, molestation of staff by students, having considered some of the problems caused by the indecent dressing on our campuses today and against the background of religious teachings as well as the fact that these indecent modes of dressing do not tally with our culture as Nigerians, the need for a dress code to stem the dangerous tide of outrageous dressing, in my opinion is pertinent.
Let me quickly point out that although, the dress code affects both male and female students, the greater parts of the brunt is borne by the female students and this is not surprising. We all know that some boys are in the habit of plating their hair and wearing ear rings, but by far girls pose a greater danger to the society by their types of dressing which includes such “wears” as spaghetti tops, body hug, transparent materials, miniskirts and generally, outfits that reveal almost all their natural endowments. One is forced to ponder about the cause of these indecent dressing. Lot of people has rightly pointed fingers at the increasing westernization of all facets of our lives and gradual but sure erosion of our social values and norms. Bad upbringing and plain mischief cannot be left out as a lot of families have lost their focus and shirked their roles in pursuit of material things. Whatever the case may be, the fact is that the need for such policies as the dress code is long overdue. The only fear of course is now on the implementation as it is obvious that some of the schools that announced the enactment of dress code law are far from achieving any meaningful results due to lack of implementation.
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